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Opinion

Which Sydney suburban rugby league grounds should be redeveloped?

Roar Rookie
17th July, 2020
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Roar Rookie
17th July, 2020
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Several weeks ago, ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys announced the smart and common-sense change in strategic direction of playing out of oversized stadiums and finally returning back to suburbia.

The ill fated 20-plus-year-long experiment of using big stadiums for club matches is over. The atmosphere of suburban grounds for Bulldogs, Tigers and Rabbitohs fans is now set to finally return.

ANZ Stadium empty

(Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Nevertheless, there is the challenge of securing funding to make many of the suburban grounds suitable for week to week NRL in the post COVID-19 world, a time when there will be less government money to be thrown around on grandstands or stadiums.

Which grounds should be redeveloped? Let’s rank and appraise each of the grounds in Sydney and assess the likelihood for a funding of a redevelopment.

7. Pointsbet Stadium
The home of the Cronulla Sharks, this ground is actually in pretty good condition and doesn’t really need an upgrade, although the seated capacity is limited. The leagues club side of the ground is having significant development behind the stand and seated areas, making any future redevelopment of the main grandstand very unlikely and expensive.

Any redevelopment would be limited to extending the western grandstand along the full length of the sideline or building on the northern hill behind the goal posts. Like Brookvale Oval, the curse of being located in a safe seat in state parliament will work against securing funding as current or prospective governments often keep funding of projects like new stadiums or grandstands almost exclusively in marginal seats or in growth corridors.

Furthermore, a redeveloped Pointsbet Stadium is too far away from other NRL clubs to be used as a home ground, so the NRL would most likely get behind a Kogarah redevelopment for the south that could service St George Illawarra, Canterbury, Cronulla and possibly even South Sydney.

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6. Leichhardt Oval
This is the worst of the worst grounds in the NRL. It is an embarrassment that this ground is used for the NRL. There is next to no hope for the ground to be redeveloped as the entire site needs to be bulldozed.

It is only half a home ground for the Wests Tigers and there is little prospect that the ground will be used in the future by Sydney FC in the A-League once the new Sydney Football Stadium is completed. No government will throw $100 million at a ground used only four times a year in the NRL.

Leichhardt

(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

5. Belmore Sports Ground
The Canterbury Bulldogs recently announced plans to redevelop Belmore Sports Ground. While it may happen, it is unlikely due to a number of factors, including the fact that the existing grandstand needs millions spent on upgrading it before any hillside development can be funded.

What is also working against the Bulldogs securing funding for this project is that the Canterbury-Bankstown area is not far from the new Bankwest Stadium and it would make sense for that wonderful stadium to be used every week. Furthermore, if the nearby Kogarah Oval gets a redevelopment, that stadium could become a home ground for multiple clubs. Government would baulk at redeveloping both Belmore Sports Ground and Kogarah Oval.

Canterbury’s best option if they want their own stadium is to rebrand as the South-West Sydney Bulldogs, move to Liverpool where the third CBD of Sydney will be, and lobby government for a new stadium to be built on the site of the rejected Oasis project.

4. Brookvale Oval
This is the second worst ground in the NRL behind Leichhardt Oval. Dilapidated is the only suitable term to describe Brookie. Over the years, there has been a bit of funding here and there to improve the facilities, but let’s be honest, it is in desperate need of a bulldozer.

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So why is it not higher ranked? The issue with Brookvale Oval is that there has been announcement after announcement for its redevelopment with little or no shovels in the ground and plans have been changed so much over the years. The Sea Eagles want their centre of excellence funded, which leaves little in funding allocations to actually improve facilities for the game-day experience for fans.

The latest plan is a centre of excellence with a new 3000-seat stand at the northern end behind the goal posts, leaving the rest of the ground without improvement. There is very little political motivation to make further funding of any redevelopment a priority, as the Northern Beaches area is a blue-ribbon Liberal area, a relatively small region of Sydney and is not a growth region.

Lottoland

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

3. Campbelltown Stadium
This is one of the most likely grounds, and arguably the front-runner, to get an upgrade first. It will soon be the home of A-League team Macarthur FC as well as one of the Wests Tigers home grounds.

This stadium is positioned in a growth corridor near the M5 and M7, providing efficient transport access by car to rival fans from other Sydney clubs. It is also not far from the new Aerotropolis being developed in Sydney’s south west and is right next to Wests Leagues, providing pre- and post-match socialising options for fans.

The Macarthur area is a marginal seat in parliament, meaning that it is better positioned to get funding for infrastructure than other areas. The redevelopment of the ground offers a number of options that are either relatively cheap or a more expensive long-term infrastructure investment. The ground can either be bulldozed and started all over, or have its current grandstands along the sidelines extended, along with an optional new stand or concourse built behind the northern goalposts.

However, the Wests Tigers in recent seasons have not played many games there. Governments are hesitant in funding any infrastructure projects where the business plan is weak. Unless the A-League can advocate a pressing need for a new stadium in Campbelltown, government would want some official commitment from the Wests Tigers, or another team, to play a certain number of games each year down there.

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2. Kogarah Oval
This is probably the most controversial choice in the top three, considering the fact that the ground is currently only the home venue for the Sydney allocation of Dragons games.

The reason why it is high up on the list is because a redeveloped Kogarah Oval could serve as a home ground for the Sharks, Bulldogs and Souths if they think playing out of Kogarah is a better option for them than the new SFS. There is also the likelihood of a southern Sydney-South Coast A-League team in the competition in the next few years.

Kogarah Oval would be a relatively cheap option for redevelopment because the existing stand on the western side of the ground is not very old and a replica of the existing stand on the eastern side would turn the ground into a showpiece.

1. Penrith Stadium
This is without doubt the most obvious candidate to get funding for a redevelopment. It is positioned next to Panthers Leagues and the Penrith Panthers are the only professional sporting franchise in the huge growth corridor west of Parramatta.

When the Panthers are travelling well, the fans turn up in big numbers and that fan-base can only grow with the plans to grow the population in the region. What makes a redevelopment likely is the fact that the Penrith district is a very marginal seat in state parliament for the current minister for jobs, investment and western Sydney, Stuart Ayres.

The Panthers are part of the area’s cultural fabric. Furthermore, not much needs to be done at Penrith Stadium. Development is only needed in the corners and behind the goalposts to turn it into a fully enclosed and impressive bastion for rugby league.

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