Oki Jubilee Stadium

[Jeffles]

Don't know about that requirement. DFS isn't all seater and Adelaide Oval has hosted A-League.

[Cheesie-the-Pirate]

Doesn't Perth Oval still have standing room too?

[yob]

EAS goal ends are standing room.

[Boba Fett]

Move Sydney FC out to this stadium. Force them to form an alliance with Eastern Suburbs Football, St George Football, Sutherland Shire Football and Canterbury Football Associations and you have 50,000 registered players feeding the club and you give them a "local" identity, reduce their costs and get greater utilisation of the ground that might even attract more money.

Add the South Coast and you get another 15,000 players and WIN Stadium in the mix too.

Doesn't the A-League have a requirement that says its stadiums need to be all-seaters? And to be fair the SFC I think they are quite active with local football associations...

All-seater requirement - clearly I've made a mistake with that supposition!

[Spirit of Santos]

Kogarah Oval is the future home of Botany Bay FC, a football club representing the three major urban districts that buttress that historic inlet.

Sydney FC, AKA Port Jackson, aren't welcome down this way.

[Cheesie-the-Pirate]

More wins for the Dragons
BY BRAD FORREST
12 Oct, 2010 10:00 AM
THE Dragons ‘‘den’’ — Kogarah Jubilee Oval — is set to get bigger.
Just a week after winning their first premiership since becoming a joint venture, the club announced it would extend the multi-level grandstand in time for the start of the 2011 NRL season.

With WIN Stadium at Wollongong likely to be out of action until the middle of next year, the state government has approved a new $13 million grant for the council-leased ground.

Jubilee Oval has received almost $38 million in funding since 2003, with $25.8 million coming from the state government and $10.2 million from the federal government.

At yesterday’s media call at Kogarah Oval, Premier Kristina Keneally also announced funding of $2.5 million for an upgrade of Canterbury Bulldogs’ Belmore Sports Ground.

The Jubilee Oval announcement was welcomed by NSW Sports Minister Kevin Greene, also the MP for Oatley, and Kogarah MP Cherie Burton.

Kogarah’s ground capacity will swell to about 22,000 with the final part of the three-stage development and may go some way towards silencing critics when the club decides whether to play more big matches at home, rather than the larger Sydney Football Stadium and ANZ Stadium.

“This investment has been a huge boost to our passionate Dragons-loving local community and continues to build on the investment by the NSW government over the last few years,” Ms Burton said.

Dragons CEO Peter Doust said the grandstand extension (towards Park Street and the war memorial side of Kogarah Park) would provide 1600 more undercover seats, new corporate area and boxes, new player change rooms, a club museum, merchandise outlet and new amenities. Some uncovered seats will be moved to the Jubilee Avenue end of the stadium to make way for the extension.

‘‘We have loyal supporters in the minister Kevin Greene and the member for Kogarah, Cherie [Burton] to thank and we thank you Premier for your government’s support,’’ said Mr Doust, who gave Dragons star Jamie Soward a signed football to present to Ms Keneally.

Kogarah’s extentions will need to be ready by next April, when the Dragons play their first home game.

WHERE THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT

The $13 million from the state government will go towards:

- A new northern grandstand with 1372 undercover seats;

- New toilet and concession facilities;

- New change rooms for first grade and under 20s players;

- New corporate area and boxes;

- A new museum and merchandise outlet.

http://www.theleader.com.au/news/local/ ... 65701.aspx

Get your skates on, this will be a record-setting redevelopment for speed. I understand the DA is already approved as this is part of the already-approved masterplan.

Glad to see the permanent-temporary seats are staying. The club's got damn good value out of those things, given they've been there since 2003.

[Jeffles]

The shelf life of those seats will probably be extended as the stand expands over them.

I cannot imagine it would be that difficult to build. The land doesn't slope as much at that end of the park. If they finish in the next seven months, they'll set a standard for other builders to follow.

[HoldenV8]

Gee once again the governments seem to be throwing money at St. George-Illawarra to upgrade their grounds. Why are they always the ones who are getting the money when other major grounds such as Brookvale continue to be in a rather pathetic state yet that place never seems to get squat compared to Kogarah or the old Wollongong Showground.

Sorry, just gets me sometimes that Manly have to fight tooth and nail to get anything to upgrade Brookie while the Dragons seem to have won the Government (take your pick between Federal or State) stadium lottery.

[Cheesie-the-Pirate]

Gee once again the governments seem to be throwing money at St. George-Illawarra to upgrade their grounds. Why are they always the ones who are getting the money when other major grounds such as Brookvale continue to be in a rather pathetic state yet that place never seems to get squat compared to Kogarah or the old Wollongong Showground.

Sorry, just gets me sometimes that Manly have to fight tooth and nail to get anything to upgrade Brookie while the Dragons seem to have won the Government (take your pick between Federal or State) stadium lottery.

It's an interesting question, I was waiting for your post on this!

Difficulty of course is that the decision making and lobbying goes on behind closed doors. Impossible to answer with anything except speculation.

Went back and thought I'd look at what we've been given since 02/03

R2K: Temporary NW Terrace, Upgraded Back of House Facilities, Landscaping and Associated Works
$2m - Kogarah LGA, St George Leagues Club, State Govt

Stage 1: Light Towers, Northern Terrace, Concourse Seating
$8m - Federal Govt

Stage 2: SW Grandstand, Existing Grandstand Refurbishment and Associated Works
$12m - State Govt (two tranches - initial $7m followed up with an additional $5m)

Stage 3: NW Grandstand and Associated Works
$13m - State Govt

[Spirit of Santos]

Gee once again the governments seem to be throwing money at St. George-Illawarra to upgrade their grounds. Why are they always the ones who are getting the money when other major grounds such as Brookvale continue to be in a rather pathetic state yet that place never seems to get squat compared to Kogarah or the old Wollongong Showground.

Sorry, just gets me sometimes that Manly have to fight tooth and nail to get anything to upgrade Brookie while the Dragons seem to have won the Government (take your pick between Federal or State) stadium lottery.

As Cheesie said, it's impossible to know what sort of lobbying went on behind closed doors in each case. However, I'd be willing to speculate that the Labor Councillers, State and Federal MPs from the St George District are a lot more genuinely passionate about Rugby League then the blue ribbon Liberal politicians of the Northern Beaches, pretend as they may...

Secondly, I think you have to look at the situation of the two grounds. Kogarah had a tiny Grandstand which didn't even run the length of the field. Expanding this was a a fairly basic and logical step. Stand wise at Brookie, you've already got a main stand that runs the length of the field and wraps around the eastern end. So what would be the solution? Replace the main hill with a stand? It'd have to be a very large to equal the capacity of the hill, that's a major work.

[Jeffles]

Cheesie, do those figures include WIN Stadium, Wollongong?

I do feel for Manly (not much ). I think STGI's PR campaign has been better than Manly's in trying to get an upgrade. R2K were at it for years and playing the "regional city" card in Wollongong is an advantage Manly do not have.

[Cheesie-the-Pirate]

Cheesie, do those figures include WIN Stadium, Wollongong?

Nope. KoJu only.

[HoldenV8]

Secondly, I think you have to look at the situation of the two grounds. Kogarah had a tiny Grandstand which didn't even run the length of the field. Expanding this was a a fairly basic and logical step. Stand wise at Brookie, you've already got a main stand that runs the length of the field and wraps around the eastern end. So what would be the solution? Replace the main hill with a stand? It'd have to be a very large to equal the capacity of the hill, that's a major work.

The older section of the Korgarah grandstand was opened in 1990 but do you know how old the Jane Try and Fulton-Menzies stands are? The Jane Try Stand opened in 1971 and has seen little upgrade since while the Fulton-Menzies Stand (formerly the Southern Stand) was opened in 1979 and although it has seen a few upgrades to its corporate facilities, it remains relatively unchanged. That's 39 and 31 years old respectively with no major upgrades or re-builds. Just about every other club in the NRL complains every year about the change rooms at Brookvale and the Media does as well about their facilities and the fans are doing the same. Both stands are in major need or upgrade or re-build. I wouldn't change the hill, its the heart and soul of the Brookie faithful. The only thing I would do is maybe put a roof on it somehow and maybe also concrete it, but that's a big maybe. The Ken Arthurson Stand opened in 1995 really doesn't have much in the way of problems as far as I am aware.

Cheesie, that's a lot of money the Dragons been given compared to Manly. But you're right about political lobbying. The Warringah federal member is Tony Abbot and I'd imagine he has more on his mind than upgrading Brookvale Oval since you never actually see him there other than when it suits him to be, like during an election campaign. At least you guys had the big boss (Howard) as a supporter. Not that I'm saying Johnny's position of power influenced decisions about whether to give money to upgrade Kogarah or WIN....... I guess what I am saying is that the local members for both state or federal parliament seem to care more about Kogarah and WIN more than the members north of the Spit Bridge care for Brookvale. And sadly it might mean Manly having to leave Brookvale in the next few years. Not Good

[Jeffles]

The only upgrade in the last 30 years at Brookie was the Arko Stand. In hindsight, I think Manly dropped the ball in the 1980s and 1990s by not pushing for upgrades then. They were much more popular then than now and there was less competition for public money to upgrade sports facilities. Penrith, Canterbury, Saints, Illawarra, Wests and others got money in that time but Manly sat on their hands.

[HoldenV8]

You're right about Manly sitting on their hands but Manly don't own Brookvale, the Warringah Shire Council do. While just about every other club in the league was upgrading their grounds over the past 30 years (the exception being Balmain/Wests Tigers and Leichhardt Oval), all the Council and Manly have done is put in lights for night games, a new electronic scoreboard, the usual upgrades of toilets and corporate facilities and built the Ken Arthurson Stand which only seats 1,250 people anyway. In a lot of ways they did miss the boat then but that shouldn't mean they miss todays boats.....

The Dragons and the Sea Eagles have very proud, winning histories. Both are amongst the move revered rugby league clubs in the world yet in terms of their respective home grounds, Manly plays on a ground sometimes barely adequate to train on let alone play major competition games and they have to fight to the last man to get any money to upgrade the place while the Dragons twin share setup see's them with two of the best "suburban" stadiums in world rugby league yet governments seem to just want to give them cheque after cheque for more and more and more upgrades. Good luck to them for that because WIN and Kogarah look great and the Dragons (and other) fans are reaping the benefit of better quality facilities

Sorry, still just gets me how it all works. What also gets me is I live in Adelaide for christ's sake. Why aren't those who actually get to go to Brookvale year in, year out doing something about it instead of just whinging? They're the ones losing out.