'Future of Rugby' Announcement in Sydney today

[Slim 293]

What a bunch of sensationalist nonsense.

The crowd for Fiji was fairly average but it wasnt going to get much bigger elsewhere.

Aside from the temperature, I'm sure I've seen those exact complaints for some of the Sydney tests in recent years.

There are buses which transport people to Canberra Stadium from the city and back. And the cbd is only 10mins drive away.

You would have to be pretty precious to think you were stuck too far out.

Lack of taxis in Canberra? What's new...

The ARU dropped the ball when they failed to supply minnows tests during the Brumbies golden reign when they were getting regular big crowds.

It's a bit of too little too late if you ask me.

The Fiji test was nothin to brag about, but to state that they don't deserve to hold a test again is just utter rubbish.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

hardly sensationalist.
there was an absolute mass of people walking back along the highway till they could get a taxi. it was cold.
The bars in the stadium shut early.
there was nowhere nearby to go afterwards
its like a smaller version of homebush, without the trains.
I took a friend who lived in canberra at the time. I had to convince him that not all rugby games were like that. got him a long to a rebels game and now he's a member for the upcoming season.

all that aside, you can't argue with giving games to Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Gold Coast (now with a modern 25 000 seat stadium) over canberra. all have better facilities and bigger markets.

 

[Slim 293]

There's always a mass of people walking down the main road where Canberra Stadium sits because people use the free parking in the nearby facilities.

The only place to get the taxis would be from the stadium itself as you generally can only pick up a taxi in Canberra from a designated taxi rank.

People would not have been walking down the 'highway' to get a taxi.

Cold? It's called winter. The season that rugby is usually played.

However, if the ARU were smart they would organise the match to be played in the afternoon as Canberra has beautiful days in the winter. But that would of course affect TV ratings.

Those cities certainly deserve the bigger matches, but Canberra can't be overlooked for when the smaller teams are here.

 

[Scotty]

Is it likely that the SFS test will be a sell out each year?

 

[Army_Gav]

There are buses which transport people to Canberra Stadium from the city and back. And the cbd is only 10mins drive away.

You would have to be pretty precious to think you were stuck too far out.

Lack of taxis in Canberra? What's new...

You'll find Gold Coast will have the same issue with the Sevens this year, due to Skilled Park being so far from the "strip".

Adelaide Oval was a great venue, as it was central location. Hopefully they redevelop Manuka Oval with a greater capacity or something along those lines, being in a similar central location.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

if i said they didn't deserve any more tests i apologise as that's not what i meant.
I meant with the bigger tests (wales, ireland, england etc).
agree they should get the smaller tests against the minnow nations.

if you want a drink at the game, you can't drive. taxis were extremely hard to find. but we're just going to go back and forth on this. I had my experience there and from a spectator/visitor perspective, it wasn't something i'd sign up for again. hence, i can see why against the top tier nations, canberra has been neglected.

 

[Army_Gav]

if i said they didn't deserve any more tests i apologise as that's not what i meant.
I meant with the bigger tests (wales, ireland, england etc).
agree they should get the smaller tests against the minnow nations.

if you want a drink at the game, you can't drive. taxis were extremely hard to find. but we're just going to go back and forth on this. I had my experience there and from a spectator/visitor perspective, it wasn't something i'd sign up for again. hence, i can see why against the top tier nations, canberra has been neglected.

A couple of notes from my Stadium experiences:

Melbourne:
- MCG/Etihad: Ovals
- AAMI Park: No fault, except those that can't walk a distance

Sydney:
- SFS: Bit of a pain from the CBD
- ANZ: Decent train ride out

Canberra:
- Bruce Stadium: Bit of a pain from the CBD

Brisbane:
- Suncorp: No fault, except those that can't walk a distance

No surprise that the two most recent developed stadiums are a better experience.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

the trams and trains are a big help with AAMI. you don't have to walk more than 200m to get to a tram stop. you can be on swan street getting your whistle wet in no time.
I am biased though as I absolutely love that stadium for rugby.

 

[DPK]

I think Bruce Stadium is a good viewing stadium, from really any of the seats. I just wish they would play afternoon games a lot more than they do. Brumbies vs Force in the arvo this year was very good.

Sunday afternoon Tests should feature every year.

 

[Richo]

Is it likely that the SFS test will be a sell out each year?

I wouldn't be surprised, Scotty. I know quite a few people who don't go to games out at ANZ but will definitely go to the SFS. Also, there are plenty of northerners loitering around the eastern beaches who would add to the crowd for sure.

 

[Richo]

Why not? Lions tourists supporting their team is one of rugby's great traditions. If a part of the ground's swathed in red, so what? JON's reaction was the catalyst for the gold support ot the Wallabies, which remains to this day, and ever after (hopefully).

Lions' supporters spent a shitload of money in Oz and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I'd argue a Lions tour is better for Oz rugby and tourism than an RWC.

Things are rather dark economically in Europe in general and the UK in particular. 10 years ago it was something like 1GBP = $2.5. Now it's closer to $1.6. When you combine that with smashed investments, job losses, etc. it is very possible that less tourists will make it over.

 

[Happy]

In the last 10+ years, we have only two test matches in Canberra - one against Italy and one against Fiji. The Italy game was packed out and was an entertaining game. The Fiji game wasn't full, but as Slim said, you wouldn't have got a bigger crowd anywhere else either. The game itself wasn't very good, but that wasn't the crowd's fault - more like teams not used to playing in colder temperatures. I was at both games, and I also went to the Baby Blacks game we had a few years ago.

Canberra has cold winters, but no colder than NZ venues, and certainly warmer than the NH winter venues. In winter the temperature drops quickly once the sun has gone down, which means a heavy dew on the ground and a wet ball. If they want to increase the crowds for minnow games (and the quality of the rugby) the ARU should consider day games. That is what the NRL have done - all midwinter Raiders games in Canberra are Sunday afternoon.

Transport has been a problem for some time, but only if you drive your car, as it is a pain to get in and out of. Many people catch the FREE buses to and from the ground. The buses run from the town centres - Belconnen, City, Woden and Tuggeranong - about every 15 minutes to the games, and continuously for an hour or so afterwards. No-one would be walking to get out of the ground - as Slim has said, they are walking back to where they parked their cars for free instead of paying the $6 parking fee.

In the short time we had the ARC, it was played at Manuka Oval. It is an oval ground bigger in size than the MCG, with a seating capacity of 10,000, so the view was terrible. I went to several games but only to try and support the competition, as you were too far away from the game with no elevation to be able to see it properly.

Canberra has been a rugby heartland since I can remember. When I was in school in the 60's the ACT was a powerhouse in schoolboy rugby, but hopeless in league. We would regularly have OS teams visiting. I went to the ACT vs Springboks game where the protestors were a problem, and also the English schoolboys vs ACT schoolboys in the mid 70's.

Not ever having at least a minnows game in a Rugby heartland, while catering to "new markets" is fraught with danger. If you alienate your traditional player and supporter base, they will look to other sports instead. I don't mean you shouldn't ever base games at places like the Gold Coast, but to say we should never get any more international games here is being very short-sighted. Especially if it is based on one less than stellar game experience, that may or may not have been any better anywhere else.

We are constantly being told in every sport in Canberra that we need to go to whatever second tier games that we manage to get, or we will never get any of the better ones. Well, we never get any of the better ones anyway, as administration's eyes are always on the dollars and the new markets they are trying to crack. One of the main advantages we have over NRL and AFL is international matches. I know we will never get a Bledisloe or a SA, but at least give us something every few years as an acknowledgement that we are not completely unwanted or unimportant in Australian rugby.

 

[fatprop]

I am amazed to see the PR that the ARU can get from moving a regular test in a big stadium to a smaller stadium. Sydney usually gets two tests a season.

In the end the ARU has decided Sydneysiders won't go to Homebush for anything less than a Tri Nations match so instead of playing the game with the top tier closed, they move it to the SFS.

 

[waratahjesus]

I don't. Get some of the stadium hate on here.

You can complain about viewing at homebsh, but it's not designed purely for rectangular sports and it's what happens.

The "fair train ride out" "to far away" crap, I don't get. It's 20 minutes on a train that your ticket to the game pays for that drops u off 200 meters from the stadium, the parkings good, it's 10 meters from the geographic centre of Sydney, th busses are good, restaurants and services continue to open there. It's pretty decent.

The sfs is a 15-20 minute walk past a dozen pubs from central or a 5 minue shuttle bus ride from central or 20 minutes from circular quay, again, pretty decent.

 

[Richo]

WJ, the fact that the viewing isn't great at ANZ is most of the problem. If it was a great (or even good) venue to watch the game at, people would go. Don't know many people who really care about travel time. The experience once you're sitting down seems to be the real problem.

I'm stoked for the smaller test to be at the SFS and not just because it's up the road. Even 35,000 people there will be pumping and I reckon we could see a sell-out if the Wobs do well in the RWC.

 

[RedsHappy]

WJ, the fact that the viewing isn't great at ANZ is most of the problem. If it was a great (or even good) venue to watch the game at, people would go. Don't know many people who really care about travel time. The experience once you're sitting down seems to be the real problem. I'm stoked for the smaller test to be at the SFS and not just because it's up the road. Even 35,000 people there will be pumping and I reckon we could see a sell-out if the Wobs do well in the RWC.

Spot on Richo. I flew down for the Sydney England Test last year with my wife with Platinum seats and we both agreed the rugby viewing experience (especially with the stadium way less than full) was really disappointing, even with these 'best' seats.

I agree with you re SFS, etc. At last, long last, the ARU seems to be awakening to the staggering notion that generating a great rugby view and a full (albeit smaller) stadium leading to an exciting, pumped, all-joined-in atmosphere for fans and families is a good way of generating far more fan engagement in the game and the resultant motivation to probably come again, and again. Thus = likely more $ income over time than trying hard for maximum short-term $s only via Sydney stadia that are too big, too oval, and too fan-unfriendly in most cases.

 

[elementfreak]

If they did that, they'd have to have 2 teams from Melbourne for the same reason.

If Melbourne Unicorns were the team representing Victoria I think I'd go spare.

So you wouldn't want the best time in the comp for the last 3 years represnting Melbourne/Victoria?

 

[Ruggo]

What a bunch of sensationalist nonsense.

The crowd for Fiji was fairly average but it wasnt going to get much bigger elsewhere.

Aside from the temperature, I'm sure I've seen those exact complaints for some of the Sydney tests in recent years.

There are buses which transport people to Canberra Stadium from the city and back. And the cbd is only 10mins drive away.

You would have to be pretty precious to think you were stuck too far out.

Lack of taxis in Canberra? What's new...

The ARU dropped the ball when they failed to supply minnows tests during the Brumbies golden reign when they were getting regular big crowds.

It's a bit of too little too late if you ask me.

The Fiji test was nothin to brag about, but to state that they don't deserve to hold a test again is just utter rubbish.

Attended the fiji game and earlier the brumbies vs reds. The latter had a far better crowd and atmosphere. For the record it was friggin cold that night also. We were in the second level of the grandstand next to the Gregan Larkham stand and the view was shit. We brought platnum tickets which pissed me off no end. For the test I was up the top of the Meninga stand and the view was ok. The atmosphere was ordinary and the crowd signifficantly smaller than the brumbies game. After that showing if Canberra does not get another test it is their own fault.

As for the cold, what do people expect? It is Canberra after all. Harden up is my best advice.

The

 

[Ruggo]

sorry double post

 

[EVERYFWDTHINKTHEYREA6OR7]

I don't. Get some of the stadium hate on here.

You can complain about viewing at homebsh, but it's not designed purely for rectangular sports and it's what happens.

The "fair train ride out" "to far away" crap, I don't get. It's 20 minutes on a train that your ticket to the game pays for that drops u off 200 meters from the stadium, the parkings good, it's 10 meters from the geographic centre of Sydney, th busses are good, restaurants and services continue to open there. It's pretty decent.

The sfs is a 15-20 minute walk past a dozen pubs from central or a 5 minue shuttle bus ride from central or 20 minutes from circular quay, again, pretty decent.

Bollocks,

Homebush is longer way out and after you have been at the pub's there it's then a fair way to get back to wherever you are staying. Plus Homebush cuts off beer not long into the second half (well played Suncorp)

For the visitors to town for it, it is a must to have it near the city. There are not a enough decent places to have a beer at after.

Who want's to travel? Being able to walk from Stadium, pub and accom is the way forward. No waiting on the platform, the first pub is a short stroll from the SFS.