News Adelaide Oval Redevelopment - Thunderbirds Are Go

[Portsmeff]

What's the go with parking?

I might head down with the kids if I can find a park easy enough.

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Ya serious??? have you never ventured to this part of town before. Just street park in North Adelaide, either the streets just north of the Oval, or towards Memorial Hospital, and then walk. I doubt there's going to be that large a crowd.

Also there will be very limited parking in the carpark just below Montifieore Hill, not sure if you would have to pay today

 

[davesnothere]

Was thinking the same as I walked past earlier .....i remember a photo in adelaide taken of 15,000 people showing up to see a new tram in Adelaide taken in the 1920s not sure that there is that much else on today and you can watch the shield game.....it crosses my mind it could get ugly for parking today if 15,000 show up.

 

[Dobie G]

 

[bomberclifford]

If Anne Moran saw this, she'd push for the No vote.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

What's the go with parking?

I might head down with the kids if I can find a park easy enough.

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There isn't much available at the ground. It was $5 the other day at the WA shield game on a Friday.

Try War Memorial Drive near the Gold Course and The Red Ochre. You might luck out and find a park just past the lights and have a 300-500m to the southern plaza entry.

 

[RonSon]

You should be able to get an 8hr park at top of Montifiore hill.

Either along the golf course or on the east side of Jeffcott st outside Aquinas college, or further back in front of the Lutheran College just over Ward St it's only a very short walk.

 

[Portsmeff]

Warning to people that will drive long distances to see Southern stand. If you have already visited the ground over past couple of weeks, and are not a SACA member, do not bother trying to have a look at the new southern stand. If you are not a SACA member, all you can do is walk through the gate, past a kiosk and walk straight to the western stand. The 2nd tier (level 3) is open but only for SACA members and you cant even go up the escalator to have a look.

Nice to see the f-wit senile SACA geriatrics influencing our oval still. I can not believe that they were encouraging people to come down and have a look today and if your general public you get to see 0.5% of a grandstand that we're encouraged to have a look at. I understand if the stand had been open for 6 months, but for the first day to only let SACA members have a look is so f%&^ing moronic

 

[Hank93]

Hey guys, took around 300 photos today at the Oval.

Uploaded around 130 so far to my photo bucket account; internet's a bit slow at the moment so I'll try and do the rest tomorrow.

Here's the link.

http://s1169.photobucket.com/user/h...upa Sheffield Shiel 24 November?sort=3&page=1

 

[Natman]

It looks like there is about 10 metres of ground at the southern end and 4-5 metres of ground on the eastern side to be gained as part of the playing surface.

 

[finbarr]

It looks like there is about 10 metres of ground at the southern end and 4-5 metres of ground on the eastern side to be gained as part of the playing surface.

I was there on Friday and it looks closer to 15 metres for both. When you factor in both the ground is going to finally be an excellent overall shape and size.

 

[NTRabbit]

Nice to see the f-wit senile SACA geriatrics influencing our oval still.

There's your first problem - it's not your oval.

The Oval belongs to the SMA, and during the summer months they 'sub-let it' to the SACA, who have the right to set which stands are members only as they see fit. During a test match when the oval is fully complete, the entire southern stand will be members only as well, as it always was with the Bradman.

You'll get plenty of opportunity to look around the members areas once control of the ground reverts to Port Adelaide during your first home game.

 

[Portsmeff]

There's your first problem - it's not your oval.

The Oval belongs to the SMA, and during the summer months they 'sub-let it' to the SACA, who have the right to set which stands are members only as they see fit. During a test match when the oval is fully complete, the entire southern stand will be members only as well, as it always was with the Bradman.

You'll get plenty of opportunity to look around the members areas once control of the ground reverts to Port Adelaide during your first home game.

Im well aware that the Bradman stand has been reserved for SACA members for years, but FFS, the first day that the stand is open, and you cant even go up the escalator to have a look because a bar is reserved for about 24 SACA members for a huge shield game against Tasmania, who couldn't watch the cricket from up there properly anyway because of the enormous contruction sidescreen that would have chopped off a third of the viewing of the oval. Moronic, anyway time for me to get over it

and from what I saw of the ground level part, looks good

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Hey guys, took around 300 photos today at the Oval.

Uploaded around 130 so far to my photo bucket account; internet's a bit slow at the moment so I'll try and do the rest tomorrow.

Here's the link.

http://s1169.photobucket.com/user/hdecure/library/Photobucket Desktop - Henrys MacBook Air/Adelaide Oval Bupa Sheffield Shiel 24 November?sort=3&page=1

Great photos. I read the Crows board AO thread last night and took note that you said you would be there, looked out for the wheelie but spent from 3.30 until about 6pm in the southern stand so looking at your photos of the scoreboard probably missed you by hours.

I remember you asked about the construction site at the Southern stand after I posted photos from the shield match on 13th November. As you can see in 11 days they had put the cement in and your photo below shows the fences is up in the middle bays but by the time I left at 6pm the fence was 95% complete.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

It looks like there is about 10 metres of ground at the southern end and 4-5 metres of ground on the eastern side to be gained as part of the playing surface.

I was there on Friday and it looks closer to 15 metres for both. When you factor in both the ground is going to finally be an excellent overall shape and size.

I spoke to SMA CEO Andrew Daniels on Level 3 of the Southern Stand for about 15 minutes whilst waiting for a mate to rock up and then after play finished, my mates friend knows curator Damian Hough and we bumped into him as we were walking towards the northern gates and chatted to him for about 15 minutes.

By next Friday the grass will be put in at the southern end all the way to the southern grandstand fence, that I mentioned in my previous post. In some spots they only need a couple of metres and other positions they need about 15 metres. Both told me that the playing boundary rope will go right up to where the existing temporary construction fence and temporary site screen is. They both said that they will try and minimise what new soil and grass that goes in this week, will be inside the boundary rope and playing field.

Andrew Daniels confirmed that where the boundary rope in front of the western grandstand is, will be where the boundary will be for footy. He said that artificial turf that goes from about 15m north of the southern corner of the western stand to the site screen of the northern end, but will eventually go all the way round the ground.

He said that next week they will fill in the eastern side of the ground which as you can see below has a gap of about 12 metres. He said they will leave about 4m of soil between fence of level 1 and the playing surface as they need that for the machines to drive along to finish off the eastern stand. That 4m gap will be filled in with the artificial grass. I didn't ask if they are putting artificial grass at the southern end.

I asked about soccer and he said that the A league finals will happen after the cricket pitch is taken out so it won't be a problem for the finals if Adelaide United want to play there. He said no game before the finals has been negotiated for AO. I looked up the A league fixture and the final will clash with the footy weekends April 17-20, April 24-27 and GF is May 4.

When I spoke to curator Damian Hough he said the pitch is 200mm of soil and turf on a concrete slab. They have 8 wickets/slabs. He said they are growing the turf for the footy on another 8 concrete slabs so it will be a straight swap after the season's end. I had a chat to him about the machinery and also about the preparation for the Test.

He said the drop in wickets are playing pretty flat and will probably continue to be that way. We talked about if he could leave it a green top and he said it has crossed his mind but it wouldn't be AO if he prepared it that way. He is pretty happy how the outfield and pitch is progressing. A lot of work goes into the area in the back of the western grandstand, the workers had done a fair bit of damage to the area where Boof's and Dizzy's statutes are and the village green area takes up a lot of Oval no. 2 and there are a lot of poles driven into the soil for the marquees. He reckons that they had to develop a system with a cement base that they could drive the poles into those spots otherwise they would always be ripping up the soil and drainage. Based on what I saw the set was going to be, I wouldn't be surprised if 5,000 people are out the back during most of the first 3 days of the Test.







The little bit of level 3 we were allowed access to and could see was fantastic. The City View Restaurant 2 weeks ago was renamed The William Magarey Room. Its views are spectacular. We weren't allowed in so I stood at the door and used my zoom lense to take some photo's looking towards the city. It will be open 365 days a year and will sit 700 at a fully catered function.

Spoke to one of the catering supervisors who has been working at AO since the western grandstand was opened in 2010. He confirmed that the idea is that the venue will be open 365 days a year for functions, using all of the catering rooms in all 3 stands. He said there was a permanent catering staff of over 40, which confirms what I've been saying that the original SMA operating budget $2mil and only 20 staff was a farcical model.

 

[Hank93]

Great photos. I read the Crows board AO thread last night and took note that you said you would be there, looked out for the wheelie but spent from 3.30 until about 6pm in the southern stand so looking at your photos of the scoreboard probably missed you by hours.

I remember you asked about the construction site at the Southern stand after I posted photos from the shield match on 13th November. As you can see in 11 days they had put the cement in and your photo below shows the fences is up in the middle bays but by the time I left at 6pm the fence was 95% complete.

Yeah I was there from around 11-2pm. Saw Andrew Daniels as well but didn't end up chatting, but your last post has answered a lot of questions I had.

Stunned that they expect to get the much turf completed within a 10 day timeframe!

Absolutely no doubt the stand will be ready, but will be interesting to see the state of the outfield in the areas where there is currently no grass at all.

 

[Hank93]

RussellEbertHandball So the field should be extended to about the black dot then?

 

[Dobie G]

Club historian John Sincock, who has health issues, will have much Port memorabilia displayed at Adelaide Oval.

Source

PORT Adelaide will take one of SA football's greatest collections of memorabilia to its new AFL home at Adelaide Oval.
But the man who for the past two decades has spared the treasure - even premiership trophies - from being lost is fighting serious ill health just as his fight to protect and ultimately find a museum for the physical recollections of the Port Adelaide Football Club is being won.
Club historian John Sincock has his own battle with illness to win beyond his role as the custodian of Port Adelaide's grand collection of football history.
Sincock, a club life member at Alberton, shortly will be honoured by the Port Adelaide Football Club for his fight to stop the physical elements of the club's 113-year history being lost. He then will see the club's move to the new Oval set up the chance to finally put these historical items on display in a museum.
Port chief executive Keith Thomas is paying tribute to Sincock "for his tireless work".
Thomas in the next month will charge his staff with deciding which of the club's treasures should be displayed at the new Oval from March when Port returns to the ground that was its home in 1975-76.

More

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

RussellEbertHandball So the field should be extended to about the black dot then?

View attachment 36287

Yeah something like that based on what Andrew Daniels said. That artificial turf is about 4m or 5m wide on the western side and he said they need to leave a 4m "road" for vehicles and cranes to drive along to finish off the eastern stand. How much of that 6-8m of new turf area they will play on during the Test, I don't know, but if they are consistent with what I was told about the southern end, the boundary rope for the test will be where the construction fence is.

One thing I forgot to write was that only half the seats in in the eastern stand at ground level will be available for the Test, because they only have half finished the ground level kiosks and toilets.

hdecure those last 80-100 photos of the southern plaza entrance area and rooms and walkways you uploaded to your photo bucket account are fantastic and give people a good idea how much room there is at the back of level 1. It's like Dockland and MCG and not the tight squish at Footy Park.

For those who missed the link above look at hdecure's great shots at

http://s1169.photobucket.com/user/h...upa Sheffield Shiel 24 November?sort=3&page=1

 

[Killer Power]

I take it a few EP people plan to (nicely) rage up at the club about this...

My polite rant....... Haven't heard back as yet.

Hi Matthew
On behalf of myself and family I wanted to express my disappointment with the below. We greatly enjoyed the Essential Power membership last year as it provided us with the flexibility to move around based on the weather whilst still maintaining premium seats. Our intention was to continue on with this tier of membership in 2014 at Adelaide Oval however after reading the below and reviewing the stadium map it is apparent that a majority of seats equivalent to those that we had access to last year at AAMI will be unavailable this year unless we are prepared to pay extra and remain in the one spot.
The timing of this information also comes well after the optimal time where we could have made a decision to switch membership. To put it bluntly if I wanted a reserved seat I would have chosen another type of premium membership in one of the two newer stands. The attraction of Essential Power to us is the flexibility and this has been greatly diminished in my opinion by the provision of so many reserved seats in a traditionally unreserved member’s section.
I understand that this is now done however felt strongly enough on this one to want to make my voice heard.

 

[Hank93]

All of my photos have been uploaded now, if folks want to have a look.

Also, a member on the sensational adelaide forum noticed that the southern stand will be officially named the "Torrens Stand". The name was seen behind black tape on directional signs.

 

[finbarr]

Also, a member on the sensational adelaide forum noticed that the southern stand will be officially named the "Torrens Stand". The name was seen behind black tape on directional signs.

I'd be a fan of the Popeye Stand myself.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

All of my photos have been uploaded now, if folks want to have a look.

Also, a member on the sensational adelaide forum noticed that the southern stand will be officially named the "Torrens Stand". The name was seen behind black tape on directional signs.

As I said before, you have taken some great photos. The level 1 photos you took give people a great idea how much space there is between the gates and the the start of the level 1 seats. I assume the eastern stand set up will be similar sort of space.

Interesting they have gone with the Torrens Stand. I have been thinking about it as they probably won't name it after footballers, cricketers or administrators.

So the Western Stand gets the cricketers, the Eastern Stand gets the footballers and the Southern/Torrens Stand gets a mix.

From the Advertiser Saturday Nov 2

The northern 2 bays in the Western Stand will be called the Sir Edwin Smith Stand
The middle bay with the red seats will be called the Sir Donald Bradman Pavillion
The southern 2 bays in the Western Stand will be called the Chappell Stand

Those 5 bays with the 5 curved roofs sections are also called Pavilions

The original members bar in the Western Stand is now the Phil Ridings Bar
The dining room on level 3 of the Western Stand is now the Ian McLachlan Room
The terrace bar overlooking AO # 2 , the tennis courts etc is now the David Hookes Bar
The new bar in the northern end of the Western Stand will be called the Bodyline Bar

Gil Langley Room is the new name for the SACA Room on level 4 of the Southern Stand

Victor Richardson Gates will still be the name for main entrance to the Eastern Stand/side

The indoor cricket centre which doubles up as port's an the crows' post match function room capable of holding 3,000 people is the Favell/Dansie Indoor Cricket Centre. That is in the corner of the Southern and Western stands and the Tennis Centre.

Clem Hill and George Giffen get statutes as replacements for their stands and join the statutes for Dizzy and Boof.

Clarrie Grimmett keeps his gate at the northern end.

From the Sunday Mail Sunday September 22

The 5 Pavilions of the Eastern Stand are named after footballers. The paper didn't have the order but Fos Williams, Jack Oatey, Gavin Wanganeen, Mark Ricciuto and Max Basheer get a Pavilion each. I wonder if Max gets the middle one eyeballing the Sir Donald Bradman Pavilion?? Don Brebner, Max and others pushed Bradman for 5 years to build a grandstand on the eastern side of AO for footy.

Rick Davies gets a level 3 bar in the Eastern Stand - The Rick Davies Stadium Club Bar. He has to be there for the showdown to christen it.

There will be a John Halbert Room in the Eastern Stand, I think that replaces the Cathedral Dining Room. Halbert being a teetotaller doesn't get the bar so the bar in the room is the John Platten Bar

The Garry McIntosh Bar on level 1 of Eastern Stand.

The Graham Cornes Deck is the barbecue deck at the northern end of the Eastern Stand. I think that is in bay 340 which the club is has sold out its 100 spots. The club calls it The Deck in its hospitality packages
http://pafchospitality.austfoot.com.au/ProductCatalog/Product?ID=378

The City View Restaurant in the Southern Stand has now been called the William Magarey Room. The 2 bars outside the room, which were open yesterday and are at either end of the foyer, will be called the Peter Carey Bar and the Neil Kelly Bar.

The Lindsay Head Terrace in the Southern Stand. Don't know what that is.

The SANFL get 2 rooms in the southern stand, The SANFL Chairman's room next to the crows premiership club in the SW corner of level 3 of the Southern Stand. Port get Suite One in the SE corner of level 3, which looks like the club is now marketing as ONE, and next to that will be the Leigh Whicker League Room.

The bridges joining the Southern and Eastern Stands will be called the Bob Hank bridge on level 4 and Len Fitzgerald level 3.

The Cahill Mcleod Room is in the Southern Stand and offer views of PAFC and AFC warm up areas.

4 statues will be commissioned for Blight, Ebert, Farmer and Robran. I think they will be in front of the eastern grandstand entrance, but I don't have a confirmed reference. It's great that Ken Farmer gets recognition. What he did in the 30's gets overlooked too often.

At the northern end, yesterday I noticed they had built new gates just to the west of the Clarrie Grimmett Gate. That will be called the Bob Quinn Gate. Looks like members go thru the Bob Quinn Gate and the public who sit in the northern end go thru the Clarrie Grimmett Gate when its all finished.

 

[Balance]

I was high up in Wattle Park today, looking down on the town, surprised how much AO stands out now! The southern stand is EASILY the most visible structure from there, the top of it looks huge.

 

[finbarr]

Does anyone here know when our membership renewal forms are being posted out? Have paid my seat deposit ages ago but still no renewal forms.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

The second instalment is due on 19th December so i would say before then.