Brighton Homes Arena (Springfield) discussions

[Fatcat08]

Seaford didn't work for St Kilda and it was a closer move than Springfield.

What is incredibly shortsighted is ignoring all the differences between Seaford and Springfield as a location let alone as facilities. There was absolutely nothing near Seaford, no shops, no facilties just industrial areas. In addition it was over a 40 minute drive from Moorabbin which was already a not Insignificant drive from where players lived. For most it was well over an hour each way from there homes. In no way is Springfield that far and it has a whole developing city centre including large shopping centre right next to it. Then there was the facility which was far from state of the art and lacking basic things like lap pools and recovery facilities as well as conference spaces as well as being far too small to cater for growth. It was a $4 million upgrade to an existing facility, not a $70 million purpose built facility. It's not Seaford, and the fact that people still try to compare it shows a complete lack of education on where the two projects lie on a whole range of issues.

Sure players may be close to our facilities now however the logistics involved for them on a daily basis are actually a massive headache. On any given day they can be changing locations 3-4 times. Sure they're only 10 min trips but they add up and they have to take most of their equipment with them to each location. They have to stagger their weight and meeting schedules in order to fit in around capacity of facilities and train and recover in 2-3 seperate locations depending on what sort of recovery sessions they're doing. It results in considerable pockets of dead time between activities and actually results in many players days spreading out over 2-3 hours longer than would be necessary due to the space and logistical issues.

But hey of course that's nowhere near as inconvenient as a 30 minute drive each way.

 

[MSB ROYS]

I am also sure that the players will appreciate the Brookwater Golf & Country Club (Greg Norman designed golf course).

 

[Dylan12]

Seaford didn't work for St Kilda and it was a closer move than Springfield.

Maybe, but neither is Tullamarine for Essendon players with many living in and around Middle Park / Albert Park and even Brighton.

Same could be said for Hawthorn when they move out to Dingley with players living in the inner eastern suburbs of Hawthorn, Malvern, Armadale etc.

Surely a half an hour commute will have no impact on whether players stay or want to come to Brisbane to play.

 

[Dylan12]

Excerpts from DA

Doesn't look like a second oval is contained in those plans.

I must admit, I'm really surprised they aren't constructing an indoor facility similar to the Hangar at Essendon and those that most EPL / European Football teams and US Football (pro / college) have.

 

[Lionheart182]

Maybe, but neither is Tullamarine for Essendon players with many living in and around Middle Park / Albert Park and even Brighton.

Same could be said for Hawthorn when they move out to Dingley with players living in the inner eastern suburbs of Hawthorn, Malvern, Armadale etc.

Surely a half an hour commute will have no impact on whether players stay or want to come to Brisbane to play.

Not to mention even those clubs with training bases in their homeland such as Collingwood, Melbourne and Richmond still have to drive into the middle of Melbourne to get to training. Would take a really long time from just about anywhere at most times of the day!

 

[Fatcat08]

Doesn't look like a second oval is contained in those plans.

I must admit, I'm really surprised they aren't constructing an indoor facility similar to the Hangar at Essendon and those that most EPL / European Football teams and US Football (pro / college) have.

I'm wondering if it was deemed not as necessary due to the weather. Most of the NFL and college teams with those facilities exist in places where it snows a lot of the winter or at least is bloody cold in winter when they're playing. The counter point to that would be some sort of indoor facility would help us in summer not lose so much training to rain, bit there was talk of a synthetic field for one of the fields in a previous iteration, so maybe that could be still on the cards

 

[Dylan12]

Not to mention even those clubs with training bases in their homeland such as Collingwood, Melbourne and Richmond still have to drive into the middle of Melbourne to get to training. Would take a really long time from just about anywhere at most times of the day!

Good point.

I had a meeting in Armadale that finished at 9:30am and had to return to the city, passing by Gosch's Paddock and Punt Road via Brunton Avenue and it took me close to half an hour just passing by those grounds, so a half an hour commute would be pretty normal for most footballers in Melbourne.

Using a commute time of half an hour's drive is just ignorant and I don't think I've ever read one comment on here that it wouldn't have been ideal if our training base was within the Brisbane City Council limits.

 

[Brett C]

True but they may look at suburbs like Indoorpilly and Graceville. Still fairly trendy and a good 15 minutes closer to training each day. Some of them might even bite the bullet and move right out to Brookwater and get themselves a house on the Golf Course. Although I'm not sure Brookwater or the surrounds will have enough cafe action or be close enough to the nightlife for the younger crew.

Agree indro and grace ville area is closer to the feel of Hawthorne/balmoral. Brookwater is so damn far from anything that im not sure the guys will move that way

 

[Brett C]

If there was a suitable location closer to Brisbane then Swann et al. would have got it. This has been rehashed over and over

Especially when the lease cost is $1/year

 

[carnaroys08]

As an active BLF member, and participant in the blockades during the wharf strikes I was on the special branch books - so it is about time I updated my status.

Love it !!!!
I was joined up by the BLF in Vic Jan 1982, I was 17 & doing a summer job. Target were building their site in Ringwood. I was working along side young BLF Members who were on $270pw. Target were paying me $110 less $10 or $12 tax. The 3 BLF Delegates lobbed. One told the Target Boss that I was to be back payed 6 weeks @ $160 pw in my next pay. The Target boss refused. The BLF bloke doing the talking turned to one of his mates & said "1/2 day, how much?" The reply was an astronomical amount. The bloke doing the talking said " We'll walk off for 1/2

 

[James North]

Great men choose Graceville.

 

[carnaroys08]

As an active BLF member, and participant in the blockades during the wharf strikes I was on the special branch books - so it is about time I updated my status.

Love it !!!!
I was joined up by the BLF in Vic Jan 1982, I was 17 & doing a summer job. Target were building their site in Ringwood. I was working along side young BLF Members who were on $270pw. Target were paying me $110 less $10 or $12 tax. 3 BLF Delegates lobbed. One told the Target Boss that I was to be back payed 6 weeks @ $160 pw in my next pay. The Target boss refused. The BLF bloke doing the talking turned to one of his mates & said "1/2 day, how much?" The reply was an astronomical amount. The bloke doing the talking said " We'll walk off for 1/2 a day over this & it's going to cost you ........ (it was around $100+ K) . Do we have an agreement that you will make good this week on the $960 you have stolen from this young man?" The Target Boss immediately agreed. They were a great Union.
Good on ya for taking part in the blockades. That was due to "Patrick Stevedores" screwing over hard working family men iirc (?) A worthy cause.

I got involved in the Copenhagen Riots against the EU in 1993. A bunch of us Aussie Expats were recruited by a group called the BZ'ers. We were fed rib eye steak, filled with Tuborg Beer, told the gameplan & went into action. It was one hell of a night.


ps: love your photo. I showed it to an ex a couple of years ago & she said she was glad we're not Dinasoars haha.

 

[carnaroys08]

Hard to believe anybody could still be this ignorant

Yes, it certainly is Ollie.

 

[acuguy]

I am happy to be proven wrong. I think making this decision when the club was on it's knees was always a dangerous way to go. As the club looks to be rebuilding and hopefully moving into an era of success, you have to wonder what other opportunities for a more central facility might've arisen. QLD sport is fickle, a successful Lions team will be the toast of the town, the money will pour in and smart long term planning could occur.

 

[Jivlain]

I am happy to be proven wrong. I think making this decision when the club was on it's knees was always a dangerous way to go. As the club looks to be rebuilding and hopefully moving into an era of success, you have to wonder what other opportunities for a more central facility might've arisen. QLD sport is fickle, a successful Lions team will be the toast of the town, the money will pour in and smart long term planning could occur.

Perfect, enemy, good.

 

[StevoJenkins]

I am happy to be proven wrong. I think making this decision when the club was on it's knees was always a dangerous way to go. As the club looks to be rebuilding and hopefully moving into an era of success, you have to wonder what other opportunities for a more central facility might've arisen. QLD sport is fickle, a successful Lions team will be the toast of the town, the money will pour in and smart long term planning could occur.

It's mainly going to be used to play AFLW, a branch of the AFL that doesn't really have a centralized home ground as it is. It's not like there will be AFL matches played there. The only thing you will miss if you don't want to drive there or take the train there is the training sessions, which you already had to go to multiple different places (especially in the preseason). Everything else outside of training and AFLW will remain the same, as I don't see the admin team completely moving out of the Gabba offices.

The fact they planned the site near a shopping centre, train station and a in-construction multiple story car park is a good move overall.

 

[The Flying Belgian]

It's mainly going to be used to play AFLW, a branch of the AFL that doesn't really have a centralized home ground as it is. It's not like there will be AFL matches played there. The only thing you will miss if you don't want to drive there or take the train there is the training sessions, which you already had to go to multiple different places (especially in the preseason). Everything else outside of training and AFLW will remain the same, as I don't see the admin team completely moving out of the Gabba offices.

The fact they planned the site near a shopping centre, train station and a in-construction multiple story car park is a good move overall.

Although I’m sympathetic to those who attend training (some of those here) the reality is even during the premiership years regular season training sessions only attracted 100 at most.

But I’m pretty sure you are not correct on the administrative staff - they will be moving out to Springfield. The idea is to escape the ridiculous rent charged by Stadiums Queensland. They only arrangement we will have with them is to train there occasionally, probably the last session before home games.

Although they’re not saying it explicitly they’ll be looking to play pre-season games there which, if it comes up anything like the mock-ups will be a good thing compared to Burpengary.

 

[drapes11]

Doesn't look like a second oval is contained in those plans.

I must admit, I'm really surprised they aren't constructing an indoor facility similar to the Hangar at Essendon and those that most EPL / European Football teams and US Football (pro / college) have.

I’m pretty sure the rectangle ground is going to be a second oval. Note that this particular DA didn’t get processed. I put it up to show the correct location.

 

[StevoJenkins]

Although I’m sympathetic to those who attend training (some of those here) the reality is even during the premiership years regular season training sessions only attracted 100 at most.

But I’m pretty sure you are not correct on the administrative staff - they will be moving out to Springfield. The idea is to escape the ridiculous rent charged by Stadiums Queensland. They only arrangement we will have with them is to train there occasionally, probably the last session before home games.

Although they’re not saying it explicitly they’ll be looking to play pre-season games there which, if it comes up anything like the mock-ups will be a good thing compared to Burpengary.

If we are to continue using the Gabba for training, then we'd need some sort of presence to reamin at the Gabba. I'm not saying we'd need a large force to stay, but you'd need something to stick around.

 

[jackess]

I am happy to be proven wrong. I think making this decision when the club was on it's knees was always a dangerous way to go. As the club looks to be rebuilding and hopefully moving into an era of success, you have to wonder what other opportunities for a more central facility might've arisen. QLD sport is fickle, a successful Lions team will be the toast of the town, the money will pour in and smart long term planning could occur.

Where’s the money come from?

We’re not getting $70 million unless we build it in a developing area and would need more money to build the same facility in a central location.

Not to mention the fact that this forms a part of the plan for getting off our knees.

 

[dlanod]

If we are to continue using the Gabba for training, then we'd need some sort of presence to reamin at the Gabba. I'm not saying we'd need a large force to stay, but you'd need something to stick around.

How so?

We use half a dozen suburban grounds for training at the moment, but I'd be surprised if we maintain a presence at each of them outside of training times.

 

[Brett C]

Love it !!!!
I was joined up by the BLF in Vic Jan 1982, I was 17 & doing a summer job. Target were building their site in Ringwood. I was working along side young BLF Members who were on $270pw. Target were paying me $110 less $10 or $12 tax. 3 BLF Delegates lobbed. One told the Target Boss that I was to be back payed 6 weeks @ $160 pw in my next pay. The Target boss refused. The BLF bloke doing the talking turned to one of his mates & said "1/2 day, how much?" The reply was an astronomical amount. The bloke doing the talking said " We'll walk off for 1/2 a day over this & it's going to cost you ........ (it was around $100+ K) . Do we have an agreement that you will make good this week on the $960 you have stolen from this young man?" The Target Boss immediately agreed. They were a great Union.
Good on ya for taking part in the blockades. That was due to "Patrick Stevedores" screwing over hard working family men iirc (?) A worthy cause.

I got involved in the Copenhagen Riots against the EU in 1993. A bunch of us Aussie Expats were recruited by a group called the BZ'ers. We were fed rib eye steak, filled with Tuborg Beer, told the gameplan & went into action. It was one hell of a night.


ps: love your photo. I showed it to an ex a couple of years ago & she said she was glad we're not Dinasoars haha.

First part of the story shows the value of unions and then the last paragraph shows the abject stupidity of them.

 

[Brett C]

I am happy to be proven wrong. I think making this decision when the club was on it's knees was always a dangerous way to go. As the club looks to be rebuilding and hopefully moving into an era of success, you have to wonder what other opportunities for a more central facility might've arisen. QLD sport is fickle, a successful Lions team will be the toast of the town, the money will pour in and smart long term planning could occur.

Agree in a perfect world it would be getting built at somewhere like Coorparoo but ee won 3 flags and were averaged 33k attendance at home games in 2004/05 and within 6 years we dropped to 20k. If we couldn't get a base closer to the CBD off the ground in the early 2000's it's not going to happen.

Springfield is a decision made for long term stability and from a financial perspective will make the club much stronger than even during the glory years. The cost of land is far to great and politically I'm not sure there is the will to give away such a massive piece of property to a professional sporting club.

Springfield will cost the club $1 per year to lease and offer substantial upside from a facility perspective for the players/community.

 

[Brett C]

It's mainly going to be used to play AFLW, a branch of the AFL that doesn't really have a centralized home ground as it is. It's not like there will be AFL matches played there. The only thing you will miss if you don't want to drive there or take the train there is the training sessions, which you already had to go to multiple different places (especially in the preseason). Everything else outside of training and AFLW will remain the same, as I don't see the admin team completely moving out of the Gabba offices.

The fact they planned the site near a shopping centre, train station and a in-construction multiple story car park is a good move overall.

Completely agree, I think the location makes it more likely people will attend. I've attended a couple of sessions over the years and even as a northsider probably an hours drive away from Springfield I am more likely to attend sessions.

 

[Dylan12]

Springfield will cost the club $1 per year to lease and offer substantial upside from a facility perspective for the players/community.

As a life long and die hard member willing to show their commitment to the club, I am even prepared to pay the club's lease of $1 per year in perpetuity.

You're welcome, Dylan12