Return to Princes Park: MARCH 2017

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As a suns supporter/member, i dont want my team playing anywhere which takes away a potential game at MCG (yes i know we play carlton at docklands but i can see the potential of games at a 3rd melb venue being used for our games).
In our existence we have only played MCG 13 games. Important for all teams to be able to play at G as much as possible
 
Fizzler said:
I have no doubt that people will show up, and I would love to go to PP and watch Port play Carlton (we’re pretty low drawing in Victoria) but there’s just too much wrong with Princes Park right now. People will go, but I’d be willing to bet one good kick and you could knock down the Gardiner Stand. There’s broken glass windows outside the Heroes Stand, the Legends Stand is a terrible design and aye end up being too far from the game and if someone’s in front of you then you can barely see. There’s graffiti in most stands and Princes Park is kind of used as a store room for the Blues with old signage, wooden seats and even turnstiles dumped around the place. Hopefully the Blues can do something good with Princes Park. Ideally you’d go back to before the Legends Stand was built, get them to build a two tier stand and refurbish the Gardiner Stand and not take out any seats. I saw this photo of Princes Park and it’s almost hard to believe it’s the same ground since they’ve changed so much.
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I really should have prefaced my original comments by saying I do not know the current condition of Princes Park. In fact the last time I was there was in 98. Haha.

I assume it is in a similar condition to Victoria Park which is actually in pretty good nick.
I’m surprised they play AFLW at PP but not at Victoria Park.
 
DidakDelight said:
Just wait until the Blues are back up the top of the ladder and are run properly off field.

They won’t muck around and will be playing a few games a year back at Princes Park.

Outsourcing Events managements companies it wouldn’t be hard to set up a couple of show case games each year.

Picture this...corporate marquees set up outside the ground, packed pubs before the game,and a packed house for a game against GWS or Gold Coast, follow that up with a bustling Lygon street post game.

Membership packages will be sold especially for these princes park showcase games and fans will pay extra to return to their spiritual home once, twice or three times per year.

All the negative nellies can bang on about the condition of the place but people will still go. In fact people from other teams will go if they are able to get a ticket.

There will be a massive market for one- off show case matches to be held at Suburban grounds once a year.
All it will take is a ballsy CEO and some astute event management and promotion and everybody from the clubs the AFL and local communities will benefit.

Carlton are in one of the better situations to jump on board this train.
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To contrast the "point of difference" & ol' time footy experience, with the MCG & DS, IMO PP should also have large standing room sections. You can fit far more people (cf seats) -& standing room sections are far more vocal/tribal/animated/exciting. It would be a great demonstration for younger generations of the raucous atmosphere of ol' time AF games. This would be a big selling point of PP games -most probably against GC, GWS.

For these reasons, Collingwood should be playing all its AFLW games at Vic. Park (also, flat, very small, no seats or shade- Olympic Park is TERRIBLE to watch footy at).
Collingwood, as part of its AFLW licence, is supposed to be promoting the AFLW & female AF -games at O/Park are FAILURES. Is there a push by Coll. supporters to take AFLW games to the mighty Vic. Park?

The AFL owns DS now -so the financial return of a 25,000 crowd at PP would need to be higher than a 25,000 crowd at DS. Ticket prices should be the same -don't disenfranchise fans with expensive PP tickets. Carlton would certainly get its mojo back by playing <28,000 crowd games at PP. Lygon St would be seething pre & post game.
 
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DidakDelight said:
I really should have prefaced my original comments by saying I do not know the current condition of Princes Park. In fact the last time I was there was in 98. Haha.

I assume it is in a similar condition to Victoria Park which is actually in pretty good nick.
I’m surprised they play AFLW at PP but not at Victoria Park.
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Princes Park is in much worse condition than Victoria Park. VP has had heaps of council money put into it since the Pies moved to Olympic Park and Headspace have helped renovate the Rose Stand. Victoria Park is a good example of what should have happened to Glenferrie Oval. Princes Park is probably too big of a task to do back up sadly. For what it’s worth, the corporate boxes have now been converted to YMCA offices. I strongly suggest going to a Women’s game or a VFL/TAC game to see what it’s like now. They get a bit touchy if you go while nothings on there.
I personally am not surprised that AFLW is at PP. Despite not being in the greatest condition, it’s facilities can easily accommodate even the opening game of the season (even with gates being lost to the 2008 redevelopment) and the food trucks/stalls are great, plus the grassed area outside is beautiful. I love that of Princes Park. What an environment. Anyway, back to what you said, Collingwood probably won’t play AFLW at VP because even though they said they were looking at it, the facilities are probably too small (yes I know Olympic Park has no seats) and since there’s no gates, they can’t keep tabs on crowd numbers. At Princes Park they have people with counters at the gates to get crowd figures. But Collingwood seem to be distancing themselves from VP, even with not playing as many VFL games. Baffling as even though facilities are small at VP, they are infinitely bigger than what’s at Olympic Park.
 
Fizzler said:
Princes Park is in much worse condition than Victoria Park. VP has had heaps of council money put into it since the Pies moved to Olympic Park and Headspace have helped renovate the Rose Stand. Victoria Park is a good example of what should have happened to Glenferrie Oval. Princes Park is probably too big of a task to do back up sadly. For what it’s worth, the corporate boxes have now been converted to YMCA offices. I strongly suggest going to a Women’s game or a VFL/TAC game to see what it’s like now. They get a bit touchy if you go while nothings on there.
I personally am not surprised that AFLW is at PP. Despite not being in the greatest condition, it’s facilities can easily accommodate even the opening game of the season (even with gates being lost to the 2008 redevelopment) and the food trucks/stalls are great, plus the grassed area outside is beautiful. I love that of Princes Park. What an environment. Anyway, back to what you said, Collingwood probably won’t play AFLW at VP because even though they said they were looking at it, the facilities are probably too small (yes I know Olympic Park has no seats) and since there’s no gates, they can’t keep tabs on crowd numbers. At Princes Park they have people with counters at the gates to get crowd figures. But Collingwood seem to be distancing themselves from VP, even with not playing as many VFL games. Baffling as even though facilities are small at VP, they are infinitely bigger than what’s at Olympic Park.
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It’s bizarre that Collingwood women’s side doesn’t play at Vic Park.
It’s easily hosted VFL games where they just put temp fencing around the outside to withstand crowd control.

It has basically half the ground with decent sized grandstands and then open wings in the summer for bbqs would set for a big occasion.

At a guess they could comfortably accomodate 10,000-15,000 which is a lot better than Olympic Park.
 
Punt Road Feral said:
It’s bizarre that Collingwood women’s side doesn’t play at Vic Park.
It’s easily hosted VFL games where they just put temp fencing around the outside to withstand crowd control.

It has basically half the ground with decent sized grandstands and then open wings in the summer for bbqs would set for a big occasion.

At a guess they could comfortably accomodate 10,000-15,000 which is a lot better than Olympic Park.
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They are wary about the potential success of AFLW at VicPark and decent sized crowds. This will cause dramas because supporters will naturally pine to see the AFL team playing at least a game or 2 there a year. It makes sense with the new interstate minnows to play a game per year there and the outcry and unrest will start.

The club and council will push back on this.

Unfortunately Collingwood have distanced themselves from VicPark and with the redevelopment of the ground and the intro of 2 new teams have overlooked a golden opportunity to go back there; even if it was only once a year.

I think this is something Carlton won’t miss once they start to build on and off the field again.
 
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The Hawthorn (Pratt) stand is to be demolished soon to make way for facilities for women's football as confirmed on 9News earlier tonight
 
Punt Road Feral said:
It’s bizarre that Collingwood women’s side doesn’t play at Vic Park.
It’s easily hosted VFL games where they just put temp fencing around the outside to withstand crowd control.

It has basically half the ground with decent sized grandstands and then open wings in the summer for bbqs would set for a big occasion.

At a guess they could comfortably accomodate 10,000-15,000 which is a lot better than Olympic Park.
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The council always gets in the way when we try and play there. Would like to see us back there but it just won’t happen. We wanted to host a VFL final there not long ago but the council got in the way
 

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Seedsfan said:
They don’t want high drawing games there due to parking and they don’t want temp fences going up meaning the VFL won’t allow finals there
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Thank the Greens and the gentrification of most of the City of Yarra's area for that, they don't care about Collingwood's historic ties to the park but their missing out on potential $$$$$$ by blocking Collingwood reserves from playing big games like finals at Vic Park.

Meanwhile I forgot that permanent light towers were coming to Princes Park, looks like the area's NIMBY's (Not In My Backyard) have finally lost.
 
There is definitely a capacity to play there again. One game per year should be the aim.

It might seem like stating the obvious but the club really needs to wine and dine the Yarra Council and mitigate potential concerns.

The most obvious concerns from the council would be amenity issues like noise, smoke, drunkenness, vehicle traffic,$$$ for the council.

To mitigate:

Noise - schedule the match for 1pm on a Saturday

Smoke - designated area next to the train line on lulie street

Behaviour- extra security and police presence

Traffic - Extremly limited parking only . Close off the neighbouring streets. Vehicles/resident exiting to be issued a permit which would allow them re-entry only.

$$ - big portion of match revenue to go to council. A Social issue nominated by council to headline the day with charity tins and fundraising to go towards Councils cause of choice.

There is something in it for the council the club just have to find out.
 
Seedsfan said:
They don’t want high drawing games there due to parking and they don’t want temp fences going up meaning the VFL won’t allow finals there
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It was a complete disaster (interms of parking & getting to & from) that 1st night of aflw a couple of yrs ago, ppl were parking illegally at the zoo & golf course just to try to find a park. A upgraded punt road makes so much more sense.
 
members section said:
It was a complete disaster (interms of parking & getting to & from) that 1st night of aflw a couple of yrs ago, ppl were parking illegally at the zoo & golf course just to try to find a park. A upgraded punt road makes so much more sense.
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In fairness though mate, that night was a bit of a one off/new territory. It was the first ever AFLW match with an unknown/unexpected turn out with most people just rocking up thinking it would be like a VFL Saturday arvo crowd.

If these matches were played more regularly including potential AFL matches, people would be more prepared and plan their journey to the game more carefully.

For example if you knew the Blues were playing the West Coast Eagles at Princes Park in around 6 on a Saturday arvo in May in a “one off” annual match there would be plenty of communication from club and AFL about car parking etc. Those lucky enough to get tickets would plan their day-out long in advance including their evening dinner reservations on Lygon Street.

It’s like spring racing carnival you know it’s a one off and cop the public transport or get a taxi or uber in a group.
 
DidakDelight said:
In fairness though mate, that night was a bit of a one off/new territory. It was the first ever AFLW match with an unknown/unexpected turn out with most people just rocking up thinking it would be like a VFL Saturday arvo crowd.

If these matches were played more regularly including potential AFL matches, people would be more prepared and plan their journey to the game more carefully.

For example if you knew the Blues were playing the West Coast Eagles at Princes Park in around 6 on a Saturday arvo in May in a “one off” annual match there would be plenty of communication from club and AFL about car parking etc. Those lucky enough to get tickets would plan their day-out long in advance including their evening dinner reservations on Lygon Street.

It’s like spring racing carnival you know it’s a one off and cop the public transport or get a taxi or uber in a group.
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I 100% agree it was a 1 off & circumstance the weather was perfect, but back in the day PP was used as a parking lot like at the mcg but melb city council have made it clear it will never happen again.
 
members section said:
It was a complete disaster (interms of parking & getting to & from) that 1st night of aflw a couple of yrs ago, ppl were parking illegally at the zoo & golf course just to try to find a park. A upgraded punt road makes so much more sense.
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Not really where are you going to put the new stand on the road?
 
Exactly.
Punt road like Glenferrie has been eaten way by roads.

The AFL’s vision doesn’t span 3 or 4 generations ahead.

Gen Y, X and the boomers are all rooted to suburban tribal football.

We are not the NFL with one team cities.
Jump 50-70 years ahead the AFL will be completely sterile and teams that can maintain that link to tribalism will have a massive advantage.
 
Bumping this thread up because on Fox League they're showing a NSWRL game (Balmain vs Brisbane, Round 7 1994). How weird does Princes Park look as a Rugby League ground? Steve Renouf for Brisbane notably scored 4 tries that afternoon.
20210218_173636.jpg
 
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