The WACA - Downfall

[Power Raid]

It's only a 20m pool and cricketers will have to swim each leg. "Runs" will be renamed "swims".

I would have called them "laps"

 

[Commando]

Why did the Eagles play 1994 finals at the WACA?
Was there a redevelopment at Subiaco?
I’m sure they played there throughout the year

 

[Spearhead]

Why did the Eagles play 1994 finals at the WACA?
Was there a redevelopment at Subiaco?
I’m sure they played there throughout the year

The outer terrace and behind the goals at the city end was being redeveloped with the new stand (as it was called then) the Town & Country Stand during the 1994 footy season and Subiaco Oval was only at 50% capacity.
The WACA with the addition of temporary stands actually could accommodate more spectators hence the AFL Finals game WCE vs Coll & Melb were held there instead of Subi. From memory all of the WAFL finals bar the GF were also held at the WACA during that period.

 

[Commando]

The outer terrace and behind the goals at the city end was being redeveloped with the new stand (as it was called then) the Town & Country Stand during the 1994 footy season and Subiaco Oval was only at 50% capacity.
The WACA with the addition of temporary stands actually could accommodate more spectators hence the AFL Finals game WCE vs Coll & Melb were held there instead of Subi. From memory all of the WAFL finals bar the GF were also held at the WACA during that period.

Was that the old standing hill terrace, left of tv screen?
Remember Eagles hosted finals at Subi maybe 91/92
First out of Victoria
Hawks definitely won the first one

 

[Spearhead]

Was that the old standing hill terrace, left of tv screen?
Remember Eagles hosted finals at Subi maybe 91/92
First out of Victoria
Hawks definitely won the first one

Yes that is correct Commando

 

[kranger]

The beginning of the WACA development, is the application to demolish the existing.

Development Application – Lot 1507 (No.39) Nelson Avenue, East Perth – WACA Ground Partial Demolition and Minor Alterations - DevelopmentWA - Shaping our State's future

Western Australia’s land development agency

developmentwa.com.au

“The development application for demolition and minor alterations is proposed as part of the initial stage of improvement works to the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) Ground. The proposed development consists of:

• demolition of the Prindiville and Inverarity stand (including ancillary structures associated with the stands), WACA Museum, Barry Shepherd Entry and Box Office, Orangery & The Sails, Northern car park, northern podium, light tower 2, security and box office building (north-east), indoor cricket centre, cricket practice wickets, Braithwaite Street gate and Langers Loft;
• demolition of part of the existing boundary masonry wall adjacent to Braithwaite Street, to provide a new vehicle crossover; and
• relocation of a main power transformer.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

The beginning of the WACA development, is the application to demolish the existing.

Development Application – Lot 1507 (No.39) Nelson Avenue, East Perth – WACA Ground Partial Demolition and Minor Alterations - DevelopmentWA - Shaping our State's future

Western Australia’s land development agency

developmentwa.com.au

“The development application for demolition and minor alterations is proposed as part of the initial stage of improvement works to the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) Ground. The proposed development consists of:

• demolition of the Prindiville and Inverarity stand (including ancillary structures associated with the stands), WACA Museum, Barry Shepherd Entry and Box Office, Orangery & The Sails, Northern car park, northern podium, light tower 2, security and box office building (north-east), indoor cricket centre, cricket practice wickets, Braithwaite Street gate and Langers Loft;
• demolition of part of the existing boundary masonry wall adjacent to Braithwaite Street, to provide a new vehicle crossover; and
• relocation of a main power transformer.

View attachment 1044275

So they are not turning this into a footy ground?

 

[kranger]

So they are not turning this into a footy ground?

They still are. That’s why the two ends are in yellow, and marked as being ‘Realign and Rebuild’ in the key.

It’s just that they tend to do two applications, one for the demolition as it will quickly get approved and allow them to start work, whilst the more detailed and lengthier application for construction of the new stands comes later.

 

[Kwality]

So they are not turning this into a footy ground?

Does Perth need another footy ground with a stand?

 

[Noobz0r]

They still are. That’s why the two ends are in yellow, and marked as being ‘Realign and Rebuild’ in the key.

It’s just that they tend to do two applications, one for the demolition as it will quickly get approved and allow them to start work, whilst the more detailed and lengthier application for construction of the new stands comes later.

Surely that minor amount of reclaimed land isn't long enough to make it a footy ground.

 

[Noobz0r]

Does Perth need another footy ground with a stand?

EP should move there imo.

I heard about a new city hub at the East Perth end that Murdoch Uni is building in the city to replace their Mt Lawley campus. Anyone know where it is in relation to the WACA?

 

[kranger]

EP should move there imo.

I heard about a new city hub at the East Perth end that Murdoch Uni is building in the city to replace their Mt Lawley campus. Anyone know where it is in relation to the WACA?

You mean Edith Cowan University (not Murdoch) in terms of relocating their Mt Lawley campus. It will be above Perth Busport opposite Yagan Square.

But Murdoch University will be including an E-Sports Stadium as part of that development.

 

[Noobz0r]

You mean Edith Cowan University (not Murdoch) in terms of relocating their Mt Lawley campus. It will be above Perth Busport opposite Yagan Square.

But Murdoch University will be including an E-Sports Stadium as part of that development.

Sorry, I did mean ECU. I have no idea why the person was saying it was going to be at the East Perth end then haha.

 

[kranger]

Surely that minor amount of reclaimed land isn't long enough to make it a footy ground.

Well it works out to be about 10-12m at each end. So a total lengthening of about 20-24m.

When they did the 2002 redevelopment to shorten the length, Wikipedia says they reduced it by about 30m.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Does Perth need another footy ground with a stand?

I thought the whole idea was to make it WAFL headquarters and have game of the round there every week.
If no footy is going there then it’s time to knock it all over. Should of been the main stadium in Perth but the snotty nose WACA members never wanted to share with footy, now they have nothing.

 

[holybishop]

I thought the whole idea was to make it WAFL headquarters and have game of the round there every week

That was the plan, until McGowan decided to build a school on Subiaco oval and told the WAFC to stay put.

 

[holybishop]

The beginning of the WACA development, is the application to demolish the existing.

Development Application – Lot 1507 (No.39) Nelson Avenue, East Perth – WACA Ground Partial Demolition and Minor Alterations - DevelopmentWA - Shaping our State's future

Western Australia’s land development agency

developmentwa.com.au

“The development application for demolition and minor alterations is proposed as part of the initial stage of improvement works to the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) Ground. The proposed development consists of:

• demolition of the Prindiville and Inverarity stand (including ancillary structures associated with the stands), WACA Museum, Barry Shepherd Entry and Box Office, Orangery & The Sails, Northern car park, northern podium, light tower 2, security and box office building (north-east), indoor cricket centre, cricket practice wickets, Braithwaite Street gate and Langers Loft;
• demolition of part of the existing boundary masonry wall adjacent to Braithwaite Street, to provide a new vehicle crossover; and
• relocation of a main power transformer.

View attachment 1044275

I query how demolishing a light tower would impact on the WACAs ability to host night fixtures.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Every other state got footy and cricket together and made sure their iconic grounds were future proofed. Except one, good old WA who stuffed it up over the last 3 decades.
And here we are now with our famous cricket ground confinEd to a community grassland and a swimming pool. WACA Wally’s.

 

[kranger]

I query how demolishing a light tower would impact on the WACAs ability to host night fixtures.

The report that goes with the demolition application says that the light tower’s are all being upgraded to LED’s, as part of these works, but are works that are exempt from requiring development approval, so they are just happening anyway.

So I guess the upgraded lights, don’t need so many towers.

 

[RedV3x]

Every other state got footy and cricket together and made sure their iconic grounds were future proofed. Except one, good old WA who stuffed it up over the last 3 decades.
And here we are now with our famous cricket ground confinEd to a community grassland and a swimming pool. WACA Wally’s.

Cricket absolutely refused to have anything to do with the proposed "super-stadium" and stated that they were happy not to play there.
The government should have pressured them like they did football and Subiaco.
Taxpayers should have pressured the government because the same stadium at the WACA would have saved about $ 1 billion.
But there it stands. The budget is supposedly in surplus. I say, let cricket pay through the nose.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Cricket absolutely refused to have anything to do with the proposed "super-stadium" and stated that they were happy not to play there.
The government should have pressured them like they did football and Subiaco.
Taxpayers should have pressured the government because the same stadium at the WACA would have saved about $ 1 billion.
But there it stands. The budget is supposedly in surplus. I say, let cricket pay through the nose.

Correct, cricket for 3 decades in WA refused to even converse with footy about the future. They refused to fix their own facility, they refused to look after their fans. They relied on that they had the best pitch in the world and that was enough. Now they have nothing and the only real losers are us the fans who will never see international cricket again at our great ground.

 

[Admiral Byng]

Cricket absolutely refused to have anything to do with the proposed "super-stadium" and stated that they were happy not to play there.
The government should have pressured them like they did football and Subiaco.
Taxpayers should have pressured the government because the same stadium at the WACA would have saved about $ 1 billion.
But there it stands. The budget is supposedly in surplus. I say, let cricket pay through the nose.

I think you have a distorted perspective on how these events happened and who pressured who. The government did not pressure footy. It started with footy going: " Waaaa!! We need a bigger stadium" and the footy fans/taxpayers echoing the call and pressuring the government to build it.

It was only some good foresight and planning from the state cabinet (very rare in Australian politics) that we ended up with a new stadium capable of hosting both cricket and footy, by insisting the ground dimensions would be suitable for both. Footy were pressuring the government to build it to a similar size to subi, but that would have been too short to meet ICC minimum size. If not for that decision we would be needing to spend another half Bill rebuilding the WACA if we wanted international cricket in Perth.

All of these decisions were taken before the BBL took of and became a thing, and the Scorchers were suddenly needing a bigger stadium too.

 

[RedV3x]

The government did not pressure footy.

The government certainly pressured football as to how it was to be done. In the end it took it's own expensiveoption.

It started with footy .

It started with football needing a bigger stadium and the government opted out of N/S re-alignment and three tiers all around and building a two tier stand resulting with a stadium with low capacity, poor sight lines and poor facilities. it resulted in a new stadium being required immediately after the redevelopment being completed. Football waited a very long time for a decent stadium to be built and football responded with filling the stadium.

that we ended up with a new stadium capable of hosting both cricket and footy,

Which wasn't needed as cricket repeatedly said they weren't interested in a new stadium.

If not for that decision we would be needing to spend another half Bill rebuilding the WACA if we wanted international cricket in Perth.

Hardly. Who cares anyway - not many by the attendances.

If not for that decision we would be needing to spend another half Bill rebuilding the WACA

If WACA had come to the party thern taxpayers could have saved an easy $1 billion.

All of these decisions were taken before the BBL took of and became a thing, and the Scorchers were suddenly needing a bigger stadium too.

Even BBL could easily be accommodated at the WACA.

 

[Admiral Byng]

The government certainly pressured football as to how it was to be done. In the end it took it's own expensiveoption.



It started with football needing a bigger stadium and the government opted out of N/S re-alignment and three tiers all around and building a two tier stand resulting with a stadium with low capacity, poor sight lines and poor facilities. it resulted in a new stadium being required immediately after the redevelopment being completed. Football waited a very long time for a decent stadium to be built and football responded with filling the stadium.



Which wasn't needed as cricket repeatedly said they weren't interested in a new stadium.



Hardly. Who cares anyway - not many by the attendances.



If WACA had come to the party thern taxpayers could have saved an easy $1 billion.



Even BBL could easily be accommodated at the WACA.

You have a very distorted view of things. A few random historical facts but you've got it all in the wrong order.

The three tier stand at Subi was built as stage one of the north-south realignment plan, that is true. But the stand was completed in 1969, even before I was born. The next major redevelopment was in the late 70s or early 80s, at this time the N-S realignment plan was dropped and the E-W alignment was locked in - this is because the footprint of a N-S stadium exceeded land available and would require closing Roberts Road and resuming all the houses along that stretch.

The Subi Oval redevelopment plan of the early 2000s Langoulant Report was not a revival of the N-S realignment plan. It was a new proposal involving taking up the park to the east. It was not about extending the three tier stand all around the ground. It was building a new stand in 2 halves about 100m away from where the old stand was. It was always going to be demolished because it was not within the modern expectations of spectator amenities.

We've ended up with a great stadium, which all the required amentites, and is integrated into the public transport system with the new train and bus station. It is better than any redevelopment of either the WACA or Subi Oval, or both of them combined. You need to learn to love the stadium. It's ****ing fantastic.

 

[RedV3x]

The three tier stand at Subi was built as stage one of the north-south realignment plan, that is true.

Yes, that is what I said. The plan stalled and eventually the government cheaped out on other options.
Football sold the houses that it had been planned to use for the extension. Roberts Road has been a cul de sac for as long as I can remember.

We've ended up with a great stadium, which all the required amentites, and is integrated into the public transport system with the new train and bus station. It

We've ended up with a great stadium at much greater expense than it should have been.
We've ended up with a great stadium with no thanks to cricket.
We've ended up with a great stadium that needed $ 600 million on transport infrastructure.
We've ended up with a great stadium that needed $ 300 million on additional ground preparation and design.
We've ended up with a great stadium that requires an army of helpers on match day to manage dispersion.
We've ended up with a great stadium that has dispersion problems proportional to the attendance.
We've ended up with a great stadium that is biased towards corporate needs over outright capacity.