- Apr 26, 2011
- 10,430
- 12,338
- AFL Club
- Fremantle
- Other Teams
- Wimbledon AFC
Not at all.The announcement of State Government committed funding got me thinking about how we got here to the current proposal.
Back in 2001 following AFL ceasing to be played at the WACA Ground, the WACA decreased the length of the playing field to better suit cricket (no longer being long enough for football). Which you can see aerial images of, on the previous page, which really improved the southern stands and the ground level.
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From 2007 the WACA sought to upgrade the northern stands to latest standards, costing over $250m, and looked to getting some funding from selling land off for apartments and commercial buildings to the east and west, with differing designs over the years culminating in apartments being sold in 2014.
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But with the new Perth Stadium under construction in 2016, ideas started changing, with focus turning towards providing community facilities to leverage some government funding, whilst retaining large matches at an increased capacity WACA ground.
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But with the WACA committed to having bigger matches at Perth Stadium, in 2018 they started investigating the most sustainable way of developing the WACA ground.
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Which is how we have ended up with the WACA seeking a redevelop of the ground to a smaller capacity with improved facilities on the northern side that will cater for the community level events and have community facilities. Shade would also be provided for the eastern and western grass banks. This would be done with government funding with no land sales, whilst the bigger events are played at Perth Stadium.
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I hope everyone enjoyed the ride.
But glad that the waca is not to be removed altogether.
I'm hoping this will be fast tracked now. Lol.
And we can see a nuteral ground to showcase wafl footy & our own state cricket team..would have been cool to have had it ready before covid & it could have housed an afl team or 4 from over East.
