Western Bulldogs and their partnership with Ballarat a success

[Hard Ball Get]

Disappointing not one player could make it to Ballarat!

I get the Mad Monday thing so why would they arrange it for today?

All of these things will be done better with each premiership we win.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Should have done it mid-late week. It's still school holidays.

 

[aCunningPlan]

I was there and it was a good vibe about the place, pouring rain then sunny but it was great to see they made the effort to come out here.

 

[aCunningPlan]

I tell you what though the City Council will be pleased they had the celebrations today, four of the major networks were here and I've already seen crosses to Ballarat on the Project and 7.30, so mentioning the city to over a million people is a success.

 

[Boristown]

Disappointing not one player could make it to Ballarat!

I get the Mad Monday thing so why would they arrange it for today?

Because the Bulldogs are the hottest ticket in town and Ballarat want to bask in the glow and get some return on their sponsorship investment.

Have some friends in Ballarat that attended and they said first thing Bevo did was acknowledged the players not being there and apologised on behalf of the club. Said they didn't have a great deal of experience with post grand final plans and will make it right over the off season.

Friends said it was very enjoyable and everyone representing the Dogs did a super job.

For the record, my friends didn't give a wazoo that the players weren't there. They'd just been given the best day of their lives and were happy for the players to revel in it on their Mad Monday.

 

[Hard Ball Get]

Should have done it mid-late week. It's still school holidays.

No its not.

 

[Boristown]

No its not.

Also, don't they have the B&F mid week? Would imagine that takes priority...

 

[Hard Ball Get]

Also, don't they have the B&F mid week? Would imagine that takes priority...

Yep Wednesday.

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

Hawks went to Launceston, surely we can get some advice for next time. Wouldn't mind some recognition for the Perth and Sydney supporters too- they all turned out even though we were underdogs both times

 

[BRWB]

Hawks went to Launceston, surely we can get some advice for next time. Wouldn't mind some recognition for the Perth and Sydney supporters too- they all turned out even though we were underdogs both times

After the Hawks first GF in 2008 they went Injunction*. If not rocking up to Ballarat is the worst thing that happens that's cool.

 

[Pugz89]

I actually agree with you. Too soon after the game and celebrations. This Friday perhaps would have been better. But as 'Hard Ball Get' just said, perhaps that's just poor planning resulting from lack of prior experience.

I actually think that it would have been ambitious at best to expect players to back up from a huge 48 hours of celebrations and to be making a public appearance. It was definately for the better that a bunch of deshevilled or drunken players didn't show up (in my opinion).

I don't think that it was ever part of the Bulldogs plan to have players in attendance, it's just that their PR department didn't brief or send the memo to the Ballarat City Council. It's certainly not a snub from the players, just a lack of communication by the Club.

I wonder, players have mandatory 8 weeks off or whatever it is. Every day counts. We are already going to be starting behind the 8 ball. Suspect they want them to get mad monday outta the way today, exit interviews Tuesday and Wednesday then get them back mid to late November.

 

[geoffjennings79]

The issue wasn't that the players didn't turn up. It's that it was explicitly advertised as the players would be there. I work in a large organisation in Ballarat - neutrals were talking about it this morning and planning to head down. Then The Courier highlighted no players would be attending, negative tweets from families followed, not a good look. I get that it appears to have been mis-comms between the club and council, and we're new at this thing, but maybe trying to get the full list to train at Eureka in pre- season (with the Cup on display ) would be a nice gesture. Even WIN news tonight ran it as a negative story.

 

[Bemoreboyddog]

Ballarat's AW Nicholson Constructions are forging ahead with the construction of the stands and new facilities. All is coming together on time and as far as we know, on budget. Eureka Stadium Stage 1 will be complete by mid-April next year. These two points are important, because the State Government will never commit more money to Stages 2 and/or 3 if the first stage is not delivered on time or on budget.

Ballarat must prove four things by August next year before the state government will commit to extra funding and support:

• Stage 1 must be delivered on time
• Stage 1 must be delivered on budget
• There must be the demand proven on the first game that guarantees that the stadium can be filled for an AFL game
• Ballarat must demonstrate an ability to successfully manage the game, crowd support and pedestrian/traffic movement on the day.

If they get those things right, then it is likely that the State Government will commit to the remaining $22 million to complete construction of two additional stands that will add a further 8-10,000 seats.

Cheers for always keeping us up to date RooBlu.

 

[Unorth]

If the Ballarat stadium can not run out of beer, that makes it at least twice as qualified to host AFL games than Spotless.

 

[Trent85]

 

[VitalDread]

I went up to ballarat for Casey vs Nth Ball this year and really enjoyed my cold time up there and was just imagining the look of the place when done
Only took me 2 hour drive from cranbourne.

If Bulldogs can get a agreement/sponsorship with Vline it would bring in tons of money

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Looks a bit like Carrara in the early days of the Bears (pre Metricon). Hope it will morph into a Metricon-like facility in future years.

 

[Spiritof82]

Hopefully those 4 black steel poles behind the goals aren't permanent as they would be really annoying trying to watch the game.

 

[maddog37]

They hold the nets.

 

[Pugz89]

Sorry mate but they stop the ball from going outside the ground. The nets aren't that distracting although the cheer squads won't be able to wave stuff beyond the fence line.

Surely they get removed for the game though. If the ball leaves the ground, people in the crowd will thrown it back just like in any other ground.

 

[maddog37]

Surely they get removed for the game though. If the ball leaves the ground, people in the crowd will thrown it back just like in any other ground.

It is close to the fence and would go out of the ground into houses I think at the south east end.

 

[Spiritof82]

Sorry mate but they stop the ball from going outside the ground. The nets aren't that distracting although the cheer squads won't be able to wave stuff beyond the fence line.

I realise that they are used for the nets to stop the ball during the pre game warm up but all other grounds remove the poles before the game starts. These ones look permanent.

 

[BJ06]

Anyone know when the Ballarat memberships are on sale? I've called the club on a couple of occasions, and no-one seems to be sure.

Also, do people know if they are prioritised to existing members (i'm a social club member) or first come first served as i have some Ballarat based friends/family (non-members) who are desperate to come.

Cheers

 

[King Harold]

If the Ballarat stadium can not run out of beer, that makes it at least twice as qualified to host AFL games than Spotless.

Middle of winter in Ballarat , I'm more concerned they have plenty of hot coco !

 

[TempleKelvington]

Ballarat is well on the way to having a fantastic new sports venue to allow the city and region to watch AFL and VFL footy, cricket and possibly other events. The big draw card being the link to the Western Bulldogs and their first regional AFL game in 2017. MRL media are bringing a new series of videos following the progress of the Eureka Stadium Construction.

Share this with your friends in and around Ballarat as there will be some interesting information to come in these videos:

It's amazing how they jack up the surface to realign it 35 degrees, that must take some doing.