Yes AFL Team, No Politics...
DURING the summer break I had the opportunity to visit the much-heralded billion-dollar ($820 million at construction in 2017) Optus Stadium in Perth, home of AFL, Test cricket, and major musical events such as Coldplay.
It’s a coliseum of a building, as imposing from outside on the freeway as it is noticeable for its size once you take your seat.
‘Optus’ can safely cater for 65,000 spectators at a sporting event and about 75,000 concert goers, and while it is not the MCG in terms of its architecture, history, and tradition, it is a formidable piece of infrastructure all the same.
We attended the early January Big Bash League Twenty20 cricket fixture between the Perth Scorchers and Adelaide Strikers and I have one word to describe the experience: hot! It was a typical Perth summer’s evening with experienced patrons sitting on the western side of the ground to avoid the hectic nature of the extreme heat.
We joined the throng of orange-clad supporters on electric trains, part of the Transperthnetwork, from north of the Swan River to the stadium at Burswood.
Surprised by the number of people attending the game, the majority were not driving cars and fighting for Perth Parking, they were utilising public transport.
Unlike the proposed Tasmanian version, Perth’s Optus Stadium doesn’t try to be all things to all supporters.
The local A-League soccer team, Perth Glory, play at a boutique rectangular stadium known as HBF Park.
The stadium is also home to the Perth Glory Women and the Western Force Super Rugby Union team.
Once known as the Perth Rectangular Stadium, it seats more than 20,000 spectators for a sporting event and 32,000 for a concert.
HBF Park was chosen as a facility for the hugely popular and successful FIFA Women’s Football World Cup 2023 (soccer).
Tasmania missed out; we weren’t even chosen as a training venue.
RAC Arena, 16,000 patrons, facilities the United Cup tennis, the Perth Wildcats NBL basketball team, and the West Coast Fever Super Netball Team along with smaller concerts. It was pleasing to note that Football Tasmania has ditched its support of playing A-League games at the proposed new stadium. Watching soccer at an oval stadium is a subpar viewing performance.
The A-League Western United’s men’s and women’s teams are now playing at North Hobart Oval instead of York Park, basically because we don’t have a rectangular stadium and the old footy ground is relatively small with shallow pockets.
Sunscreen was mandatory at Optus Stadium with the feeling of needing to reapply as soon as you had lathered along with hats and cool drinks more important than the sporting event.
When the sun dropped below the stadium roof, the experience was terrific with facilities close by and a bird’s eye view of the cricket that didn’t feel too far away due to the huge and well positioned seating structure and giant viewing screens.
By contrast, the screens at the recent and embarrassingly attended (about 1750 to watch the world champions!)
Twenty20 Women’s cricket game at Bellerive Oval featuring Australia v South Africa, had me asking the few patrons sitting nearby if I could borrow their glasses.
I have seen the stickers promoting the proposed stadium at Macquarie Point ; they catch my attention like your favourite brand of car which starts to appear more frequently in traffic because you are looking for it. ‘Yes AFL Team, Yes Stadium’.
It’s like some of those other lowest common denominator slogans: ‘Stop the Boats’, or the other supreme example of lazy stupid thinking, ‘If you don’t know, vote no’.
The slogans remove any form of nuance or sophisticated debate, deliberately encouraging a simple yes or no answer to a complex issue. Alas, the politicians know we have zero time for nuance, and it takes too long to explain anyway so just make it simple, stupid and all will be fine.
Inextricably linking the team to the stadium was politics at its worst, driven by self-indulgent AFL officials and club presidents, more concerned about their own backyard and uncommitted to the growth of the game or recognising Tasmania as a foundation football state. To be frank, AFL powerbrokers rode roughshod over a frightened state government determined to present a handcrafted begging bowl at any cost. But it worked, and it would be a brave political leader who would put their career on the line to ‘kill the dream’ and ultimately, ‘kill the team’, which has been fought for by community minded supporters for generations.
Political leaders are often left looking for a trigger to call an early election.
Much like the proposed pulp mill, most thought it would all be the stadium, but it’s now also apparently an unworkable parliament and the deterioration of relationships.
Ironically, parliament has been unworkable for years. I note that the state government has recently called for a Macquarie Point stadium designer, it seems a bit late and backward, yet more importantly and in preparation, they must fix public transport now. Buses, ferries, Ubers, Taxis, electric bikes and scooters, walking and bike paths, bus and bike lanes, and trains are actually far more important if we wish to make our stadium an experience.