The latest chapter in the continuing saga over Western Australia’s sports stadium needs played out recently with the Western Australian Football Commission outlining its $235 million vision for a re-developed Subiaco Oval.
The latest chapter in the continuing saga over Western Australia’s sports stadium needs played out recently with the Western Australian Football Commission outlining its $235 million vision for a re-developed Subiaco Oval.
It proposes a stepped four-stage expansion of the ground to extend its seating capacity to 60,000 by 2020 – with initial work to begin in October next year to expand the venue to a capacity of 48,222.
The WAFC announcement comes on the eve of John Langoulant’s Major Stadia Taskforce interim report into the state’s future stadium requirements, and completes the list of submissions he will deliberate on.
It includes input from the WACA, and a group pushing for a new arena to be built at Cockburn Central in the southern suburbs.
The terms of the taskforce also include the investigation of alternative greenfields sites, which is believed to include Mueller Park adjacent to Subiaco Oval and the old East Perth power station site.
In the absence of any comment from the taskforce or the state government as to which option – if any – they prefer, the upgrading of Subiaco Oval is likely to be well received by the general public, as it represents something tangible from a venue people are familiar with.
However, leading ABC sports journalist Wally Foreman is not convinced.
“I have reservations over a Subiaco renovation, and this is a renovation not a re-build as the MCG successfully underwent recently. It doesn’t provide for the needs of the state,” he told WA Business News.
“This is the fundamental issue, not just the needs of football, and we need to house all sports and other types of entertainment.”
The popularity of WA’s two AFL teams who play at Subiaco ensures that the WAFC is a major stakeholder in any stadium debate, and as part of its blueprint for Subiaco it has offered to develop an arrangement for other sports to use the ground.
But, the fact remains Subiaco is the WAFC’s ground, and it advocates a separate venue to cater for rectangular-field sports like soccer and rugby.
It proposes only blockbuster events like soccer matches involving the national team be played at Subiaco.
The numbers provided by the WAFC also warrant closer inspection, a point not lost on Mr Foreman.
“I think the WAFC’s figures are a little rubbery. The $235 million does not include other works outside the immediate upgrade of the ground, like work on surrounding streets and sinking the rail line,” he said.
“When you add these numbers in, you get closer to $400 million, which is not outside the cost of building a new stadium.
“I am not against Subiaco as a location, as the venue needs to be centrally located and close to an entertainment precinct, and Subiaco is good on these criteria.”
His preference, though, is for a new stadium and of the locations suggested he leant towards the East Perth power station site and said that, as far as he was aware, the East Perth Redevelopment Authority hadn’t gazetted the area for any other purpose.
But, as WA Business News reported in April, despite the stadia taskforce being about to produce its interim findings and with its final report due later this year, there is no guarantee that anything will happen on the stadium front.
One of the options the government has is to maintain the present situation and do nothing.
Mr Langoulant previously told WA Business News that he didn’t see any major stadium happening in the next few years.
And, when questioned on the subject while announcing the state budget last month, Treasurer Eric Ripper said there was no provision for funds for a new stadium.