Shabby SCG turf

[Go Swannies]

Fair enough for the rugby, but the league has a few big matches coming up, including this week's Roosters Souths clash. It doesn't look like they're gonna move any league games by the sounds of it.

I heard an interview with a Roosters (?) player yesterday saying that the SCG is their home for the next three years.

[jono2707]

I heard an interview with a Roosters (?) player yesterday saying that the SCG is their home for the next three years.

That's correct - it'll be the Roosters home for at least the next three years, and who knows, maybe more if the current stadium schemozzles don't get sorted soon after the upcoming election.

There are no other suitable venues in the eastern suburbs so the Roosters really don't have any other choice if they want to keep their games local in the east.

[The Big Cat]

That's correct - it'll be the Roosters home for at least the next three years, and who knows, maybe more if the current stadium schemozzles don't get sorted soon after the upcoming election.

There are no other suitable venues in the eastern suburbs so the Roosters really don't have any other choice if they want to keep their games local in the east.

How many do they average to a game? 6 or 7,000? Why need a big stadium?

[stellation]

I thought I'd read that the club would only be able to train there during the weeks immediately before a home game. But I asked the question at the recent AGM and was told (by Harley) that the club retains its contractual rights to train there three times every week. He did, however, acknowledge that they may face some pressure to move training to alternative venues. The revamped oval outside the SCG (I guess we can't call it Bus Loop Oval anymore, given the bus loop has gone) is due to be available in a couple of months. Last week they were preparing to lay the turf. A week earlier, when I walked past it, it was just a random pattern of mounds of earth.

It's disappointing that the "once was bus loop" oval is still that far away, I would have thought that it would be accelerated like crazy as soon as they became aware that they'd likely need to have an additional place to train.

[dejavoodoo44]

How many do they average to a game? 6 or 7,000? Why need a big stadium?

I looked it up. Their average home attendance for last season was 13,274. Something that could easily fit into Leichhardt Oval or North Sydney Oval. Maybe the problem is, that those making the decisions, prefer the the corporate boxes at the SCG?

[Hotpotato]

Those rugby scrum acts just uproot heaps of turf (especially if it hasn’t taken root).
Have to relocate some rugby games.

[KSAS]

This issue was brought up on Footy Classified and On The Couch tonight, with both reporting the Swans (Harley) are very concerned and will be keeping close eye. They both showed stills of a rugby scrum chopping up huge chunks of turf and ground staff attempting to stamp them back in. You'd think the AFL (Gill) will become involved if the surface becomes a safety concern?

[Blood Fever]

This issue was brought up on Footy Classified and On The Couch tonight, with both reporting the Swans (Harley) are very concerned and will be keeping close eye. They both showed stills of a rugby scrum chopping up huge chunks of turf and ground staff attempting to stamp them back in. You'd think the AFL (Gill) will become involved if the surface becomes a safety concern?

He will probably appear to be doing something in his usual shallow way

[jono2707]

The rugby was played the week before. I didn't see the league game on Friday night so not sure how well the surface has progressed over the week, but I noticed that the footage they used on AFL360 was from over a week ago - probably selected as it looked so shocking.

[stellation]

I appreciate the desire for teams based out of the SFS to want to play next door, but hopefully sanity prevails and at least some of the games are moved to other venues. I imagine it's a numbers game and even getting just a small number of the rugby(s) games off the ground would be a big help.

[chuckie]

I hope we get preferential treatment over the other two codes otherwise it would be an insult to the club.
The grass needs to be cut a lot shorter for an AFL game otherwise the ball doesn't bounce as high, this was a problem at Homebush they wouldn't shave the grass back to the height required causing a lot of sloppy football. I remember Matthew Lloyd and several of the Swans players when playing at that ground saying that you would struggle to kick the ball more than 40 metres due to the long grass.
You also have the problem of not being able to get full traction with your stops in the ground causing a lot of slipping which happened a hell of a lot on that ground.
How much money would the Swans/AFL be spending on the ground compared to the other codes.
Remember the Nick Davis versus Geelong final that was to be played at Homebush but the ground wasn't up to AFL standard so it was moved to the SCG I just hope that the reverse doesn't happen this year.

[Beerman]

It's disappointing that the "once was bus loop" oval is still that far away, I would have thought that it would be accelerated like crazy as soon as they became aware that they'd likely need to have an additional place to train.

"The oval formerly known as bus loop".

Also, did Barry get banned? In memory of and on his behalf, I suggest moving all Swans home games to Homebush.

[mcs]

I appreciate the desire for teams based out of the SFS to want to play next door, but hopefully sanity prevails and at least some of the games are moved to other venues. I imagine it's a numbers game and even getting just a small number of the rugby(s) games off the ground would be a big help.

Don't know about the roosters, but the waratahs are already playing several of their games elsewhere - I think they only have 3 or 4 scheduled for the SCG.

[stellation]

Don't know about the roosters, but the waratahs are already playing several of their games elsewhere - I think they only have 3 or 4 scheduled for the SCG.

I have to admit, I do find this stuff fascinating and I'm sure it's because somewhere in the brain I'm thinking "okay, I don't work in that industry but is there some kind of skill I can apply?" then daydream about if\else statements or process models to work out exactly how frequently they can allow traffic* of different kinds on the surface.

* Now, speaking of traffic- surely we could improve flow by...

[jono2707]

Don't know about the roosters, but the waratahs are already playing several of their games elsewhere - I think they only have 3 or 4 scheduled for the SCG.

The Roosters have 8 more games scheduled for the SCG.