Eureka Stadium (Mars Stadium)

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Silent Alarm said:
I really don't get it. They ignore the beautiful old ground with the two classic grandstands – which would look quaint on TV – and build somewhere else. But the somewhere else they chose is an oval well out of town. What's the point? People are going to go once, realise it's a pain in the arse, and not bother. If you're able to get on a train by 9, be there by 10:30, have some lunch and wander around, be at the ground by 2, then home by 7 on a Saturday you'd do it. You're probably even going to have a countery or a few drinks after the game too.

Strange decision.
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You seriously have no idea about Ballarat, city oval has no room for expansion, no parking, and is exactly the same distance from the train station as mars stadium. It would have been a horrible shortsighted mistake to develop City oval into an afl stadium. It is right in the middle of a strict heritage overlay and surrounded by residents that will not accept any changes.
Mars is a four minute drive from the centre of town with plenty of room for development.
 
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aCunningPlan said:
You seriously have no idea about Ballarat, city oval has no room for expansion, no parking, and is exactly the same distance from the train station as mars stadium. It would have been a horrible shortsighted mistake to develop City oval into an afl stadium. It is right in the middle of a strict heritage overlay and surrounded by residents that will not accept any changes.
Mars is a four minute drive from the centre of town with plenty of room for development.
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Plus long term capacity for a potential events or 'Ballarat metro' station serving the stadium on the Maryborough train line

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Roogal said:
A new view of Mars under lights:
These views give you an idea of what 300 lux lighting looks like. Good enough for night play but definitely not TV standard. Still, quite pretty and interestingly you can see the difference between the regular lighting and the more natural LED lighting effect along the edge of the oval in front of the grandstand.

Below: Looking South West from the front of the North Ballarat Sports Club.
MG_3099.jpg


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Looking North East from the Eureka Stand:
Mars-Stadium10-from-western-stand-onto-ground-night.jpg
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I was at the women's football grand final this year and the lighting was dreadful, pouring rain, by six we couldn't see a thing.
 
Roogal said:
That said to me the Mars Stadium lights seem to go dreadful around twillight and improve the darker it gets.
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That's my experience with all grounds. Natural sunlight, even on a grey day, is brighter in a different way to the lights and it feels darker as the lights take effect until the eyes and brain get used to it.
 
Silent Alarm said:
Ballarat should have made this a square ground and locked themselves in an A-League club.
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They already have a rectangular facility in Redan that seats 500 and holds 6000 which is accompanied by three other all-weather pitches. A facility that had $14 million invested in 2014/15 to build it from the ground up ... perfect for football (soccer), rugby or hockey. :think:

 
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Roogal said:
They already have a rectangular facility in Redan that seats 500 and holds 6000 which is accompanied by three other all-weather pitches. A facility that had $14 million invested in 2014/15 to build it from the ground up ... perfect for football (soccer), rugby or hockey. :think:

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That’s a great venue for Ballarat.
Loved playing football there.
 
Roogal said:
It is therefore only reasonable to assume that future immigrant populations will fill Ballarat and therefore push for the growth of soccer, but if the AFL has already established an AFL dominance in the region by surrogating Ballarat as its Western frontier with a booming Western Bulldogs base of supporters by 2028, then it will be harder for Soccer to come in and attempt to capture youth markets outside Melbourne's boundaries in the future. The Bulldogs move into Ballarat so far since 2015 has resulted in some 4000 new members from the Ballarat region to the club and the way that the Bulldogs are targeting Ballarat's 30 primary schools, this should translate to 10-12,000 in 20 years time.
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What is your source for this figure of 4k new members from the Ballarat region? I would be very surprised with that number.
 
Roogal said:
The figure is unofficial but talking with staff in the Western Bulldogs shop in Mair Street Ballarart recently. That figure does encompass from Ballarat out to a 40 km radius from its centre. The figure actually sounds about right because the Northern Tasmania region contributes about 9000 to Hawthorn's membership and North Melbourne quote 7000 from the Hobart area. So yes 4000 didn't raise my eyebrows considering that since the Bulldogs set up shop in Ballarat in 2015, the club had 32,000 members and by 2018 it had 45,000 members. The GF win in 2016 boosted their numbers to 48,000 in 2017 but they fell back a bit last year by a couple of thousand. Since 2015 the club has actively recruited members across Ballarat and its surrounding towns. Plus there's the pester power of the school kids who are being aggressively recruited into the Bulldogs fold.
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Saw a lot of kids wearing Bulldogs caps on a recent visit to Ballarat.
 
jmac91 said:
The Brain Washing has Started
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I wouldn’t go so far as to call it brain washing. They are just trying to gain more followers in a (mostly) untapped market with nonteam to call their own.
I say mostly because North tried to get into Ballarat but I think they’re better off trying for Hobart.
 
Fizzler said:
I wouldn’t go so far as to call it brain washing. They are just trying to gain more followers in a (mostly) untapped market with nonteam to call their own.
I say mostly because North tried to get into Ballarat but I think they’re better off trying for Hobart.
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Imo the Dogs are trying much harder to win the locals over than North ever did.
 

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Fizzler said:
Weren’t North not allowed to play there or something similar?
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On November 24, 2010 it was announced that North Melbourne were going to play up to four AFL home games in Ballarat in 2012 under a bold proposal put forward by Labor if re-elected. ($30 million into upgrading Eureka Stadium in Ballarat to AFL-standard. $25 million would be used to build a 15,000-seat boutique stadium and upgrade the playing surface.)

In November 2010, Brumby wasnt re-elected.

In December 2010, New Victorian premier Ted Baillieu said the Coalition government would not commit the $30 million pledged by Labor for the project, effectively scuppering any chance of a redevelopment at the venue.

On June 7, 2011, North announced they would play games in Hobart.

In 2014, Labor Opposition leader Daniel Andrews said Ballarat would host at least two Bulldogs premiership season games in Ballarat every year if Labor won the election.
 
Dogs till i die said:
What's with "West Coast"?

Warrnambool is on the west coast.
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nah, wont win that argument
its the AFL - A for Australia
Only one West Coast on the whole of Australia. That's where that team represents

IMHO - and I know supporters don't agree, should be West Melbourne (like we have a North Melbourne), or back to Footscray name - which I prefer.
 
Billy ray said:
nah, wont win that argument
its the AFL - A for Australia
Only one West Coast on the whole of Australia. That's where that team represents

IMHO - and I know supporters don't agree, should be West Melbourne (like we have a North Melbourne), or back to Footscray name - which I prefer.
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Lol, problem with your "A" argument is that the West Coast Eagles joined the VFL in 1987.

Not sure the good people of Ballarat would embrace a team named after a place name 65 miles away, particularly your first choice (WM). BTW I think Ballarat is a great long term strategy for the Bulldogs and hope we can harness it to grow our club.

Dogs supporters saying we should abandon it after 3 games is nonsense.
 
Billy ray said:
nah, wont win that argument
its the AFL - A for Australia
Only one West Coast on the whole of Australia. That's where that team represents

IMHO - and I know supporters don't agree, should be West Melbourne (like we have a North Melbourne), or back to Footscray name - which I prefer.
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West Vic Bulldogs maybe?... nothing really works well, West Vic-Footscray?
 
Roogal said:
Perhaps because at the time they were the only AFL team in WA when they raised and it was better to harness support from across the Aussie Rules community in WA for a start up team by giving them a name which cast the net as wide as possible but still identified them as being from the West. If they had called them the Perth Eagles then it would have isolated them to Perth and perhaps not garnered support from the 500,000 West Aussies who live outside Perth. It's only a thought. :think:
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West Coast isn't abstract. It's not specific but west coasts do exist.
Western...well

You can talk about "I play for West Coast" without mentioning Eagles but you can't talk about "I play for Western" without saying "Bulldogs".
 

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Eureka Stadium (Mars Stadium)

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