Leave the SCG

[CharlieG]

We're a five goal better side at Stadium Australia. The SCG is too small - it's become a hindrance rather than a help. That's one from four there this year. Pathetic.

 

[Ed_Gein]

I'm not sure thats the case. We were only really terrible against Port. Melbourne we should of beaten and the weather put St Kilda in with a chance. Although i dont mind the idea of moving to Stadium Australia. I just prefer the feel of an SCG crowd over the SA one.

 

[CharlieG]

Our last forty-five games at the SCG:
LOSS - St Kilda 52 Sydney 50
WIN - Sydney 116 Bulldogs 90
LOSS - Melbourne 97 Sydney 92
LOSS - Port Adelaide 106 Sydney 80
WIN - Sydney 56 Geelong 53
WIN - Sydney 101 Kangaroos 64
WIN - Sydney 88 West Coast 67
WIN - Sydney 105 Geelong 51
WIN - Sydney 109 Fremantle 71
WIN - Sydney 89 Bulldogs 76
WIN - Sydney 69 Port Adelaide 45
LOSS - Melbourne 94 Sydney 60
LOSS - Adelaide 120 Sydney 79
WIN - Sydney 118 Hawthorn 55
LOSS - Kangaroos 118 Sydney 112
WIN - Sydney 83 Brisbane 51
WIN - Sydney 58 Adelaide 45
WIN - Sydney 112 St Kilda 76
WIN - Sydney 93 Bulldogs 67
WIN - Sydney 80 Hawthorn 79
LOSS - Richmond 67 Sydney 54
WIN - Sydney 73 Geelong 67
WIN - Sydney 103 Fremantle 71
LOSS - Hawthorn 110 Sydney 93
WIN - Sydney 111 Bulldogs 97
WIN - Sydney 112 St Kilda 61
WIN - Sydney 92 West Coast 84
WIN - Sydney 127 Bulldogs 63
WIN - Sydney 112 Geelong 73
WIN - Sydney 98 Brisbane 79
WIN - Sydney 109 Melbourne 85
LOSS - Adelaide 103 Sydney 76
WIN - Sydney 87 St Kilda 80
WIN - Sydney 144 Kangaroos 97
LOSS - Adelaide 116 Sydney 98
LOSS - Port Adelaide 94 Sydney 92
WIN - Sydney 139 Fremantle 62
LOSS - Geelong 101 Sydney 99
LOSS - Bulldogs 159 Sydney 90
WIN - Sydney 99 Melbourne 71
WIN - Sydney 103 Kangaroos 100
LOSS - Brisbane 110 Sydney 87
WIN - Sydney 142 St Kilda 55
LOSS - Melbourne 131 Sydney 98
WIN - Sydney 143 Kangaroos 36

Our fifteen at Stadium Australia:
WIN - Sydney 107 Geelong 85
WIN - Sydney 124 Brisbane 40
WIN - Sydney 77 Collingwood 76
WIN - Sydney 94 Essendon 88
WIN - Sydney 75 West Coast 34
WIN - Sydney 110 Essendon 90
WIN - Sydney 85 Collingwood 79
LOSS - Melbourne 111 Sydney 99
LOSS - Brisbane 100 Sydney 56
LOSS - Collingwood 99 Sydney 81
WIN - Sydney 133 Essendon 79
WIN - Sydney 146 Carlton 72
WIN - Sydney 116 Richmond 76
WIN - Sydney 92 Carlton 69
LOSS - Essendon 85 Sydney 83

We took a while to find our feet at Homebush, but I know which formline I prefer. Nine of the past fifteen isn't good enough at home for a team with hopes of going back to back. Especially when we haven't lost at the alternative venue for over two years.

 

[Ed_Gein]

We are well known for our slow starts to the season though. If you take out lets say, our home games within the first 5 rounds of each season since 2003 we've won 19 of 23. Whilst we have won 4 of 8 of our games at the SCG inside Rd 5 of every season since 2003. I don't think its overly too much of a concern. Whilst we should be taking advantage of having such a smaller ground i think the bigger concern is our slow starts to the seasons gone by. Which i think is making the record at the SCG look maybe a little less formidable than what it should be.

No doubt our record at Stadium Australia is looking very impressive.

 

[stellation]

We're a five goal better side at Stadium Australia. The SCG is too small - it's become a hindrance rather than a help. That's one from four there this year. Pathetic.

I am not sure that it would be commerically viable yet.

 

[Tuco]

It's probably also worth remembering how close 2 of our losses at the SCG have been this year. 7 points decided both the Melb and the St Kilda game combined. And it was clearly our focus that cost us in those games, not the ground.

I'm all for a gradual increase in games out West. Telstra is great for the Swans. I reckon it might have improved our "big-ground" game somewhat - the MCG now holds no fear. Plus there is the incalculable benefit of the 20 000 new fans that have been getting exposed to AFL out west from the move.

I'd like to see close to a 50-50 split between the grounds. Possibly 4 rather than the current three. And maybe 5 in time. But the SCG is our base, and should always be so.

 

[CharlieG]

I am not sure that it would be commerically viable yet.

The 55,000 break-even for the first three years of the agreement was because there were supposed to be six games instead of three. The Kangaroos pulled out in favour of Canberra and left us in the cold.

I would expect that the current deal is considerably better for us.

 

[nudgep]

It's probably also worth remembering how close 2 of our losses at the SCG have been this year. 7 points decided both the Melb and the St Kilda game combined. And it was clearly our focus that cost us in those games, not the ground.

I'm all for a gradual increase in games out West. Telstra is great for the Swans. I reckon it might have improved our "big-ground" game somewhat - the MCG now holds no fear. Plus there is the incalculable benefit of the 20 000 new fans that have been getting exposed to AFL out west from the move.

I'd like to see close to a 50-50 split between the grounds. Possibly 4 rather than the current three. And maybe 5 in time. But the SCG is our base, and should always be so.

sydney surprised me last night, it was meant to be their day, in blistering form, SCG, heavy rain...but they didnt seem to adapt to supposedly their conditions. saints bombed it long into forward line and got goals as a result whereas sydney only did that in the last quarter and in parts of the third quarter where schneider seemed to benefit from it. i dont think the problem is the SCG but there is a growing feeling that sydney cant play wet weather football as well as other teams, such as the saints, despite us playing at the dome. the 2004 semi-final showed this as well.

 

[grimlock]

Yes we play horrible wet weather football. See 2005 SF v Geelong (it wasn't raining but sprinklers made the ground damp and thank God for N.Davis), 2004 SF v St Kilda. Trying to play the same possession game in the wet is just pure stupidity.

 

[Tuco]

sydney surprised me last night, it was meant to be their day, in blistering form, SCG, heavy rain...but they didnt seem to adapt to supposedly their conditions. saints bombed it long into forward line and got goals as a result whereas sydney only did that in the last quarter and in parts of the third quarter where schneider seemed to benefit from it. i dont think the problem is the SCG but there is a growing feeling that sydney cant play wet weather football as well as other teams, such as the saints, despite us playing at the dome. the 2004 semi-final showed this as well.

There is a tremendous misconception out there about the Swans. Although we are an in-and-under side, most of our scoring opportunities still come from marks inside our forward 50. With poor disposals in the middle and a slippery ball we were always going to struggle in that department.

 

[FB&W]

no

there will soon be a west Sydney team out of Homebush, no room for the Swans.

Swans can play half there games at SCG and half in STh NMelbourne.

 

[music_2000]

I think its time to upgrade the SCG to accommodate for the crowds just like at Subiaco

 

[Tuco]

I think its time to upgrade the SCG to accommodate for the crowds just like at Subiaco

Agree. The SCG is fast becoming one of the worst Stadims in Aust. Total disgrace.

Great Atmosphere. Fantastic history. But it is definitely struggling. Probably the 8th best ground at the mo and falling.

 

[CharlieG]

Agree. The SCG is fast becoming one of the worst Stadims in Aust. Total disgrace.

Great Atmosphere. Fantastic history. But it is definitely struggling. Probably the 8th best ground at the mo and falling.

You haven't been to Footy Park then. Horrible ground.

I haven't been to the Gabba, York Park, Marrara or Subiaco. Out of the current grounds I've been to I'd have the following ranking:
1. MCG
2. Docklands
3. Stadium Australia
4. SCG
5. Kardinia Park
6. Football Park
7. Manuka

 

[satchmopugdog]

Charlie.....York Park is quite reasonable....good size.....good surface...improved siren....grandstands improving all the time. Definitely better than Manuka and Carrarra haven't been to Football Park

 

[Tuco]

You haven't been to Footy Park then. Horrible ground.

I haven't been to the Gabba, York Park, Marrara or Subiaco. Out of the current grounds I've been to I'd have the following ranking:
1. MCG
2. Docklands
3. Stadium Australia
4. SCG
5. Kardinia Park
6. Football Park
7. Manuka

Fair enough. Haven't been to Football park. Is it a bit like Waverley used to be?

I'm rating the modernized Lang Park ahead of the SCG. I called the SCG "probably" the 8th best ground on the assumption that Football Park and the WACA might scrounge a vote between them, but I haven't been to either. So I'll cop that and only talk about what I do know from personal experience.

I've been to the SFS a few times and it is also horrible - not surprising when you think the same people running it are behind the SCG, though. Simply put if you can't buy a beer, go to the toilet, find anything to eat, or escape quickly when the match is over then someone isn' t working hard enough behind the scenes.

My Vote would go

1. MCG
2. Docklands
3. Stadium Aust
4. Gabba
5. Lang Park
6. Subi
7. SCG
8. Sydney Football Stadium
9. Manuka

Very generous even giving Manuka a rating. That ground, like the Carrara I visited in the 80's, dosn't exactly qualify as an example of what a modern football stadium should be about.

But in the end all I'm saying is the place is getting tired, and could use a major overhaul.

Even if I was to stretch the truth, I couldn't honestly tell you that the SCG is in the same ballpark as some of the modern grounds going around elsewhere in the land.

 

[CharlieG]

Sorry, I wasn't counting non-AFL stadiums. I guess you could throw Olympic Park in there then, at the absolute bottom of the list. Of the former AFL grounds, Princes Park slots in below Kardinia Park. Waverley was slightly worse than Footy Park - at least you could get in and out of there relatively easily (and getting out was a priority). Other than that it was much the same, yes. Victoria Park and Whitten Oval share the billing as the worst football grounds, probably on a par with Olympic Park (although OP's bucket seats are a point in its favour).

As far as regional football grounds go, Manuka is actually reasonably good - it doesn't compare to the modern venues in major cities, but it can't, really.

 

[Tuco]

I didn't mean to slag off the regional footy experience. But what Kardinia, Carrara, Aurora and Manuka have to offer is far removed from what the second largest ground in the country's largest city should absolutely be offering - which is a stadium of world class quality.

Really, not much has changed at the SCG in decades other than concreting over the grassy bits.

The Brewongle, O'Reilly and Churchill stands were all pretty much rush jobs in the early 80's.

They painted over the cracks with an extra few thousand seats in recent years, and they built a new dining area a couple of years ago, but the lack of an overall plan for the venue has meant it's all been very patchworked and half-arsed.

If they were serious, they really should knock down everything from the Dally Messenger stand through to the scoreboard and build a Great South-Eastern stand the way they revamped the MCG with the Great Southern Stand.

But unlike the MCG, there just isn't enough land available around the venue. The trust wanted a traditional cricket ground feel, and I'm afraid that's what they've given us.

 

[FB&W]

they are renovating the SCG it was in the news not long back. Controvery because people wnat to name a stand after the waughs which would mean no more Walters stand.

Dougie said hed be happy to have a bar named after him.

check google they are renovating the scg.

 

[Tuco]

they are renovating the SCG it was in the news not long back. Controvery because people wnat to name a stand after the waughs which would mean no more Walters stand.

Dougie said hed be happy to have a bar named after him.

check google they are renovating the scg.

the renovation they are planning, like all that have preceded it, will be tiny, ad hoc and shall change practically nothing.

Knocking down the doug walters stand and building a new stand on the old hill? pfft.

 

[CharlieG]

Really, not much has changed at the SCG in decades other than concreting over the grassy bits.

The Brewongle, O'Reilly and Churchill stands were all pretty much rush jobs in the early 80's.

They painted over the cracks with an extra few thousand seats in recent years, and they built a new dining area a couple of years ago, but the lack of an overall plan for the venue has meant it's all been very patchworked and half-arsed.

If they were serious, they really should knock down everything from the Dally Messenger stand through to the scoreboard and build a Great South-Eastern stand the way they revamped the MCG with the Great Southern Stand.

But unlike the MCG, there just isn't enough land available around the venue. The trust wanted a traditional cricket ground feel, and I'm afraid that's what they've given us.

You're absolutely right. The SCG is essentially a 1970s cricket ground. It's not even a stadium, really.

The land is available - as you have suggested, knock down the Dally Messenger, MA Noble and Bradman Stands and replace with them with a new stand, and at the other end build a stand that replaces the Yabba's Hill and the Doug Walters Stand. I'd name them the Roos and Kelly Stands, myself.

 

[FB&W]

http://www.sydneycricketground.com.au/News/2006/May/Renovations_to_SCG_and_Trust_lands_26may06.asp

there is the detail. They will never make the playing surface biger as its the perfect size for cricket. MCG is to big for cricket

 

[music_2000]

they are renovating the SCG it was in the news not long back.

.

new capacity anyone???

 

[Tuco]

new capacity anyone???

this magnificent new stand will increase the current capacity by...


wait for it....


2800.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/sport/archives/2006/05/new_scg_stand_s_1.html

think of it this way...$60M to increase the capacity by 50% less than what they added when they squeezed those extra seats around the concourse.

 

[Drummond]

You haven't been to Footy Park then. Horrible ground.

I haven't been to the Gabba, York Park, Marrara or Subiaco. Out of the current grounds I've been to I'd have the following ranking:
1. MCG
2. Docklands
3. Stadium Australia
4. SCG
5. Kardinia Park
6. Football Park
7. Manuka

Yeh? What's so bad about AAMI?