Mega Thread Port Forum General AFL Thread Part 24

[Buget]

The most depressing sounding club song by Geelong.

The “give-a-sh$t” factor was zero.

 

[Coobk001]

Love camry folk with the crowd talk about yesterday.. pick ya times it was a fukcin' monsoon last night.

The crowd was absolutely outstanding given the conditions. If my tickets weren't just under cover, I suspect I would've bailed. It was torrential in parts.

It was a pretty crappy atmosphere though, crap weather, crap game and very random crowd, with plenty of Port supporters who mightve bailed. There were also crows fans all over the place, Bombers and Melbourne fans around, plus many wouldve left after the first game. Would think we would've had 30-35k for our game, but it was scattered and a bit quiet until the last quarter.

 

[Holden Hillbilly]

BT sounding a bit disappointed Gather Round will be held in Adelaide for the next 2 years.

Takes a week of preparation to travel to Geelong.

 

[WillemDaDrew]

Just adding on to my post, if true then Peter M. has done more for SA footy than the SANFL have done in 20-30 years.

Gather Round being played in SA up until the 2026 season was confirmed earlier in the day

 

[all seeing eye]

3 yrs official

 

[Festerz]

Either play the home teams Thursday/Friday or play the home team as the opening match, followed by a big matchup in the night game.

As for Norwood oval, the local grounds in the NRL, which they play at regularly all have awesome atmosphere. (Leichhardt Oval, Mount Smart, Kogarah, even Manly).

I actually think they should play next year at Norwood oval. Just invest in the facilities.

The issue for Norwood Oval is as it has been for decades - no space, both on the field and for spectators. It actually is a shitty ground in terms of dimensions and facilities to play an AFL game.

But it's close to the CBD, has plenty of support from prominent SA business types and, more to the point, with Malinauskas keen to see the state seat of Dunstan switch back to Labor when Marshall finally resigns and a by election is held you can be sure that Norwood Oval will remain as a gather round venue as long as the gather round is in SA.

David Pisoni is set to retire from his seat of Unley too so maybe Unley Oval gets a game next year for the same reason.

Sucks in terms of sharing the games around - including to a redeveloped Alberton Oval - but politicians always have their eye on politics when making decisions.

Never underestimate how important politics is for Premiers making decisions.

 

[240volt]

I forgot how much of a shithole Nord oval is.

It was a shithole 50 years ago, nothing has changed.

 

[JimmyBC]

The crowd was absolutely outstanding given the conditions. If my tickets weren't just under cover, I suspect I would've bailed. It was torrential in parts.

It was a pretty crappy atmosphere though, crap weather, crap game and very random crowd, with plenty of Port supporters who mightve bailed. There were also crows fans all over the place, Bombers and Melbourne fans around, plus many wouldve left after the first game. Would think we would've had 30-35k for our game, but it was scattered and a bit quiet until the last quarter.

The double headers at AO need a rethink or a bigger gap between games.

We play Thursday or Friday night it's packed weather permitting.

 

[Macca19]

Adelaide also has the advantage that the main arena is within walking distance of the CBD and the main train station. The city is not to big and the regional centres such as the Adelaide Hills, Barossa and the Southern Vales are less than an hour from the CBD. Adelaide has a pretty good record at staging festive events. Womadelaide, the Fringe etc. are world class and the city didn't do a bad job when the Formula 1 GP was here.

One question I have is where are they getting these sell out crowds from? Did a ticket to the Port v Bulldogs game yesterday also get you a seat at the Essendon v Melbourne game? We had 44,300 at our game but they would have been lucky to have had 20,000 at the early game.

The crowd at the Cats v West Coast game looks a similar size to yesterday's early game so maybe there are plenty of Collingwood and Saint Kilda fans yet to make an appearance.

The crowd at Norwood for Hawthorn v GWS looks pretty good. i just wish they would stop going on about this famous Norwood Football Club whatever that is.

The official attendance figures for the round will make interesting reading.

The Port game was a genuine double header. You got tickets for both games

 

[Festerz]

Official AFL press release:

Gather Round to stay in South Australia for next three seasons

The AFL has announced that South Australia will host Gather Round again in 2024, 2025 and 2026

www.afl.com.au

 

[raptalia]

Kudos to the Adelaide Gov for showing the initiative.

Let's hope other SA suburban grounds other than Nord Oval get a piece of the pie too.

Yeah, if they can use Mt Barker they should surely look at some of the better appointed suburban grounds. They would probably need to invest in some temporary stands to increase the ground capacity to 20,000. Unfortunately the development at Alberton might preclude that.

Back in the golden era in the 1970s we had 20,000+ against Norwood at Alberton which was a record crowd for Alberton Oval. I was there that day and watched the game from the Port Adelaide Footballers Club where I had a window seat. It was a day in which Russell Ebert beat four different opponents including Rod Seekamp and Neil Craig and at one stage in the last quarter Russell dropped to his knees with exhaustion. It was the best game I ever saw Russell play and needless to say we won. Looking back at that crowd there is no way we would get that many into Alberton these days.

 

[240volt]

Yeah, if they can use Mt Barker they should surely look at some of the better appointed suburban grounds. They would probably need to invest in some temporary stands to increase the ground capacity to 20,000. Unfortunately the development at Alberton might preclude that.

Back in the golden era in the 1970s we had 20,000+ against Norwood at Alberton which was a record crowd for Alberton Oval. I was there that day and watched the game from the Port Adelaide Footballers Club where I had a window seat. It was a day in which Russell Ebert beat four different opponents including Rod Seekamp and Neil Craig and at one stage in the last quarter Russell dropped to his knees with exhaustion. It was the best game I ever saw Russell play and needless to say we won. Looking back at that crowd there is no way we would get that many into Alberton these days.

Much the same as having 65,500 at Adelaide oval for a Grand Final you will never see that again also.
People want comfort these days in the old days they just wanted Football and a steak and onion sandwich.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Three more years. Popular Pete knows how to schmooze.

 

[sog35]

There's no doubt the AFL will go to work on the double header/maximisation of crowds and the visual aspects of it all.

 

[WillemDaDrew]

Either play the home teams Thursday/Friday or play the home team as the opening match, followed by a big matchup in the night game.

As for Norwood oval, the local grounds in the NRL, which they play at regularly all have awesome atmosphere. (Leichhardt Oval, Mount Smart, Kogarah, even Manly).

I actually think they should play next year at Norwood oval. Just invest in the facilities.

Mid April school holidays for Vic, WA, NSW and SA is an ideal time to host AFL Gather Round. It’s around the Easter break and most families take leave that time of year.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

**** me why couldnt we have had this sort of weather yesterday to get a full house?.

We have to approach the National Farmers Federation for a spinsorship deal and go and play where drought has hit, because we always seem to bring the rain after first couple of games in March.

 

[chiwigi]

If you're going to cycle it needs to be three years to get the benefit. Two years isn't enough.

However, there is no real reason that it needs to cycle other than other states wanting the new shiny toy to play with.

Hosting it in SA makes sense on a whole range of levels that puts it far ahead of any other viable option.

• It's easy to get to from VIC & NSW, drive, bus, or fly.
• WA, QLD & TAS are not even that bad for flights.
• Has strong local support for non SA clubs.
• SA has a huge reputation for Food & Wine that supports the festival nature of the event.
• Adelaide is an easy city to get around in. Multiple precincts that are connected via pedestrian pathways. It's compactness is a massive advantage for an event like this.
• Adelaide Oval is a premium city based stadium that can cater for several games over a long weekend program and then funnel the attendees back into the entertainment districts.
• Barossa and McLaren Vale are world class wine districts a short distance from the city that would help entice people to come. Adding a game at either or both regions would be chefs kiss.

If you look at the two other 'accessible' options in QLD and NSW, you'd need to consider how they would manage the festival feeling that's been created this weekend in Adelaide. IMO it just wouldn't translate, it would become something very different.

WA would be a great place to do this and my hunch is they'd do an amazing job of it there, I'd definitely consider heading over to it if it ever eventuates. Their biggest downside is that it's a big trip for the three biggest markets, VIC, NSW, and QLD. This might be made up with the bump in SA fans travelling over to WA.

Leave it in SA until it's become entrenched in the calendar and then do the next run in WA.

It would feel right to me that it's the two major football states outside Victoria sharing this.

Cycle the full suite:
GF
ANZAC
Gather Round
Good Friday
Kings Birthday
AllStar Game

Each major state gets one prestige event a year and can go their hardest promoting it.

 

[edgie]

St Kilda kit is mint

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using Tapatalk

 

[raptalia]

The issue for Norwood Oval is as it has been for decades - no space, both on the field and for spectators. It actually is a shitty ground in terms of dimensions and facilities to play an AFL game.

But it's close to the CBD, has plenty of support from prominent SA business types and, more to the point, with Malinauskas keen to see the state seat of Dunstan switch back to Labor when Marshall finally resigns and a by election is held you can be sure that Norwood Oval will remain as a gather round venue as long as the gather round is in SA.

David Pisoni is set to retire from his seat of Unley too so maybe Unley Oval gets a game next year for the same reason.

Sucks in terms of sharing the games around - including to a redeveloped Alberton Oval - but politicians always have their eye on politics when making decisions.

Never underestimate how important politics is for Premiers making decisions.

The issue with Norwood is it has the biggest capacity of any of the suburban grounds Norwood has a capacity of 22,000 which means it has been used for games when either Adelaide Oval or Football Park.

Back in the early 1970s when the SANFL adopted a final five system their programming meant they needed an alternative to Adelaide Oval. As a consequence we drew a final on Norwood Oval against, you guessed it, Norwood. Port supporters were incencsed to the extent the our Head Trainer the legendary Teddy McMahon, who was also a shop steward in the Port wharves threatened to pull the boys out and close the Port down. It didn't happen of course and we lost. From memory I think North played Norwood the following week and beat them.

I have no problem with Norwood as at least it is a suburban ground it is good to see these grounds full to capacity. I just hope that other suburban grounds can get a look in over the next three years.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

3 more years! Sounds like a Koch / Hinkley presser.

Gather Round to stay in South Australia for next three seasons

The AFL has announced that South Australia will host Gather Round again in 2024, 2025 and 2026

www.afl.com.au

 

[raptalia]

The crowd at Adelaide Oval has built up. Looks like Collingwood are playing in front of a bigger crowd than we did.

****ing pissant weather pissing down one day, perfect the next.

 

[WillemDaDrew]

I would never give my time watching a Hawthorn v Gws game on TV. But viewing it at Nord I find it quite entertaining.

 

[240volt]

Three more years. Popular Pete knows how to schmooze.

Great news for Adelaide, hopefully get games in other regions in time.

 

[gtrxuone]

Not really sure what the Crows fans. Are trying to say about last night.Both the double header matches where sold out.
Tickets sold and money in the AFL bank.
It rained heavy and it was cold..If the paying customer chose to watch the game ,at home or there motel room..Thats there decision.The double header was sold out.

 

[WillemDaDrew]

Tee Greene clutch.