Much has been made in the press about the many millions of dollarpounds which will be spent to knock down and rebuild the 'Gabba for the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane. Mostly the narrative has been one giant pile on from the Murdoch press; who seem to be more than a little bit embarrassed that the people of Queensland elected any Labor government at all, in spite of their best efforts to turn Queensland and Australia into their own private paradiso fascista.
One one hand the Murdoch press finds it acceptable to accuse Labor governments of wasting money; yet at the same time when the Andrews Labor Government in Victoria cancelled the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, this apparently was unacceptable. Thus we have a pair of AND gates where whatever input goes in, if it is being done by a Labor Government it is bad, and if it is being done by an LNP Government it is good.
There simply isn't any point in linking to or quoting from the Courier-Mail article which I read this morning, because it requires you to deny several things about reality and assert three things which are blatantly untrue. Nevertheless, the base question that it asks about needing to knock down the 'Gabba is valid, irrespective of what they assert.
I do not think that a knock down and rebuild of the 'Gabba is necessary. Here's why.
Australia has previously held two editions of the Olympic Games. When it came to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, they were held in a purpose built venue which would be be converted back into a multi-purpose stadium after the event. Sydney Olympic Stadium (which is probably called Super-Tele-Wobble-Cheese-Waffle Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a weird venue which is overly too long for football and just a tad too large for cricket.
However, the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, were held in the Melbourne Cricket Ground; which by virtue of being a cricket ground was already adequate to hold the Olympic Games in. Everything that I have seen to do with the 1956 Olympic Games, suggests that the only hitch had to do with quarantine for horses and this is why the Equestrian Events for the 1956 Olympic Games were held at the home of the previous Olympic Games in Helsinki. As the photograph here shows, the Melbourne Cricket Ground did the job nicely.
In principle, I do not understand why anything needs to be done to the 'Gabba at all. The Brisbane Cricket Ground in Wollongabba (hence "the 'Gabba") is bigger than the Sydney Cricket Ground and whilst it isn't quite as massive as the Melbourne Cricket Ground, an 8 lane 400 metre running track will fit into the space without effort. Just like the MCG, the 'Gabba would need to have a temporary surface laid for that purpose, as well has having a long jump pit and the steeplechase water jump dug into the turf but those divots can be replaced, just as they were in Melbourne in 1956.
The 'Gabba is not as small as people think it is. Yes, it is a 45,000 seat venue which does feel a bit like being at a big café ground at times, but that centre space is still pretty vast. The thing about the 'Gabba that nobody seems to remember is that the 'Gabba used to have a dog racing track around the perimeter. That dog track was also occasionally used for dirt midget racing, as it was rated at 460 yards; which is just over a quarter of a mile. That means that the inside track was 418 meters long; which is longer than the 400 meters required for an Olympic running track. If you can put an Olympic running track into a venue, then in theory you should be able to hold the Olympic games there; which is as true for a 120,000 seat stadium as it is for Tallawong Oval in Blacktown, which has Jimmy's Aussie Chinese Tucker on the other side of a car park.
This is where I ask what would be so terrible about holding the Olympic Games at the 'Gabba as it is now? 45,000 seats is not the biggest venue in the world but you can guarantee that it would be full for just about everything held there. As for the other venues which could be used, then Lang Park, Queen Elizabeth II, Ballymore, et cetera, would also be full for just about everything held there.
Sydney was massive. Athens was frequently quiet. Beijing always had everything filled to capacity. London struggled to fill some venues. Rio made use of some of the stadia being a little smaller than expected. Tokyo was the exception as that Olympic Games was held in not quite silence. Brisbane on the other hand, if it holds the Olympic Games at the 'Gabba as it is now, would be able to retain the flavour of Brisbane being a little bit café and friendly, while at the same time having every event heaving with spectators.
I have watched Australian Rules football at the 'Gabba when the Brisbane Lions have packed the place to the rafters and my experience tells me that it is as loud and electric as anywhere else you care to mention. That is the case now. So what if you can't get another 20,000 people in the place.
I also look to the legacy left behind by the Sydney Olympic Games and wonder. Super-Tele-Wobble-Cheese-Waffle Stadium (Sydney Olympic Stadium) is fine when it packs in 80,000 people but most of the time when there is just a rugby league game being played there, it sounds lifeless. The Western Sydney Giants don't even play there for this very reason. They play out of the Sydney Showground which is next door; precisely because the café stadium produces a better atmosphere. Now obviously the 'Gabba is bounded by Vulture Street and Stanley Street, so the ground can't grow terribly much more massive but still, would a 60,000 seat 'Gabba actually be worth the effort in 2037? Somehow, I just don't think so. Nor do I think that it is worth the effort to destroy the character of the area, which includes a primary school, just to expand something which is guaranteed to become a cultural dead zone during the day when no sport is being played.
Remember, this is me talking. This is me who thinks that Rosehill Gardens shouldn't be knocked down but replaced with a short track speedway; likewise for Randwick. This is me who likes the idea of getting rid of fibro low-density housing and replacing it with medium to high density developments provided we can add more football teams in the space. This is me who has called for the development of The Bogandome in Sydney's west. I am not anti-sport by a long shot.
I think that the best way that everyone can double their money here is to fold it in half and put it back in their pockets. The outlay to make the 'Gabba just a little bit bigger for a two week event, seems like it came from the board room of Ill-Conceived Concepts And Half-Baked Ideas Ltd. This is action without thought of consequences. This is monkey idea, monkey do; but not monkey idea, monkey think before monkey do.
No comments:
Post a Comment