After seven years of campaigning Football in Western Australia had a reason to smile yesterday when the State government announced that it would stump up half of the $32.5million to create a State Football Centre.
Needless to say many within the game are ecstatic, and feel that justice has been done, and that this will benefit the game in Western Australia immensely. Justice, because other sports in Western Australia have seen the State Government create new facilities for playing and their administration while football had missed out. (Time to Leave Home)
Ironically most of the focus at the time of the announcement has been on the fact that this facility will assist the joint Australia/New Zealand Women’s World Cup bid for 2023, and that the facility will be ready for that event, should the two countries be chosen as host.
Of course if the bid is successful Perth has to hope that it is chosen as a host city. As we have seen in other sports that have hosted joint World Cups with New Zealand, Western Australia often misses out. The reason being the extra distance teams have to travel, the time difference for the television stations, and in the past facilities. The latter is not an issue anymore with an upgraded dedicated rectangular stadium – featured in the bid document – and the new Optus stadium.
On the bid website they even say that “By clustering four groups in each country during the group stage, travel distances will be minimised ensuring convenience for teams and fans.” There will be 12 host cities in total and Perth is listed along with Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Launceston, Newcastle and two venues in Sydney. With 24 games to be played in Australia, no doubt the number scheduled to be played in Western Australia have already been pencilled in. So this centre will not as reported have any influence on the outcome.
A decision is due to be made on the 25th of this month. Which would tend to indicate that such an announcement has come too late and will have no impact on those voting.
This writer makes no apology admitting that he is still sceptical that this facility is going to lift the game to where it should be. With local grounds in desperate need of investment, one cannot help feeling that spreading the $32.5 million across the 36 semi professional clubs and improving these grounds and opening them up for community use would not have been a better investment. (Upgrade Grounds or Home of Football). The poll taken at the time saw the majority prefer the money invested in this way. It certainly would have helped lift the game, and may well have tempted more people to come and watch the game.
It will be interesting to see just how much use this Centre of Excellence has once it is built. Followers of the game will be aware that various sites were explored and knocked back, Floreat Athena’s ground in Mt Hawthorn, (Homeless Football), Ashfield and Bayswater. All three bases very central and close to the City. Which is important if top teams are coming to play here, as the hotels they stay at are likely to be in the city. Coker Park in Queens Park is the final choice.
One thing that the local clubs need to be doing now is making sure that part of the initial proposal for this Centre is no longer on the table. This was a plan that would see NPL clubs playing games away from their own venues every weekend and playing at the State Football centre. The document stated that games would be held there on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. Such a move would have a huge impact on the local clubs who are already doing it tough.
While the McGowan government may be patting itself on the back about this announcement, one has to look at the timing of it. Why, when they have held off backing this for so long would they make the announcement now?
It has nothing to do with the game or the World Cup, and everything to do with politics. The reason is the Federal and State Governments as we have seen are desperately trying to stimulate the building industry in order to to get the economy moving again coming out of the Covid 19 Pandemic. So this announcement is essentially a key part of trying to create work for the building industry. The secondary reason as one insider stated ‘is to keep the Unions on side.’
On social media yesterday there was a great deal of comment against the move feeling that other areas of the community could do with this injection of money, such as the education sector. That being the case it better be a success once it is built.
In addition to the political motivation behind this announcement the timing is very strange from a football perspective. Football West has had to lay off the majority of its staff following the period of isolation due to Covid-19. At present it is believed they are operating with just four staff, when previously they had close to 30 employees.
Many sporting bodies have been over resourced for a long time. Some have, through good management avoided having to make staff redundant, albeit they have had to reduce their work hours, but they had cash reserves to see them through this period. Football, which has a history of poor management, clearly did not have such measures in place. Which begs the question will they have the expertise to run such a facility? The know-how to make this a money-making centre?
Maybe the Government is aware of the sport’s short-comings in terms of management, and as a result they may well hand the management of the venue over to Venues West, the Government arm that leases out various sporting venues in the state.
The other thing that makes the timing of this announcement strange is that the Football Federation of Australia which has also been caught short during the Covid-19 Pandemic is in the throes of rationalising the administration of the game nationally. They are looking very seriously at closing down the State Bodies and running the game centrally from Sydney. The plan being to have a skeleton staff in each state, and most of those employees kept would be tied up in game development. So will Football West require such a centre in the next two years? Surely it is easier for development coaches to go to where the players are than make the players come to the coaches?
So if this was truly about football and not the economy surely the Premier and his Minister of Sport would have been prudent to wait to see how the new structure of the game is going to work, before committing to such an investment? With no Football West it will most likely become a training facility for Perth Glory; that is if the current owner can find the money to keep the club afloat.
There is also the very strong possibility that Australia like New Zealand football may well look at culling some of the junior interstate championships and teams. The reason being that research has shown that these have had a negative impact on participation numbers and young players sticking with the game. (Podcast 76)
There is also the question of the numbers. Football West when pursuing this Government investment announced that there were over 200,000 participants playing football in Western Australia. Yet they continue to only have between 40,000 – 45,000 registered players. That is only 22.5% of those playing football in Western Australia! Why would the Government invest so heavily in the minority of those playing the game, if of course those figures are correct?
In 2017 Football West had a section on their website dedicated to the Home of Football. The figures on that website were nothing but propaganda and did not stand up under scrutiny. (It Doesn’t Add Up). Interestingly within a fortnight of that article being published that part of the website was taken down.(We printed copies before then). So how much can the current figures be trusted?
Based on the facts at the moment if the game was truly being run as a business this project and subsequent investment would appear to be a very bad business decision. However as we all know sports and politics are not run along the lines of good business. Which explains why in these two areas of society we see so much money wasted.
There are you feel so many unanswered questions with this project. Questions which will have a huge bearing on whether this long awaited centre is a success or not. For the amount of money being invested you would hope that it will be. For the sport itself you hope it will be a triumph. However history since 2005 has shown that the sport has squandered tens of millions of dollars of Government money. If this project does not deliver, it could be a very long time before we see the Government investing so heavily in the sport again.
Finally one can’t help feeling that this is all about egos rather than what is best for the game moving forward. Also that the game is once again being used as a pawn for Political gain. (Political Football).
F,
I agree 100% with your first paragraph and most people should see and understand that.
I too fear that it will soon gather dust as it is not really required, is located in the wrong place and then there is the question as to who is going to run and maintain it, as that too costs money. Money that Football West has shown its the recent redundancies they do not have.
No doubt Mr Curtis will be very smug, as you say this was what he was employed to achieve with his contacts in Government and he can now tick it off the list. He can now move on as it will look good on his CV, and his weaknesses will no doubt be forgotten.
I work in infrastructure so this decision was by no means a surprise to me given the BILLIONS the Federal and State Governments are throwing into Infrastructure/Construction to fight the decline of the country into a full blown recession. The State Government just sees it as yet another construction project to go with all the others it has funded so as to provide the current Labour party a very powerful card to throw on the table come the next elections. I doubt they’d even care what sport the Centre pertains to.
My point being – and I should have added that in my last post – is that when this whole COVID thing passes and the economy moves along and things settle down that Centre of Excellence will ultimately end up gathering dust and falling apart just as Macedonia Park has before it.
Someone needs to remind Mr Curtis that Perth Glory themselves have struggled for many years to get a crowd in excess of just 10 000 and that is the States footballing flagship by some margin, so the likelihood of thousands of football fans flocking to this Centre to witness NPL football, that is hugely unpopular and widely regarded as very poor, is pure delusion.
Not that James Curtis will care as this will tick off a substantially big KPI and that Ashley, is the most important thing.
F, Thank you for your comment as always.
I think you will find it was Netball, Basketball and Rugby who all were aided when the Government reclaimed Perry Lakes and was required to find them new premises. Hockey has the National Centre of excellence based here, so that was funded by the Federal Government and the AIS, but is now run by Hockey Australia.
I don’t remember the building of Macedonia Park, however I do remember it being the best ground in Perth, and a pitch that was one of, if not the best in the state. It is sad that it has not been maintained. That is why I genuinely believe the money would be better spent renovating grounds like this. All ships rise on a high tide, in other words we could raise the standard of all rather than building something that few will use.
As for your final question, I take it that it was rhetorical, as many are asking the same question.
This is being pushed through because of vanity. Many in football feel the sport deserves it, but if they stepped back and took the emotion out they should be able to see that the money could be better spent benefitting a wider area if allocated to a number of grounds in a number of councils.
Thank you All White as always for taking the time to comment.
I can tell you the rent at Maylands was incredibly low and would have enabled the sport to safe a great deal of money. YOU are also absolutely correct re Perry Lakes.
Personally I believe that people have been caught up in the emotion of the decision, and the belief that football has been hard done by when it comes to Government money, yet the truth is very different. In the past 15 years I think you will find that it has received more direct funding than any other sport. This decision worries me as I am sure the venue will not get the use people are imagining. Overseas teams will train at HBF/NIB stadium or other local grounds. In reality it makes little sense.
Happy to be corrected but the only sports to have substantial Government funding for the creation of a centre of excellence or “home” are Rugby Union and Basketball no ?
Where are the centre of excellence or Govt funded central academies for AFL, Cricket, Athletics, Swimming and Hockey ?
I don’t think you are alone in questioning what purpose a Football Centre of Excellence provides. There’s a fair few of us followers of the local game having a good giggle at the thought of transferring the games (be it junior or senior) with the embarrassing paltry crowds they currently attract to a multimillion dollar facility.
I’m old enough to recall the building of Macedonia Park at a time when the local game was probably at its peak. I clearly remember how proud all local football fans were at the prospect of having a “proper” rectangular football, erm… “stadium” to attend and watch games at. I recall the sizeable crowd when Australia soccer heavyweights at the time, Adelaide City, paid a visit. I also recall a fair few finals with crowds in excess of say 3 thousand. Last decent crowd I have witnessed there was the top 4 final between Sorrento and Perth whereby I’d estimate there was somewhere in the vicinity of 3 to 4 000 present (max)
So, with that in mind, and the fact that we already have an abundance of excellent sporting grounds and open spaces for visiting teams to utilise and adding NIB and Optus as venues for these high profile games, what purpose does a Friday night fixture of ECU Joondalup v Armadale moved to this “Home of Football” serve…………. ?
Once again Ashley you have nailed it.
Football West have been hellbent on such a centre, purely because they left Perry Lakes and missed out on the new venues that Netball, Basketball, and Rugby gained by being evicted for the housing development. That was their decision and it has made them shortsighted as to what is best for the game.
The rent at Maylands I believe was ridiculously low, and they could have used those savings to improve their lot. They moved to Lord Street, but because they kept employing more and more staff had to move again. Will they get what they paid for that office?
This makes no sense to me having such a Centre, especially in Queens Park. What you suggested ages ago, which was to upgrade exisiting facilities makes so much more sense and means the sport has a good venue in most city council areas that can host school finals etc.
This makes no sense, but as you say Politics and Football, where common sense does not exist.
Thank you Gary.
Very valid point re transport, especially if young players need to get there for training purposes. As I said I am not in favour of such an investment. We have existing grounds that if they had money spent on them could be made into very good venues. Surely to have 20 good venues make more sense than just one?
Sadly I lost faith in the board making the right decisions a while ago, but here’s hoping!
Ashley,
Very good summary re “home of football”
I am interested to know how the facility is serviced by Public Transport. Maniana Park is situated in a built-up residential area on one side & bushland on the Welshpool road side. Distance to Cannington Train station is approx.1.5km, & Albany Highway 2km+.
The area is a low socio-economic area (similar to Ashfield ( at least Ashfield was adjacent to transport) & I believe is not where our FW body should be expending $30,000,000.
We will not get anymore from government in the next 10-20 years.
Our board should consider the long term issues prior to committing.
Spreading the money to clubs would be a better outcome for the game in WA.