Subiaco Oval masterplan unveiled

Austadiums • Thursday 25th May 2006

Subiaco Oval could become a 60,000-seat fortress under a $235 million development plan released by the West Australian Football Commission on Thursday.

Under the plan, the home ground of both the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle would be redeveloped over several stages, with capacity increased from 43,000 to 48,000 after the first stage, and by another 7000 to 55,000 by the start of the 2011 season. A capacity of 60,000 could be reached shortly afterwards.

A feature of the plan is a major increase in available seating for families, with more than 16,500 of the new seats being made available for the general public and only a further 1141 additional corporate seats being created.

"We think it's a good plan for the development of a major stadium," said WAFC chief executive Wayne Bradshaw. "Subiaco does need major development but its location is outstanding because it's close to the city and adjacent to good transport services and other entertainment facilities."

Bradshaw said that capacity of the ground would not dip below the current 43,000 mark throughout the redevelopment and that the main inconvenience for spectators during the work would be the removal of some grandstand roofing for no more than one season.

The Western Australian state government is seeking to follow the lead of Victoria and other states by having two major sports stadiums located in the capital city. The WAFC plan calls for football, cricket as well as other major sporting and entertainment events to take place at Subiaco, while a new stadium would be built to stage rectangular-field sports such as rugby union, rugby league and soccer.

Other options include a new WACA stadium, as well as proposals in East Perth, Coburn and elsewhere in Subiaco.

Cricket is not played at Subiaco, however under the plan, pitches would be inserted for Test and one-day matches. According to Bradshaw, more than 27,000 seats for cricket would be located between mid-off and mid-on on both sides of the ground, mostly under cover, which he said already surpasses the capacity of the WACA.

A new plaza and ground entrances would be created, linking the redeveloped venue to nearby public transport hubs.

More than 1.2 million people attended AFL matches at Subiaco last year. Fremantle's home attendances have soared spectacularly in the last five years, while West Coast regularly sells out its home games and has a waiting list of up to 5000 for reserved seats. The WAFC believes West Coast would attract regular home crowds of 55,000 if the stadium was large enough.

Subiaco is the second smallest - in terms of capacity - of the major AFL venues and facilities in parts of the ground, particularly the triple-tiered stand end, are now considered to be antiquated.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said the proposal has football's complete support. "The AFL fully supports the Western Australian Football Commission's plan to rejuvenate and upgrade the facilities at Subiaco Oval, and we congratulate the WAFC on the work they have committed to this project," he said.

"Subiaco Oval is within easy reach of the city and the ground is well supported with transport and existing infrastructure.

"Football needs greater capacity to support the interest in the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers, particularly to enable families and children to attend AFL matches in greater numbers.

"The staged redevelopment of the ground will not reduce current capacity and will significantly improve the facilities for all football supporters, taking the final capacity to 60,000 fans and cementing the ground as a world-class facility," he said.

Subiaco OvalSubiaco Oval Website

More News

Subiaco Oval could become a 60,000-seat fortress under a $235 million development plan released by the West Australian Football Commission on Thursday.
The Austadiums website is made possible by displaying some advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker, whitelist us, or DONATE TO US