Leichhardt & Campbelltown Struggle For Funding But

[system]

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Upgrades For Historic Henson Park
Glen Dwyer for Jets Media
18/08/2010 3:12:08 PM
A re-elected Gillard Labor Government will partner with the Marrickville Council to deliver much-needed upgrades to Henson Park, the home of the famous Newtown Jets, Australia's oldest Rugby League club.
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The announcement was made on Tuesday, 17th August by the Minister for Infrastructure and Local Government, Anthony Albanese and the Minister for Sport, Kate Ellis.
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Federal Labor will invest $920,000 into the project, with Marrickville Council committing an additional $200,000.
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The Newtown Rugby League Football Club had made a submission to the Federal MP for Grayndler, Anthony Albanese regarding funding for upgrades at Henson Park. The club was well aware of the Member for Grayndler's keen support for community projects and his knowledge and admiration of the role played by Henson Park in Sydney's sporting culture and inner-city folklore.
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The project will deliver essential upgrades to this historic sporting facility, opened in the 1930’s and the site of the closing ceremony for the 1938 British Empire Games.
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The upgrades are expected to:
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• Renovate the King George V Memorial Grandstand
• Upgrade the amenities in the tower building and the canteen
• Upgrade the old clock and scoreboard
• Replace the grandstand forecourt paving
• Improve player access to the ground
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Additionally, the funds committed by Marrickville Council will begin addressing problems with the boundary brick wall at Henson Park.
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This iconic ground has been a part of Sydney sporting life and culture for almost 80 years, Anthony Albanese said.
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It played a part in keeping Sydney residents in work in the 1930's through the Great Depression and hosted the cream of sporting talent in the Empire Games.
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It served as the home ground of the Newtown Bluebags and Jets from 1936 to 1983 when the Newtown club was in the NSW Rugby League's first grade premiership competition.
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Giants of the thirteen-a-side code like Bumper Farrell, Frank Hyde, Dick Poole, John Raper, Brian Moore, Lionel Williamson and Tom Raudonikis have all played in Newtown's royal blue colours at Henson Park.
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Today, Henson Park continues to serve the community by being the home ground of the popular Newtown Jets, who are currently top of the table in the NSW Rugby League's flagship competition, the NSW Cup.
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The Federal Labor Government will be able to upgrade Henson Park in conjunction with the Marrickville Council.
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Henson Park represents a key piece of Australia's sporting history, having played a major role in the 1938 Empire Games and it is regarded with great affection by many thousands of Rugby League supporters in Sydney.
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Newtown Jets President Barry Vining said the club was absolutely delighted with the news. He added that the Newtown club had been playing senior NSW Rugby League competition matches back at Henson Park since 2000 and had built up a large cult following in inner-western Sydney.
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The news of this investment in the future of Henson Park by the Gillard Labor Government will ensure that there will be much-improved facilities at the home ground of the best supported club in the NSWRL's NSW Cup competition

Seriously how does this, prmiarily AFL used, ground deserve any funding at all? Let alone the level which is being promised

 

[alex]

What a clueless government.

If they want revenue into the region then put it into first grade level grounds like Leichhardt.

I'm no engineer and no greeny, but would it be possible to put a small grandstand at the Northern end of Leichhardt Oval similar to what is at Shark Park? I know it would involve removing some trees and the ground is fairly uneven, but the resulting accommodation would provide more corporate hospitality and more seating. The stand at Cronulla cost $9.6 million. Campbelltown got $8mil so it's fairly comparable

 

[Gary_Bakerloo]

It's less than $1m from the Federal government. It's practically negligible.

My query is the title of the thread. How has Campbelltown struggled for funding?

 

[system]

The thread title is a reflection of how hard both our grounds had to work and lobby to get upgrades while hosting top flight fixtures.

Hell the first Leichhardt improvements were only allowed to proceed because of a loan taken out by Tigers & Leichhardt Council.

 

[hammertime]

I think it's great. God knows why a small part of the stimulus didn't go to upgrading sporting grounds Australia wide.

 

[redemption]

Both areas do not receive funding as they are not traditionally considered to be marginal seats - as such neither party believes they will establish viable political capital in the electorates by promising funding to the grounds in question.

However - both grounds have just completed minor and major upgrades this year due to funding from both State and Federal Labor Govts. (Cambo was the major & Leichhardt the minor obviously.) So we are not in line for extra this time around!

Brookvale is even worse off given their blue-ribbon Liberal status and the fact that even when in Govt the likes of Abbott and Bronnie Bishop arsed them!

 

[alex]

Both areas do not receive funding as they are not traditionally considered to be marginal seats - as such neither party believes they will establish viable political capital in the electorates by promising funding to the grounds in question.

However - both grounds have just completed minor and major upgrades this year due to funding from both State and Federal Labor Govts. (Cambo was the major & Leichhardt the minor obviously.) So we are not in line for extra this time around!

Brookvale is even worse off given their blue-ribbon Liberal status and the fact that even when in Govt the likes of Abbott and Bronnie Bishop arsed them!

Then we should be reading stories about the opposition in each electorate promising funding should they get elected. Leichhardt Oval is in pretty safe Labor seats in both the state and federal government. Anthony Albanese is the Federal MP, while Verity Firth is our State MP.

 

[Yossarian]

Both areas do not receive funding as they are not traditionally considered to be marginal seats - as such neither party believes they will establish viable political capital in the electorates by promising funding to the grounds in question.

However - both grounds have just completed minor and major upgrades this year due to funding from both State and Federal Labor Govts. (Cambo was the major & Leichhardt the minor obviously.) So we are not in line for extra this time around!

Brookvale is even worse off given their blue-ribbon Liberal status and the fact that even when in Govt the likes of Abbott and Bronnie Bishop arsed them!

Then we should be reading stories about the opposition in each electorate promising funding should they get elected. Leichhardt Oval is in pretty safe Labor seats in both the state and federal government. Anthony Albanese is the Federal MP, while Verity Firth is our State MP.

It's not a safe state seat at all. Labor are very worried they will lose it at the next election.

 

[alex]

No way will Liberal get it in the state election either … it's been a Labor seat since 1930 (excluding Dawn Fraser's 3 year stint in the late 80s/early 90s)

This area has been a safe Labor seat in both State and Federal government for decades.

 

[alex]

Back on topic … considering they gave the Western Stand a makeover this year ... what do you reckon needs to be done to LO? I think they need a stand on either the north or south end, but I dont think they want to remove the Keith Barnes stand. Alternatively, could they merge the Western Stand/Concourse into one bigger stand?

 

[redemption]

Both areas do not receive funding as they are not traditionally considered to be marginal seats - as such neither party believes they will establish viable political capital in the electorates by promising funding to the grounds in question.

However - both grounds have just completed minor and major upgrades this year due to funding from both State and Federal Labor Govts. (Cambo was the major & Leichhardt the minor obviously.) So we are not in line for extra this time around!

Brookvale is even worse off given their blue-ribbon Liberal status and the fact that even when in Govt the likes of Abbott and Bronnie Bishop arsed them!

Then we should be reading stories about the opposition in each electorate promising funding should they get elected. Leichhardt Oval is in pretty safe Labor seats in both the state and federal government. Anthony Albanese is the Federal MP, while Verity Firth is our State MP.

It's not a safe state seat at all. Labor are very worried they will lose it at the next election.

far from safe - but not threatened by the coalition! the greens are the worry for Labor in Balmain!

The Libs offered nothing when Brogden was NSW opposition leader - they will not offer anything to that local electorate because the NSW Govt is broke and they expect to see Ms. Firth beaten by default!! They don't expect to win the seat though!

The Federal issue is that neither party will promise what little funds the Govt will have available to non-marginal and non-critical seats. If the coalition were to get up federally in Balmain it would be for the first time ever! No wonder they believe there is an aversion to conservatives there despite the influx of high-paid blow-ins!!!!

 

[alien]

I didn't think Henson Park would need over $1,000,000 altogether.

 

[redemption]

Back on topic … considering they gave the Western Stand a makeover this year ... what do you reckon needs to be done to LO? I think they need a stand on either the north or south end, but I dont think they want to remove the Keith Barnes stand. Alternatively, could they merge the Western Stand/Concourse into one bigger stand?

the playing field used to run that way until the Barnes stand!

the real reason that further expansion is not currently viable is that the ground lacks parking and traffic infrastructure!

Leichhardt Council (i.e. the ground owners) will not support further growth without contingencies for the increased volume of people! It also costs alot more to run a big ground for a small crowd!

 

[adamtiger]

are they still doing that massive grandstand along the back of the hill???? my mate is in air-con and their company did a tender to do all the ducting and ventilation for it..dunnoe if they got it or not….

but going back to funding for LO... we applied for a loan to do these works early this year and one of the people they approached to get finance knocked them back because our books and finances were just terrible apparently...thats why back door funded the devolopment at rozelle i think!!

I also thought the local government denied the move for a bigger grandstand @ leichhardt?? does anyone know about it??

 

[alex]

Back on topic … considering they gave the Western Stand a makeover this year ... what do you reckon needs to be done to LO? I think they need a stand on either the north or south end, but I dont think they want to remove the Keith Barnes stand. Alternatively, could they merge the Western Stand/Concourse into one bigger stand?

the playing field used to run that way until the Barnes stand!

the real reason that further expansion is not currently viable is that the ground lacks parking and traffic infrastructure!

Leichhardt Council (i.e. the ground owners) will not support further growth without contingencies for the increased volume of people! It also costs alot more to run a big ground for a small crowd!

Yeah I remember hearing it used to run East/West and the two Southern Stands were the main ones.

It makes the dumping of the Metro even more stupid then … correct me if I'm wrong but LO and Brookvale are the only NSW stadiums in the NRL not near a train station? The public transport infrastructure is non-existant to support any expansion

 

[hammertime]

Back on topic … considering they gave the Western Stand a makeover this year ... what do you reckon needs to be done to LO? I think they need a stand on either the north or south end, but I dont think they want to remove the Keith Barnes stand. Alternatively, could they merge the Western Stand/Concourse into one bigger stand?

the playing field used to run that way until the Barnes stand!

the real reason that further expansion is not currently viable is that the ground lacks parking and traffic infrastructure!

Leichhardt Council (i.e. the ground owners) will not support further growth without contingencies for the increased volume of people! It also costs alot more to run a big ground for a small crowd!

Yeah I remember hearing it used to run East/West and the two Southern Stands were the main ones.

It makes the dumping of the Metro even more stupid then … correct me if I'm wrong but LO and Brookvale are the only NSW stadiums in the NRL not near a train station? The public transport infrastructure is non-existant to support any expansion

It would be pretty simple to expand the light rail up from Lillyfield to the oval. But I don't think it could probably carry enough people to be an effective option.

The metro shouldn't have been dumped.

 

[alex]

The Light Rail extension has been approved and has been scheduled to start operations in early 2012 (but more like 2022 considering it's a NSW State Labor Government project).

It will connect Dulwich Hill train station to the Lilyfield tram stop.

Check this document to see where the stops will be located - http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/file/rail/SLRE-Light-Rail-GreenWay-Integration-Plan-2.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like the Leichhardt North stop will be somewhere around the end of Norton St/top of Lilyfield Rd (pretty sure I read this in a proposal of where the stops were going to be built). The Hawthorne stop looks like a bit of a nuffy stop - it's not that far between Marion St and Leichhardt North stop. The Marion St stop will be where the existing freight train line is near Hawthorne Pde.

Apparently Leichhardt Council plans to sell Lambert Park off to developers. The Leichhardt soccer club will then use Leichhardt Oval as it's home ground…

 

[Leroy_The_Tigers_Fan]

Henson Park is probably due for an upgrade but the spending shouldn't detract from what the ground is today, a nice little suburban grand that can cater for a couple of thousand fans if that and retain it's heritage and integrity etc etc.
Leichhardt Oval on the other hand caters for crowds of 20 000 and should have help to maintain not only it's character but of being one of the few grounds that wishes to cater for a large crowd.
After the demolition of one of the original grandstands just a short while ago because of neglect, weren't termites suggested as there primary reason for the woodrot, I thought that in this day and age why not demolish the other stand as well and create a whole new stand that is similar in architectural style to the one being demolished but run from the sideline to sideline and give players a new changeroom, give seating to 4 times the seating currently available and on upper tiers have the all important corporate suites in a quaint rustic but professional location.
The first time I suggested this was ages before a Federal election and fellow forum members suggested that while the proposal was great where was the money going to come from, it's called pork barrelling!.

 

[crouching_tiger]

Maybe they will start locking out fans when ticket sales reach 1000 in future at these grounds to generate the revenue through gate takings…

 

[Gary_Bakerloo]

Leichhardt Oval….....should have help to maintain not only it's character but of being one of the few grounds that wishes to cater for a large crowd.

What is defined as a large crowd? I would define it as 30,000+ and this is the capacity both Campbelltown and Leichhardt should be aspiring too in the medium term. Long term, the club (like all NRL clubs) should be aiming to get crowds not dissimilar to the Broncos.

You can't have "character" and cater for "large" crowds. It is a contradiction and does not work in modern, high levely, professional sport.