Interesting. So i'd say the sentiment on here is approx. 60% would rather play him and 40% would rather give his spot to someone else.

Eddie, i'd like to lock in Option 1 thanks.

Let's not forget, the SAG are building tram lines to Port Road. I can already see it now that it's gonna bite them in the ar$e in 5 years time. Like i said, we do everything backwards in this state.

Fancy them upgrading the Entertainment Centre to include a 2000-3000 seat venue. WTF for??? That's what the Thebbies there for! Those trams to the Ent Centre/Hindmarsh area are ridiculous IMO.

Thanks mate

no online blog site - at least officially

the fanzine seems to not be doing very much lately...

Talent trials kick off for Elite AcademyTuesday, 15 December 2009
Trials have commenced for the Reds’ Elite Academy Program, which is part of the IGA & Adelaide United Junior Development Academy.

The first of three Talent On Location (TOL) trials was held at Thebarton Oval yesterday, with 90 boys from U/11 and U/12 age groups out to impress as they try to secure a place in the inaugural Elite Academy Program.

Academy Manager Michael Valkanis was joined by former Reds defender Richie Alagich, who is a Development Officer for Football Federations South Australia (FFSA), and former Qantas Socceroo and SASI Head Coach Tony Vidmar for the selection process.

“TOL has been really good, the boys have come to the trials with a great attitude, you can see the effort they have put in over the past two days and they are all pretty determined to make the squad,” Valkanis said.

“This is a great opportunity for the boys to associate themselves closer to the club by developing themselves in our environment with our culture and resources.”

While the TOL trials comprise of kids that have been hand picked, Valkanis has emphasized that the Academy’s Community Program provides the pathway for kids who did not manage to be selected for the trials this time around as well as any child hoping to one day make it into the Elite Program.


The Community Program is for boys and girls aged between 8-14 years, with participants to receive specialist coaching with the aim to help develop their skills and growth in a program that represents the culture of Adelaide United FC.

“Any kids that haven’t been identified for TOL this year will have the opportunity to be selected for TOL in 2010 by being part of the Reds Community Program this year,” Valkanis said.

“We are committed to giving every kid a chance to develop, learn and most importantly enjoy the game, and this Community Program will hopefully become a breeding ground for the Elite Program and then lead onto the Youth Team and the club’s senior setup.”

The original group that is selected for the Elite Program will be shortlisted to 23 before the program starts in January 2010.

Registrations for the IGA & Adelaide United Junior Development Academy Community Program are now open. Positions are limited so register now.


Edited by General Ashnak: 15/12/2009 05:44:21 PM

Hindmarsh 4 ever!!!- Hindmarsh #1 - daylight x 10 - Adelaide oval
I never have a problem parking besause I'm a slack shit who works from home, so I get there when the gates open to watch the young blokes strut their stuff.
As Clipsal is free maybe a multi-storey car park there - who actually owns that site now?
Of course we're cursed by a government that acts at pre-global warming glacial pace.

Also does United have an on-line blog site? and where can I get the fanzine?

My Bad :-#

actually the dark blue font colour is broken, thats why he gets the weird looking sig.

Or alternatively try putting the letter 'D' before arkblue...

not as yet, btw copy the below into your sig:

BARCA4LIFE

Is there any news about Adelaide Uniteds Academy plans? Any news on that?

Thank you. =d>

No, Unit! That would make sense a give the Reds the best ground and atmosphere in the state. We can not do that. (*,)

There is rather a lot of flat ground parking at the Entertainment Centre. Why not build multi-level carparking there and solve the whole problem? Then build up that whole Port Road corner are as an entertainment mecca? The Gov is there and there are plenty of shops and restaurants that could establish. It's a great, totally underutilised area with real atmosphere and potential. There is also plenty of space in the area that circuses always inhabit. Parking issues are a furphy. Build Hindmarsh into a 20-25,000 seat stadium and it would be FANTASTIC!

1. Stadium over the West Terrace rail yards - this is the dream option. The Tony Robbins 'if you could dream for anything - what would it be?' option. It would bring in a lot of new punters to give the game a try. It would allow for before and after game activities and be good advertising with all the red shirts making their way through the city to get there. Having said that, even if by some miracle it gets the go ahead, knowing Adelaide, it would be at least 5 years before we actually take our seat in the place. It would be a MASSIVE project logistically and the planning alone would take a couple of years.

2. Adelaide Oval - watching the games here SUCK. There is no other way to put it. I hate our game here each year as I just can’t see what is happening. I end up watching most of the game on the big screen as it is impossible to see the other side of the pitch with any clarity. The only way this would work is if rectangular seating was implemented during 'soccer' season. It is a stadium(?) designed for CRICKET viewing. Nothing against cricket but the most action the far side of the pitch is going to see during a cricket game is someone being caught out.

3. Hindmarsh - fantastic. I love this place. You can get close to the action and the atmosphere can be electric. Think the ACL games. The vibe in that place was like nothing I have ever felt before. Hair standing on the back of your neck stuff. For me the parking has never been such a big drama - sure there’s a 10 minute walk involved but that just gives us time to talk about the game and stretch the legs a little before we take our seats. The problem with this place is capacity. The knobs that agreed to limit full capacity at 16k should be shot. Just fill in the corners and build up the Eastern side to match the western side. Hey, if they want to invest some money - why not dig out a three level underground car park in the off season. If they want to splash some cash this would be the way to go.

Cricket - Summer
Soccer - Summer

You'd almost think there would be some oc health and safety rules for our players having to play on an oval with a freakin cricket pitch in the middle wouldnt you???

I really cant see how this would work. There's nothing wrong with Hindmarsh'd location. Yeah I'd LOVE to watch a game in a complex with bars and cafe's and a piazza style place to gather but this is Adelaide people. We were gonna do one of them in Rundle mall years ago but that fell through and there's now just another department store with pointles semi frequented shops.

I don't know where most people park but I can get there around 7 o'clock and have no problems whatsoever finding a park.

The fact that it cost us so much to build Hindmarsh and all we got was an open 15,000 seater stadium just shows how backwards this city is. Someone pocketed A LOT of money from that deal. A LOT!!!!!!

When the olympics were on we had games there with the temporary seating and from memory took up the capacity to around 21, 22??? Correct me if I'm wrong. Then when we made the Campions League final they said they couldn't find amy more seats in time to raise the capacity. Good lord.

Why cant we just fill in all the ends of Hindmarsh??? Oh yeah it's Adelaide and any public works take 10 years to discuss and then we wonder well maybe we dont really need it.

i love Adelaide but we are so damn short sighted sometimes it astounds me.

If we average over 20,000 we may eventually get a decent sized city football stadium. We will never get a new football stadium if we don't grow, and we haven't exactly grown in our 5 or so years at Hindmarsh so it's not likely that we ever will. Let's not forget Melbourne's new stadium would be a 20,000 seater if the Victory hadn't moved to the Dome.

We are not profitable at Hindmarsh at the moment and we dont have room for significant growth. Therefore, the club doesn't have a long term future if we stay at Hindmarsh because the chances of someone buying anything that will never be profitable aren't great. The current ownership situation isn't sustainable because the fans will stop going or the FFA will pull the pin/plug.

If SACA will give us a better deal or match the deal we have at Hindmarsh then it is probably a smart move as at least we can grow there and eventually become profitable.

Personally, I think Alan Young is using AO to get us a better deal at Hindmarsh and we will be playing the majority of our games at Hindmarsh with our big games at AO.

Just as long as any decision is in the best interest of the club I don't care where we play.

id rather play the guy whos going to be in his spot next season - that would benifit us alot more

as for AO - yes its a terrible place to play but we would get alot more casual fans comming regulally then we do at Hindy so untill we can twist the governments arm AO for bigger games (vs Melb & Sydney) is a smart move

I also like the discout idea with the 36ers - even if your not a diehard fan of one or the other who can resist a cheap ticket for a good nights entertainment in this day and age

General when it comes to geometry I'm in the " spanner " group as I majored in art, however I've seen enough Piet Mondrian's and their descriptions to know this is precisely what Adelaide oval redevelopment is trying to be - an oval with a super-hard bit in the middle masquerading as a rectangular football venue.
So you're quite correct in that it should be just an aussie-rules and a mobile meditation ground ( actually I've wondered for years how SACA can keep it going with shield games only attracting a few hundred spectators. I've wondered if taxpayers foot the bill? )

For this reason I would prefer that Alan Young does not become the new red's owner, but even so, he has to be a lot better than the Sydney-centric FFA!

Edited by redcup: 14/12/2009 11:21:46 PM

It's not difficult at all to be honest with you. Finding a park is a bitch, that's for sure. And then the bastards at the Entertainment Centre and others slug us $8 for 2 hours! Luckily i get there early now to watch the Baby Reds so i jag free parking.

The problem is there's nothing else to do after the game in that area. There's Norberto's, Enzo's and The Governor. All exceptional venues. But i'm talking about a "square" or a centre of shops, bars, restaurants etc. Somewhere that breeds activity and life.

When you go watch a Reds game, you have written off the night. You leave at around 9:30pm and unless you have other plans, that's the night gone. 99% of Reds fans leave the area just like 99% of Crows/Power fans leave West Lakes immediately after the game. That is a waste of the night and a wasted opportunity at generating economy and recreation. I would rather hang around with mates after a game, grab a coffee, visit a cafe, pizza, gelato, others might prefer a stiff drink depending on how we've played, and the youth want clubs.. all within walking distance.

And that's why i hope that a redeveloped Adelaide Oval & Torrens River area would be something we AU fans can leverage off in the future with our own purpose built stadium within walking distance. Again, it's a pipe dream, but the Government needs to think clearly about how it does things. It's taken them for-bloody-ever to sort out Adelaide Oval/RAH debacle. At one stage the SAG was proposing re-doing AAMI Stadium! And now finally all this new stadium talk soon after the Crows have spent millions on their new training centre! Incredible. That's South Australia for you.

+1 we need more supporter clubs to rival Melbourne Victory and it would be a great advertisment for the A-League and the city of Adelaide.

Agreed. And that's what i was getting at. I only want to commit to Adelaide Oval in the prospect of seriously growing membership numbers so that we could get a purpose built stadium in the CBD one day in the future.

Right now, we can't sellout Hindmarsh so a new stadium in the CBD is a pipedream.

People may not wander into an AUFC game - saying that though, it is far easier to get to Adelaide Oval than to Hindmarsh. Also with a proper stadium precinct (including parking etc.) you will find more people sample the sport, so we will have more bandwagoneers - but as we know these people are the seeds from which members grow, and membership is life.

I like basketball, but I have no interest in following the 36ers. Did that in the 90s, but basketball just can't get hold of me - not the way football can and does.

I would also prefer Adelaide Oval to be just an AFL & cricket venue with a new rectangular oval for football and rugby. That way we can have a proper stadium for the sport with a roof. We don't actually need to shift the hospital, and by the time it is finished it will be as outdated as they are saying the RAH is (which is a load of bull), so that should mean the rail yards are free for a proper sports and entertainment district for the rectangular field codes.

Agreed. Take a look at the "Reds and 36ers" thread from a few days ago. All those that are not into basketball bluntly said they would not go even if they received a free or discounted ticket in conjunction with the Reds ticket.

Not quite...yes, the Liberals have suggested redevelopment of the Torrens River, but they have proposed a new AFL & Cricket stadium.... that means a new stadium + the existing Adelaide Oval. Seems ludicrous to me seeing as AFL and Cricket ovals can use the exact same dimensions. Added to the fact that one is in Winter and another is in Summer. It just makes sense for a city as big as ours to keep those 2 codes together and redevelop Adelaide Oval.

I agree wholeheatedly and also with JD. Adelaide oval is a HORRIBLE place to watch football.

Hindmarsh for me is just so far ahead of that dead coloseum dedicated to mobile meditation.

In truth anyone who complains about parking or Hindmarsh being too far from the CBD has no experience living in cities of more than 1 million people. In short they don't realise how good they've got it.

Adelaide is a large country town, and as such public transport is infrequent, unfortunately, as in the bigger city's taxi driving is usually a job easily accessible to new immigrants and as I have done in Sydney, Melbourne and even Perth ( which is almost as well laid out as Adelaide ) I have read maps in my first language and therefore actually DIRECTED driver's, but the reward is worth it!!

Edited by redcup: 14/12/2009 04:22:22 PM

I don't believe that people will just 'wander' into a Reds game wherever it is. Look at the crowds for SA cricket and that's played at Adelaide Oval. Nobody cares. People come to games when they have a reason to. They like the club or they're attracted by the publicity. Then it doesn't matter if it's Hindmarsh, Adelaide Oval of the notoriously inaccesible Football Park. They go because they care or they want to be part of what's going on.

When the Reds make that leap into the heart of Adelaide community consciousness then we'll be flying. It started last year. This year it's taken a beating. Next year....?

People aren't going to pay $15 for a taxi to every home game though.

I think the theory is that a lot of people will walk down King William Street to watch United and have a few beers on a Friday night because it is easy. Going to Hindmarsh with the boys after work requires more cohesion than anything I've seen at Hindmarsh this season

I don't understand why people in Adelaide find Hindmarsh so difficult to get to.
It's 2kms from Adelaide oval and 2 and a bit from the CBD.
Sure, parking would be a bit of a nightmare, but Bowden Train station is across the road. Mind you, I am unaware of Adelaides train system. The two away games I've attended at Hindmarsh I've gotten to by Taxi (Me, a Melburnian, had to direct the Adelaide cabbie, who said he had lived in the city for 2 or 3 years from memory, to Hindmarsh) from North Terrace. Cost no more than $15 from memory.

P.S. New blog is up guys. The new 442 system lets me load them up. I put it into the system before writing the last post and when I checked the front page again it was there! Amazing.

Nice to know I didn't give KA many editing nightmares this week. :)

Edited by Jessesdad: 14/12/2009 03:49:24 PM