Grand Prix Pala?

Wouldn't mind see those said pics of the temporary seating and knowing what the capacity was last night. Heard it was a big crowd at lakeside

South Melbourne Facebook had a pic up yesterday I think.

Partly grand prix, but mostly because South wants to finish off its social club renovation.

Capacity was reported as 8,500, with an attendance of about 7,000. 

Here's some photos of Lakeside at the nitro athletics.
Tbh on the wing opposing the TV cameras, it would be pretty awesome if they could get a second tier very similar to NIB in Perth. Would be the missing piece to complete the ground with quality elevated wing views and a great overview of the lake at skyline of the cbd.

Makes sense, good of the FFV to be so flexible.

Might give SM a bit of an advantage in the tail end of the season with more home games, though, but oh well.

Looks good, getting a QSAC vibe! Pity they can't put the temporary seats all the way around, but still the boost in capacity is a good sign for SM.

The Age reporting that Lakeside had a capacity of 8,500 with the temp seating, unsure if this was just counting seats or standing room as well. I think the seated capacity after the athletics reconfiguration is 6k, so 8.5k sounds right for the seat count.

Certainly enough for non derby A-League games, though.

Yeh I've always said a 2nd level above the new grandstand similar to the one in Perth would put the finishing touches on it, but if you aren't gonna be in the top flight it's pretty pointless. The seating on the scoreboard end wasn't elevated like the other side so I'm assuming if both ends were the same it would have taken the capacity last night up to 10k, chuck in a new 3-4K stand and that's your almost fully seated 14k. Of course if these seats are removed and it's just open terraces then the capacity is much larger, but last nights configuration looks very promising.

Here's the mixed 4x100m relay with Usain Bolt, some nice shots of Lakeside with the extra seating:

The viewing behind the goals isn't that far away for a South Melbourne game right? That looks worse than the AFL stadiums we use..

if south melbourne can show off their stadium plan with how the retractable seating can work with one end potentially being brought over the running track then that would be a complete game changer since south-melbourne pretty much have zero rent.

Issue with that is the hassle of moving the stands off the track for Athletics events. 

Just go there dude. You live in melbourne. Then you can stop speculating... and just come on here and state facts about how its nowhere near as bad as AFL ovals were already using.., and how lucky we are to have such a good boutique stadium in melbourne. 

Whats the issue? I dont get it. Retractable seats are retractable. Thats the whole point. Whats the hassle? 

Bingo. And they will. And it will be awesome for crowd viewing. And tv product. 

At the moment it's the same configuration, but without the advantage of the extra higher seats for Nitro Athletics, but hopefully they can come up with some retractable seating configuration, no official word on this at the moment though.

Looks like things are starting to move forward.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/football/ffa-hints-it-may-delay-release-of-aleague-expansion-blueprint/news-story/debc63b87dce9cfff5fae73f9c0e3a66

Could only guess what the criteria is going to be

Things are moving forward by the criteria being delayed?

Funnily enough, yes. South Melbourne and Tasmania consortia have both said they are ready to go for the 2017 - 2018 season. Fans want expansion to happen as soon as possible.

The FFA have made it clear that they do not want to have expansion teams commence in the 2017 - 2018 season. They also do not want South Melbourne or Tasmania teams in the expansion process. By delaying the criteria, they are effectively telling said teams to disappear. They are also ignoring the fans, and even, as his book points out, their Socceroo's coach, by delaying the expansion until 2018 - 2019 at the earliest.

So the corruption within the FFA is clearly on show, which means we will have, sooner rather than later, intervention by FIFA. So things are moving forward.

So basically the current state of play is that the 2 preffered teams the ffa would want are nowhere near ready, so we are delaying it, don't expect to hear anything worth listening to from the ffa until something starts cooking with the 3rd Sydney team, they must be struggling to find suckers.

The whole thing is a scam, kinda hoping we pull our bid, they have already made it obvious that ours and tasmanias is out the door.

SMFC and Belteky/Stamoulous should get together and push hard for a National NPL/NPL First Division. Approach Wollongong, Brisbane Strikers, Adelaide City, Sydney United and whoever else gets a raw deal from FFA and wants in. Talk to whoever is in charge of the NPL about expanding the competition upwards and Sony Playstation about expanding their sponsorship. Go around the FFA. Then when FFA try to block it go to FIFA with examples of the denied bids, which then backs up as proof that legitimate clubs/bids are being denied access to top flight football and have know way of getting there whether it be on merit or FFA 'criteria'.

I wouldn't imagine FIFA would look to fondly on a governing body denying growth within the sport especially a club like SMFC with the track record they have on producing top line talent and on the other side of the coin a bid like Tasmania, which has government backing, which is willing to spend millions on the sport and the infrastructure required.(The Tassie government being on board kind of debunks the whole 'we're unique' theory doesn't it.)

So FFA bosses are scared of many things.

AFL, BBL, NRL, AFLW, TV deals, A League expansion, second division, removing salary cap, transfer fees between Australian clubs, instituting a system that rewards performance over a stale system that instead rewards inertia.

But it seems to me, that being scared of their own sport and its potential might be highest on the list.

I doubt anything other codes could do to keep football down would be as effective as the "strategy" for the sport currently being administered by FFA management and board.

As others have said over numerous threads, stop comparing yourselves to other sports, reach out in a meaningful way to people who actually love/like football and engage them as participating fans by allowing their teams/areas to be represented at the highest level they can achieve on merit. 

Link the levels of the pyramids from top to bottom (via PR) and bring those back those football loving but isolated fans back into the fold.

With A league on top, A2 beneath it, I would like to see a 3rd div of NPL National Champions (and runners up to give plenty of teams for strict home and away season) play off in a 3rd national tier league. Winner of said league progresses into A2, the rest of the comp is replaced by the winners and runners up of that seasons National NPL's.

Stop trying to make all teams the same but let them find their own level. Stop holding back big clubs from expanding to where they can go if the shackles are removed.

I know people who fear that their club will be left behind if the "big" clubs go ahead without the restrictions in place, but doesn't a rising tide raise all boats? If more money and better known players are able to join our league, then the Burnley and Watford equivalents in our league can also afford better players due to better TV money they will share in also.

It will be a great achievement to make it to the top tier and to try and stay their for smaller clubs, just as it is all over the world. Plus nothing stopping them from going all in on development of juniors and making money being a development club.

So come on FFA, change the league format and get us moving towards what we need as a sport.

But this will fall on deaf ears amid cries of sustainability.

So my question is, does FFA actually suffer from a fear of success?

Probably fear of losing their 113% Pay packets

No doubt. 

Great post that

Thanks, I don't speak/ write often, but when i do... haha

Great initial post. The reality is that if AFC Bournemouth were an Aussie club, they wouldn't meet the metrics of their division and couldn't be in the top division. We need reality to impact the FFA sooner rather than later!

Exactly. A mate of mine who supports CCM is a passionate advocate of the status quo, feating that his club would disappear without guaranteed top flight football. I doubt he would be alone in those fears, so I believe it's more than just the FFA we need to convince of the merits of change.

Another friend is a Newcastle United supporter and the happiest I have seen him was when Newcastle romped it in while playing in the Championship a few years back. They won the trophy, got promoted and actually had something to get excited about. Sure he was filthy about getting relegated the season before, but due to their Championship form the following season, he could actually get as excited about their form as he was disappointed by their lack of it, the previous season.

So dropping down a level is not the end of the line. Not if you are a determined club. We don't even give our clubs the chance at redemption.

I also support CCM but know that the status quo will not remain. Paradoxically, while people lambast our owner for not spending enough on the squad he is investing in developing alternate revenue streams. This will mean a sustainable club in the very near future and eventually a future proof club that will have the wherewithal to bounce back quickly if the worst happens and we are relegated.