ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys is lobbying the NSW government to relocate funding from the abandoned $800 million Accor Stadium upgrade to renovate at least four suburban rugby league grounds:Bluebet Stadium in Penrith,4 Pines Park at Brookvale,PointsBet at Cronulla and potentially Leichhardt Oval.
The NSW government will already fund the knock down and rebuild of Bluebet Stadium,which will reportedly cost up to $300m,with $20m also set aside for a new grandstand at Brookvale,which is also being funded by the Northern Beaches Council.
However,the owners and operators of Leichhardt Oval haven’t received any guarantee of state funding despite the much-loved historic ground becoming one of the busiest venues for top-tier rugby league,rugby union and football in the past three years.
That is despite paint peeling off the western grandstand and dilapidated change rooms. The north-end toilets have been out of use for more than a decade;locked to the public,badly damaged and having no lights or services. The seats along the eastern touchline are hand-me-downs from the SCG and,despite the local council pouring in more than $5m in recent years,the revered ground is at risk of not being fit for top-tier professional sport in the future,according to the council.
“If the ground is not upgraded then it won’t be tenable for games to be played there at all,” Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne said. “We are at a real fork in the road here. If not,let’s be honest,the ground will fade away. There won’t be elite sport played there. It’s a special place we will always care for and get the most community use out of it that we can.”
The council is seeking at least $50m in state government funding and has also vowed to jointly fund a knock down of the large western grandstand as well as seating behind the goalposts at the northern end to build a modern,wrap-around grandstand to bring the venue up to date and appealing for elite sports grounds.
A spokesman for the state government told theHerald no decision has been made yet on further funding for suburban ground,however confirmation could come with the release of the state budget next month.