When you’ve been around for as long as I have, more and more things bring on that old feeling of déjà vu.
One of them is seeing governments get out of touch just weeks after they win a second term.
But when it comes to the mob that run rugby league, almost every decision is Groundhog Day rolled in déjà vu.
Especially when they just copy what the AFL does down in Melbourne – add that to death and taxes, the other certainties of life.
When I think of what happened last week regarding the State Government’s stadiums policy – sorry, I refuse to be PC and say stadia – it truly does my head in that some people don’t learn from other’s mistakes.
And of course it could have been worse if the nonentity who has the title of NSW sports minister got his way.
Take a breath and cop this: He was pushing for the gutting of the Sydney Football Stadium, built less than 30 years ago in 1988, and spending more than half a billion dollars of yours and my money on a brand new one in Moore Park.
Our nice, smiling premier, Mike Baird, stepped in as everyone knows, so now the bulk of our hard earned will go towards converting the Olympic stadium at Homebush into a rectangular venue, perfect for rugby and soccer with a 75,000 capacity.
This will eat up $700 million, maybe lots more say some people.
Some $300 million will go towards a brand new footy stadium at Parramatta with a capacity of around 30,000.
Any leftovers will go towards improvements to the home grounds of the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, the club that struggles to attract more than 10,000 to its home games.
Is it harsh to stop here and say: dumb and dumber?
That’s a whopping, almost unbelievable $1.6 billion from a state government.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]And, pray tell, what’s the image that pops in our heads when we think of state governments: why, they’re in Canberra and are carrying a begging bowl.[/social_quote]
Oh, under this genius plan a massive $40 million will be shared around for some improvements to suburban home grounds such as Brookvale, which got 25 percent of that last week.
But both the NRL and the State Government ignored the fact that Sydney is not Melbourne, either in distances involved from one end of the city to the other or in public transport facilities.
What works down south will not necessarily work here where footy fans have to travel long distances to get to a major stadium.
The truth is fans, whether they follow rugby league or soccer or AFL or rugby, love seeing games locally.
If that magical $1.6 billion pot really exists, a lot more of it should have been used to improve local grounds, from Shark Park to Kogarah and from Penrith to Campbelltown.
To its credit, this State Government is not completely dumb because it is decentralizing public service jobs out to the regional cities like Campbelltown and Liverpool.
So why should sporting facilities be an exception?
If Sydney is allowed to continually grow outwards, well, so must the infrastructure – from hospitals to schools and footy stadiums.
You know it makes sense.
I certainly do and that’s no déjà vu.
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