Last night at Shark Park.

[DSM5]

I can now understand why we haven't won at Cronulla for the last 21 years and why they haven't reached any pinnacle of success in the great game. The place is just dead, very sterile and has absolutely no footie atmosphere. In part it's to do with the seating arrangements at the ground. Plastic chairs down both sides of the park give no vent to passion being displayed by the punters and ergo there's none there. The only vantage point for those who wish to scream and rage at the teams and get right into the game is at the scoreboard end, away from the vantage point of seeing end to end play. Those who sit in the plastics are the mums and dads who just sit and watch and drink beer in plastic cups. This should be taken into account with any 'redevelopments' of Brookie. As well the ground announcer is a complete joke.

 

[DSM5]

My daughter has just reminded me that Penrith is just the same, devoid of any passion because of the seating arrangements. Shame really as passion is the one thread that gets you excited for what really is a strange thing to be interested in, a bunch of guys running into each other on grass with a ball.

 

[ManlyBacker]

Well done for braving the elements DSM5.

The other thing I noticed on TV was the dressing room shots. Sharks were bright and the Eagle's one seem to be lit by 2 40W bulbs. Talk about trying to make the visitors feel right at home!

 

[Duff]

Those grounds are terrible & we really are lucky to have Brookie as our home ground. I'd probably rate Shark Park as the worst ground in the NRL to watch footy at as well.
It's hard to get atmosphere anywhere when the crowd is that small though.

 

[Downie]

The general admission areas were virtually vacant last night. Luckily there were a couple of Manly supporters near me (I was down at the Family Hill end, right where Hicksy scored his try) as there was hardly anyone else around. Some bays there only had 2 or 3 people in them!

 

[byso]

I haven't been to shark park before, but on TV the lighting looks ****e.

I also agree that the Panthers home ground has little atmosphere.

 

[ChuckWood]

I agree with the abovementioned comments. Shark Park is a dreadful football ground. It's not the end of the earth , but you can see it from there. Another ground I always hate travelling to is Parramatta Stadium. Hopefully a victory out there next Sunday will make things bearable.

Speaking of Shark Park , I ventured down to Shark Park , Narrabeen on Sunday arvo to watch the top of the table A grade clash between Narrabeen Sharks and Valley United (Harbord) . A big crowd was on hand to witness a very entertaining and physical match eventually won by Valley by 16-12. A few brawls throughout the match and a few send offs added to the excitement.

 

[Bring_Back_The_Cliff]

It was like watching an arrive alive or Club rugby hame on tv. No crowd noise whatsoever. Made the game extremely boring.

 

[Sherlock]

Why would there be much noise when there is a crowd of 6000 on hand?

 

[The Wheel]

Ahh - sherlock is back