23 September 2019

Lessons not learned at the cricket

| johnboy
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After the PMs XI I had a few quibbles with the running of Manuka Oval.

It seems nothing was learned despite a China People’s Daily impersonation at the Canberra Times which promised all would be well the second time around.

Business coach Tony Ozanne has offered up a critique which differs from the enthusiastic tweeting of those who enjoyed the view from the corporate boxes.

Such a pity. It shouldn’t really be that hard to get it right.

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Howse about them F#%*@n catches

(in other words, did nothing good happen?)

Holden Caulfield11:00 am 08 Feb 13

bd84 said :

Heavs said :

My one take out of the day is that I’ve been wrong for 30 years. It’s not the Pool end and the Manuka end. Apparently it’s the Lake Burley Griffin End and the Church end. Thanks ACT Events for helping me see the error of my ways.

I did have a chuckle at their attempts to name the ends of the ground. I would have thought if it wasn’t the Manuka end, they would have called it the Canberra Avenue end (free Canberra plug) rather than “church” end, which I believe is actually St Christopher’s Cathedral.

The pool end would have been more appropriate because LBG is a fair way from the ground. I’m sure money went into thinking how to get a distinctively Canberra name into the game.

@Jethro it was the beer line behind Menzies and close to Bradman, they had 2 lines going. Perhaps that was what was different to others? I did notice they were running low on drinks later in the game.

I heard the names referred to as the Cathedral end (consistently) but the other end was either Swimming Pool, Pool, Telopea Park or Burley Griffin.

(That’s using a mix of TV commentary from Ch9 and Fox from the PM’s XI game.)

Growling Ferret10:45 am 08 Feb 13

dph said :

Just out of curiosity, are there similar issues when the GWS play at Manuka?

Until this year, all GWS games have been played on Saturdays or Sundays where there is significantly more parking available around the Telopea Park schools.

And the brown bombers get anyone who parks illegally.

The way I see it – nobody parked legally got booked. Those who took short cuts will pay some of my taxes. I had a 8 minute walk back to my car which was parked legally… If 5 minutes is worth $80 then good luck

dph said :

Just out of curiosity, are there similar issues when the GWS play at Manuka?

There might be if more than 512 people turned up.

Heavs said :

My one take out of the day is that I’ve been wrong for 30 years. It’s not the Pool end and the Manuka end. Apparently it’s the Lake Burley Griffin End and the Church end. Thanks ACT Events for helping me see the error of my ways.

I did have a chuckle at their attempts to name the ends of the ground. I would have thought if it wasn’t the Manuka end, they would have called it the Canberra Avenue end (free Canberra plug) rather than “church” end, which I believe is actually St Christopher’s Cathedral.

The pool end would have been more appropriate because LBG is a fair way from the ground. I’m sure money went into thinking how to get a distinctively Canberra name into the game.

@Jethro it was the beer line behind Menzies and close to Bradman, they had 2 lines going. Perhaps that was what was different to others? I did notice they were running low on drinks later in the game.

My one take out of the day is that I’ve been wrong for 30 years. It’s not the Pool end and the Manuka end. Apparently it’s the Lake Burley Griffin End and the Church end. Thanks ACT Events for helping me see the error of my ways.

Just out of curiosity, are there similar issues when the GWS play at Manuka?

caf said :

LSWCHP said :

bd84 said :

I partially agree with some of the commentary.

Phone networks were overloaded and they had no foresight to increase capacity.

Things may be different now, but back in the day each cell (ie tower) had a fixed maximum number of phones it could support which was 512 IIRC. If you get more people in the vicinity of a cell than it can support and there’s no other cell within reach then the extra people get no service as there’s no way to reallocate capability from one cell to another. This is why trains full of people with phones are such a difficult problem for mobile phone services.

It’s possible to set up temporary portable cells to add capacity in an area for major events. I’m not sure how the decision to do so gets made, though.

Cunning buggers, these mobile phone people. What will they think of next? 🙂

Phone company employees going to events for their own purposes have been known to rig booster cells.

It’s five minutes work and not at all beyond the wit of man.

LSWCHP said :

bd84 said :

I partially agree with some of the commentary.

Phone networks were overloaded and they had no foresight to increase capacity.

Things may be different now, but back in the day each cell (ie tower) had a fixed maximum number of phones it could support which was 512 IIRC. If you get more people in the vicinity of a cell than it can support and there’s no other cell within reach then the extra people get no service as there’s no way to reallocate capability from one cell to another. This is why trains full of people with phones are such a difficult problem for mobile phone services.

It’s possible to set up temporary portable cells to add capacity in an area for major events. I’m not sure how the decision to do so gets made, though.

bd84 said :

I partially agree with some of the commentary.

Phone networks were overloaded and they had no foresight to increase capacity.

Things may be different now, but back in the day each cell (ie tower) had a fixed maximum number of phones it could support which was 512 IIRC. If you get more people in the vicinity of a cell than it can support and there’s no other cell within reach then the extra people get no service as there’s no way to reallocate capability from one cell to another. This is why trains full of people with phones are such a difficult problem for mobile phone services.

Phone congestion happens at every major sporting event I’ve been to, whether it’s Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne.

The beer situation was pitiful. I don’t know what magic beer line bd84 was in but the line for beer during play was 30-45 minutes. After 5:30 they limited you to purchasing 2 beers at a time, which is great if you are in a group of 4 doing rounds. They ran out of mid-strength beer before the end of the match, with drinking options limited to lights or wine. Quite a few people around us were leaving the grounds for 10 minute stop overs at the Kingo.

Other than the woeful beer situation it was a great day out. Hopefully we will see more first class cricket at manuka and hopefully they will sort out a better system to keep the beer drinking punters appy.

I partially agree with some of the commentary.

Phone networks were overloaded and they had no foresight to increase capacity.

Toilet facilities seemed fine (behind Menzies stand). I think you need to accept that there will be a line if you decide to go in the breaks. I used the facilities twice during the match with no wait. Forgoing an over of play was worth it. People may have neede to walk a bit further than the closest ones.

Also, the beer line was only long during the breaks when everyone went. Other times it was a 5 minutes wait at most. The food selections did appear pretty poor. A trip to Manuka just before the dinner break was a better option.

Rocking up to the ground just before play time is just a result of stupidity really. Arriving a bit over an hour before play saw little or no line (about 5 scanners going) and plenty of parking left. Having said that, only having one entry and exit point from the ground is poor and will create problems.

A couple of gripes was a “gold ticket” cost $80 for a seat in the direct sun, the seats are cramped even for a regular sized person (felt sorry for the people I saw located next to a morbidly obese woman) and so uncomfortable that my backside is sore today from sitting on them. Not worth the $80 for something that would be a general admission seat and in dire need of replacement.

Other than that, it was a good game an the lights were excellent. Hope to see more games with some improvements to facilities.

Pretty much agree with that.
Phone dead by 8pm so i couldn’t arrange my pickup time (my fault for not switching it off i guess, but i didn’t know the reception was so stretched round there).

Didn’t get a beer til 9.30pm when the queue had finally dropped off. Went off to Manuka at changeover and spent my money there instead.

On the other hand, the buses were great and the game was good.

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