How you put up with it is amazing.
Good point, especially as an old rusted-on fan of cricket in this once-mighty State; every year we have to put up with the barbs from the AFL crew as to how the WACA is a waste of real estate and all cricket should have been moved to Subiaco Oval, where they'll get some money directly in to footy's coffers. One of the things I've always found ironic/moronic, is that they never seem to use that real estate argument concerning the WAFL State league footy ovals which should all be demolished as they are under-utilised. We're talking about some prime real estate around Perth, which in turn would rationalise the league into a couple of major stadia. But no, for some reason it's WA's only internationally known stadium, the only major one owned by it's own sport, the WACA, that they are desperate to get rid of. Also of interest, is the ongoing petulant saga they had of refusing to play at the new Perth Stadium because they didn't get the rights to administer it. One only has to read the reactions of the plebs over here to the fact that the NRL was to hold a double-header at the new stadium before an AFL match. It was worse than the Syrians trying to get the world cup qualifier result changed!
I think one of the things that a lot of the eastern-States rugby people didn't know, is that there is a concerted effort to get rid of any competing code here in Western Australia, it's the main reason why we haven't had a stadium built for rectangular sport in the 25 years since the Perth Kangaroos, Western Reds and Perth Glory's inception. The answer has always been that we can play at the old 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games athletics stadium at Perry Lakes, and to move the bigger games to Subiaco. There is an inherent difference in Perth, concerning the same pro-AFL resistance, and it's this: at the very least, Melbourne still believes it has a right to big events and it's right to be higher on the pecking order as one of Australia's prime cities. So, even if the Storm or Rebels or soccer meets resistance in the AFL-press, Melbournians still believe they have a right to bid for State-of-Origins, Wallaby tests, Socceroo qualifiers, etc, and rightfully so. They also believe, that they should always be the obvious choice and port of call for any franchise. So, regardless of the resistance from the press or public, their forward-thinking government will do anything they can to keep events and franchises in their city. WA on the other hand, with Aussie Rules entrenched in the government, won't see it that way. I've heard the argument against this from pro-government people here, but the fact is, it took the impetus from Perth Glory's owner, Nick Tana to redevelop the old Perth Oval East Perth FC ground into NIB Stadium; and apparently after waiting so many years, we should be grateful to our government for granting us such a magnificent bounty - ramshackle old footy oval with the cheapest possible stand bunged on to one side of the ground which isn't up to test match standard and has bugger all corporate facilities. But hey, as the AFL people have told me to my face, "It's rectangular, you should be happy, what are you complaining about. Perth isn't a rugby town anyway." etc, etc, etc...
