Standing proudly on the site of the old Sydney Football Stadium, Allianz Stadium at Moore Park is the diamond in the NSW sports stadium portfolio.
Yet despite opening barely three years ago at a cost of $828 million, the wet weather drainage at the Sydney Roosters home ground has been consistently criticised as sub-standard, forcing an embarrassing ten-week shut down beginning next month.
As reported by the ABC, independent testing uncovered soil and sand contamination issues dating back to when the ground surface was first laid four years ago.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has responded to the findings and assured NSW taxpayers will not be asked to foot the rumoured $6 million for remediation works.
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“I don’t anticipate any cost for NSW taxpayers,” Premier Minns said, explaining both the NSW Government and Venues NSW believe an error was made during the construction of the new stadium.
“I mean the thing’s brand new, so we would expect the builder to fix it up—the understanding, for want of a better expression, is it’s still under warranty.
“It’s important that as a showpiece stadium, one of the best in the country, if not the world, that it’s as good on the playing field as it is in the stands.”
The remediation works are slated to commence after the Wallabies-Argentina rugby union test match on September 13.
While unlikely to impact the NRL finals, with three rounds still to be played officials will be monitoring the situation closely—especially with the Roosters surging towards the post-season and the Sharks still in the running for a top-four finish.
Should the Roosters earn a ‘home’ final in week one, or either team in week two, it could cause some scheduling headaches.