Our home away from home

Penrith Panthers NRL
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What are people’s thoughts about our home away from home?

For me:

Pros:

  1. Easier to get around the stadium precinct
  2. Parking closer & don’t have to cross a road to get into the ground (I usually park out the front of the club at Penrith)
  3. Better food options
  4. Toilets closer to my seat

Cons:

  1. Harder to get to from my house (even if it is closer)
  2. The rows seem to be narrower, which is no good for my knees
  3. Stairs are steeper, luckily I’m at the front of my bay
  4. No cash (my preferred payment method)
  5. Paying for parking*
  6. It’s fkn Parramatta!!!

*Pending test of getting there 3+ hours early

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I won’t be going there any time soon but the worse thing has got to be the dangerous state of the pitch.

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I have avoided posting so far since my experience last night - keep going over in my head the email I am going to send the club.

It wasn’t just a bad experience, it was f$!/?! Awful!

Ok for the single good note: the view of the ground from my seat was great.

Now for the rest-

Firstly, getting to the game; a half hour trip by train turned into a 2 hour ordeal. Instead of getting there just as the gate opened, arrived 15 minutes after the game had started (with thousands of other Panther fans). Some gave up partway through the tortuous trip.

Then a hot and sweaty walk to the ground at pace.

Getting through the gates was ok, as was finding where to go, but from there the whole experience went pear shaped.

A confrontation with a rude and obnoxious attendent was to follow included a lovely quote of “you get over there, we don’t want you Penrith scum …” I have never in my life heard such vile from an attendant at any other game!

Then a climb of what must be 100 steep steps, which if you put it into any other building would not pass BCA standards.

Now hot , exhausted and angry I take my seat to watch the game, see other panthers fans the same and bathed with sweat.

A loud stadium does not make a soulful one, in the upper level the audio level is deafening (a problem shard with some sections of Homebush as well).

Then to realise our pre-game plan was to get dinner before the game. Back down the 100 or so stairs again. The steepness of each step sending shooting pain into my knees. Oh what fun this is!

Try to find food - walk past 3 bars before finding a food outlet ! Wtf! Ok the food was of good quality, a Burger each, chips (shared) and 2 drinks- that’s $67 by visa tap and go thanks. Guess I am not used to paying big stadium food prices at home games. Oh for the want of a hot dog, pie or sausage roll! Other customers were asking for pies to no avail, and many wanted to pay cash.

Climb the 100 stairs again, after getting a snarl from the rude attendant woman. Now bathed in sweat, settle into my seat for a the last couple of minutes of the first half. My daughter remarks how the chips were better at Penrith….

Now the half time “entertainment “. Yes they warned of bright flashing light (not that I suffer from epilepsy or anything) , but the certainly did not wane of what was to come- copping a laser light shined directly into my eye, leaving me with blurred vision for the next 5 to ten minutes.

My daughter (god bless her) asked why they couldn’t just put on the junior relay?

Maybe I was just grumpy from the train ride in and missing the start, maybe just grumpy by our teams on field performance. I don’t know yet. I have resigned myself to giving it an other go…. However overhearing discussions from others on the trip home, many are saying this was their first and last time.

A lot of things need fixing, and the stairs climb issue makes me fear for the design of the new stadium. Oh and also great work venues NSW, leaving whole sections and bays empty!

…end of rant for now, you should all be glad I didn’t post last night :joy:

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From what I can see of the designs, I think we may be in for a similar problem when we return home. From what I can tell where I normally sit won’t be undercover either, which may tempt me to switch sides so I can stay dry.

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Our first home game at Commbank did not work as we hoped.

It was a very uncomfortable night weatherwise, which made it very uncomfortable as a spectator, but I spare a thought for the participants. I recall a couple of games at Penrith Park similar, against the dogs & knights, but Friday night seemed to be that we were in Hades, not Parra :grinning:

The stadium itself is excellent with the old ‘not a bad seat in the house’ idiom pretty well correct. We have been there before, so there were no surprises about the steepness of the stairs & the closeness of the rows. Our seats in 215 row 7 were exactly what we had requested & there were familiar faces around us, again by request, so no complaints there.

Getting in & out and moving around the concourse are way better than we have put up with at Penrith, and many other venues.

Prices for food & drink are high, but in line with what we knew they would be - EventNSW pricing. We don’t eat at the footy normally & know what we will pay for a beer at the event - no surprises there.

We look forward to future games and a return HOME :paw_prints: :paw_prints:

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Now we have had the full season & the problems of our first game are well & truly behind us, what are people’s thoughts?

For me, I don’t think anything much has changed from my initial thoughts.

The main problem for me is the steepness of the stairs & spacing between seats. If I want to stay with the guys I have been sitting with for 25 years, I’ll need to lose some weight & get more strength in my legs, and even this won’t guarantee comfort. I may be asking the club to move me to ground level next year.

Where possible I’m eating in the club before going to the ground to save money, but to be fair, I was also doing that at Penrith.

I’ve cracked the code for free parking, but it’s not always possible for me to get there in time to take advantage of it, then there is the problem of taking longer to get out.

Getting to & from the ground is still painful, with the exception of when I go straight from work, where I’m travelling less than half the distance on the M4 than when I travel to Penrith.

One thing I will add, although this isn’t just a Commbank Stadium issue, is the blasting of music every time there is a break in play. I don’t see the need for it, and don’t think it adds anything to the game experience. Breaks in play were always the time to discuss what was happening with the people around me. Can’t do that when we can’t hear each other.

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I managed to get to about 2 games this year. As a season ticket holder, I am disappointed.

Between terrible scheduling (Thursday and Friday night games were virtually impossible for me to attend), and the transport issues (track-work on game day, terrible parking options) I just couldn’t get out there.

I am hoping for good weather over the next year, because I can’t wait for this new stadium to open in Penrith… when getting to the game is a few minutes drive away (or a Uber), he decision to go is much easier.

As far as Commbank Stadium in general… not a fan really.

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It’s taken a while for me to formulate my thoughts but I think the conclusion is, it was just - okay. Nothing really to write home about - an okay stadium experience, one with a lot more comforts than what we’re used to at Penrith but lacking any soul; which the old stadium had but was offset by its quirks.

A ‘Penrith MC’ might help next season - one that can get the crowd going instead of the ridiculous music. There’s no getting around that it’s not in Penrith but maybe the club can brainstorm how to make it more ‘Penrith’.

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I agree about the ‘music’. Conversations with people on either side has been impossible at Penrith Park for some time because of it. And Parramatta is too far to go, especially travelling home after dark.

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I agree regarding a proper MC… we have bounced between them for a good few years now. We haven’t had a good one since Scott McRae was let go. He now has a gig with the Wests Tigers.

It would be nice to approach him for a return to Penrith Stadium for the 2027 season when we return home.

He was for sure the best MC we had (and the longest serving). He knew the team he took the effort to make game day special. I would love to see him back at Penrith.

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I made it to all 8 ‘home’ games at Commbank & also to the 2 away games there.

I just thought that our team deserved my support as best I could do, and our club needs our support during the transition period. It has to be acknowledged it was difficult for all to travel to Commbank, particularly due to the ridiculous schedule we had with so many Thu & Fri night games.

I am lucky to be retired and so work commitments do not impact my availability to travel to Commbank. I travelled there by the club bus once, by train 3 times (including having to drive to Seven Hils due to trackwork) & drove to Westmead and walked down to the stadium the other times. I mostly watched the games with our sons, as we would do at Penrith, but they didn’t make it to all games, and often we had to travel separately.

I have long said that Commbank is an excellent stadium, just it is in a shite location with parking being a joke. I enjoyed the stadium, with good views from our seats for home games, and seats elsewhere for the other teams games. Entry and exit and moving around the concourse is good. Food & beverage pricing is ridiculous (a beer that’s $7 at my local is $14 in a plastic cup at the game), but eating and drinking are a choice & I never usually eat at games.

Music that is not welcome/required is not a Commbank thing - it is everywhere, but it’s not gonna go away - the event organisers think that we all love it???

OK, it just wasn’t HOME, but we had to play somewhere, and again in ‘26 and we just need to work with it and remember “HOME IS WHERE WE ALL ARE”!!!:paw_prints: :paw_prints:

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Apart from music, do we really need clouds of smoke?

Disclaimer - I am a curmudgeonly old git.

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I would have preferred Campbelltown stadium, cannot stand our current playing environment !

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Hell I would have rather have a temporary stand thrown up at St Marys Leagues Stadium over Commbank Stadium. :rofl:

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Well apart from my gripe about the steepness of the stairs, the next worse thing for me is the stupid ground announcer and the fake crowd rev up. I just can’t stand it. If we want to cheer we will cheer, I don’t need some doofhead on the pa yelling “panthers panthers”.

I have kinda warmed to the stupidity of DJ Johnny, at least he doesn’t take himself too seriously. I am imagining he is writing himself into future folklore like the calypso band lol

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