Sensational-Adelaide.com

skyliner wrote:Couple of names from the general populace for the AO getting around -'the toilet seat' (bad 'taste') and the 'horseshoe'. I know which I'd prefer! More will probably come, being inclined as we are to such things as titles etc.

Great publicity for the oval again today!

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

mshagg wrote:Seems like an ok idea to me. I spent plenty of time in the village green (great atmosphere!) throughout the test and it's not like the average SACA member is any better behaved than the general population; just a bunch of guys from the hill that got on the waiting list and bought a collared shirt. Not sure if it was just for the first big game but enforcement of dress code and behaviour was non existant.

slenderman wrote: -Not sure why such a large section of seating had to be cut off with that white bay cover thing. I understand the batsman has to have the white there, but it's never that much, is it? It was at the other end of the ground as well.

rev wrote: If you don't like it, move to another section as it's obviously not aimed at you.

IT began with a one-sided conversation with Darren Lehmann on the jam-packed Village Green behind the Sir Donald Bradman Pavilion at the new Adelaide Oval.

"Where's the David Hookes Bar", Boof?

Boof, usually as affable as they come, wasn't saying anything because he's a statue.

But you can't have everything, so I tried his great mate Dizzy Gillespie.

"Where's the Leigh Whicker Room", Diz?

Dizzy, the most approachable of cricketers, wasn't talking either because he's a statue, too. I tried Twitter, but I guess statues don't tweet - yet.

It stands to reason that the best way to find your way around this new legend-happy Adelaide Oval is to ask a legend. But if Boof and Dizzy are staying mum, what hope have we got?

Eventually Barrie Robran, Russell Ebert and Malcolm Blight, not to mention Ken Farmer, George Giffen and Clem Hill, will join the boys in bronze. Obtaining directions from the second trio of departed sporting heroes will be a feat in itself, so I reckon our main hope is Blighty.

I tell you what, if you can't get a word out of a statue of Malcolm Blight, you'll never get a word out of a statue of anybody.

However, Blighty won't be in situ for a while yet. So until he is, we're pretty well on our own negotiating our way through this maze of legends. Without question all of them are worthy of the recognition accorded.

But such an orgy of name-dropping has made getting around Adelaide Oval an act of quiet desperation for your average SA sports-lover, at a time when joy should be all around.

And it's not going to get any easier when one stand - the eastern one - stand alone will have FIVE names.

Five! Wanganeen-Ricciuto-Oatey-Basheer-Williams. What if you're in the Wangas Stand and your partner, sitting next to you, is in the Roo Stand? Worse, what if it's your ex-partner?

Expect turf wars and border disputes in the world's most named grandstand.

At the Test, I thought of catching a taxi to the Bob Hank Bridge in the new Riverbank Stand. As I was in the Super Carey-Neil Kerley Bar in the new Riverbank Stand at the time, it seemed a good idea. Knowing my luck with taxis though, I probably would have been dropped at the Morphett Street Bridge.

With the eastern stand still under construction, it was slightly disappointing not to be able to not find the Graham Cornes Deck, the John Halbert Room and the John Platten and Garry McIntosh Bars.

But it was extremely disappointing not to be able to not find the Rick Davies Stadium Club Bar, named after the only stand-up comedian in the entire history of Australian Football.

What a hoot that room is going to be, seven nights a week, two shows a night. Davo is also known as the Jumbo Prince, which set me thinking about the legends who missed out on the first wave of name-dropping, and how Adelaide Oval is going to accommodate the waves of name-dropping required in for future generations. ahead.

At the cracking rate they've already set, the Oval managers will soon run out of things to name-drop. They might have to turn to the seats, of which they now have zillions.

Peter Darley was the original Jumbo Prince, a true SA and Adelaide Oval sporting legend. I feel Darls is unlucky to have missed out the first time. Amends should be made, and believe this: in the future I'd much rather sit on a seat at Adelaide Oval called Peter Darley than Peter Darley sit on me.

It's not only the humans, though. During an Ashes Test, how would you feel if you were a room, a lift, an escalator, and you weren't named after a legend? Inadequate, I would say, or shabbily spurned.

Although Boof and Dizzy were completely useless, a full day at the Test at least allows a person to get some sort of handle on moving quickly from one legend to the next. Some have done better than others, and Lindsay Head is the big winner.

The terrace at the back of the Riverbank Stand bears the triple Magarey Medallist's name. The terrace offers amenity, convenience and a view of the city skyline never seen before. Just as much as the view of the playing field of Adelaide Oval on the other side, the Lindsay Head Terrace represents a vision realised that will change Adelaide forever.

Lance Campbell is a former Advertiser sportswriter and columnist