Hi Alan, thanks for taking time to chat. I know you're a busy man.
First of all, thanks for taking such good care of people with disabilities at Suncorp. There's over 100 wheelchair spots (for example), which is much better than some stadiums around here. It's appreciated. The disabled drop-off point at Caxton Street is great too.
I feel other organisations can learn a lot from this place. What's your philosophy in that area?
We’re very keen to make sure the stadiums accessible. It is Queensland and Brisbane’s stadium after all, and so everything we do here is designed to make the customer experience the best it can be. And that includes making sure we have all the accessible facilities we need, and that’s everything from seating through to access.
One thing though - at times, I find it a bit hard to find a disabled park on Castlemaine Street. Is there a limit on how many disabled parks you can potentially have there?
There is a limit and unfortunately we reach that limit to the point where we just don’t have any more space. As you’re probably aware the stadium is built on a public transport model, and so there’s very limited parking for anyone around the venue and we encourage people to get public transport. We have as a service since we opened provided those disabled parking areas free of charge, and we fill them up on a first come first served basis, but certainly there are other ways of getting to the venue. All our transport services are wheelchair accessible, and so that people are able to catch buses or trains and be able to access the stadium if they’re not able to get a disabled parking space.
Overall, Suncorp is great. I've known you a few years now, and I think you do an awesome job.
Yeah, well thanks Tom. And we have known each other for quite a long time, and it’s been an absolute pleasure getting to know you and your family.
How did it all begin for you here, and what's your background?
I got into stadium management from a sports management background. I was involved with the South Queensland Crushers when they started up in the National Rugby League comp back in the early nineties. Unfortunately Super League pretty much put pay to their future, but on the back of that I was able to get involved in running the old Lang Park in those days. I’ve been away and run a number of other venues, I’ve done a couple of Olympics, I did Sydney, and I did Beijing. But I’ve been back at Suncorp Stadium since 2003, other than that stint I did away in China back in 2008.
This is shaping up to be a great year at Suncorp. What are some of the things coming up?
We’ve got a massive programme. We’ve got two State of Origins this year, first one of which is next week. We’ve got Bledisloe Cup, we’ve got a Wallabies vs Italy match, we’ve got the world title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Jeff Horn coming up in July, we’ve got the Rugby League World Cup semi-final and final later in the year, as well as the remainder of the Reds season, and the remainder of the Broncos season, and we’ve just recently announced two concerts for Ed Sheeran, both of which have now sold out.
Are you looking forward to tonights Reds game? [Last week, against the Western Force}
I certainly am, it would be good to see them get a win. The weathers looking fantastic, the fields looking great, and it’d be good to see them with their push towards the finals.
On a game day, how many staff would you have working here?
It depends on the size of the event Tom. Tonight we’re expecting probably mid-teens for a crowd size so tonight including catering we’ll have about 600 plus staff, maybe 700. But next week for Origin we’re gonna have probably 1,800-1,900.
Thanks for taking the time to chat.
Also, thanks for all you do to serve sports fans like myself.
It’s a pleasure Tom, and congratulations on the blog that you’re doing, I think it’s absolutely fantastic. I can’t believe the amount of followers you’ve got, and everyone at the Reds seems to know exactly who you are.
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