Brisbane Olympics 2032: How a team bus made Ian Healy realise how outdated the Gabba is

With the 2032 Brisbane Olympics approaching rapidly, Australian cricket great Ian Healy was left with a wry smile as the Brisbane Lions rolled into the AFL grand final at the MCG.

IT was the simple sight of a team bus at the AFL grand final in Melbourne that reinforced to Test great Ian Healy how far his beloved Gabba was falling behind.

“I smiled when the Brisbane Lions came out of their rooms and up the ramp and you saw them pass the big bus under the stadium,’’ Healy said.

“We can’t get an ambulance into the Gabba never mind a bus or a delivery truck.’’

How true. Unlike most of the big stadiums now the ageing Gabba has no underground car access apart from a small area mainly for groundsmen near the practice nets.

It is one of the many drawbacks of an ageing ground which, according to several investigations will reach its use by date a year or two before the 2032 Olympics.

But it’s not dead yet.

As debate intensifies over the main venue for Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic Stadium the Gabba is surging back into contention by a process of elimination.

LNP leader David Crisafulli, likely to be premier after this month’s state election, told The Sunday-Mail there would be no new stadium and he also ruled out Labor’s preferred option at QSAC.

Joe Daniher gets off the team bus in the bowels of the MCG

Harris Andrews gets off the Brisbane team bus under the MCG.

That means the decaying Gabba remains an extremely live option ... but in what form?

A full knockdown and rebuild seems unlikely which means a tart-up seems like the most likely option and here’s where things get extremely tricky.

Getting the Gabba up to speed for the Olympics is one thing.

If the Gabba is given a “lipstick on the pig’’ upgrade it might still not be enough to lift its current depressing ranking as the number five Test cricket venue in Australia.

Ian Healy played 119 Test matches for Australia.

When former Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk handed down his review earlier this year he said the perception of the Gabba is very different to reality, that it has poor accessibility, its back of house operations are severely constrained because of lack of space, it is essentially landlocked and has minimal room to expand and it does not comply with current the Disability Discrimination Act in regarded to wheelchair access.

Healy had said he was concerned by the damning reports about the ground and admitted its future remains a mystery.

“The two audits of the Gabba I have seen were independent and genuine. They are both finding that the concrete is no good and the accessibility of getting in and out are not good enough now, never mind in 10 years time.

“They have found the Gabba is nearing the end of its shelf life. What happens when the shelf life gets reached? Are you still allowed to use it? Does it lay dormant?

“I would have qualms that we might not be able to use the Gabba (for cricket) by 2032 and we would be a backwater.’’

Originally published as Brisbane Olympics 2032: How a team bus made Ian Healy realise how outdated the Gabba is