And the joke's on ...?

It's becoming something of a bad joke. I just wonder who the joke's on.

When it was rumoured that Ipswich in Queensland's southeast corner was in the hunt for a new football stadium, some in the north viewed it as a "rival". This move was, one can only surmise, hoped to spark some level of parochial sentiment and garner public support for Townsville's flaccid superstadium advocacy.

If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, as Samuel Johnson once proclaimed, then some would say that naked regional parochialism wouldn't be far behind. The North was, however, saved from this most unbecoming of allegations by Ipswich Mayor, Paul Pissasale's declaration that:

Why build another stadium? Invest that money in something else.

We can be thankful for small mercies. For otherwise, we would need to brace ourselves for one almighty dose of parochial fervour as superstadium boosters try, once again, to muster the support from the broader community that so far as eluded them.

But why the need to resort to the parochial war-cry? 

Probably has got something to do with the "locked in the vault" financial feasibility report that, one suspects, does more harm to the boosters' case than good.

Hic Rhodus, hic salta.

(C) 2015 Warwick Powell