First there was political football, now there’s political football stadiums.

For those not familiar with the phrase “political football”, according to our friends at Wikipedia, it is “a political topic or issue that is continually debated but left unresolved. The term is used often during a political election campaign to highlight issues that have not been completely addressed.”

It sums up the Sunshine Coast’s Quad Park perfectly.

I continue to get depressed when I drive or ride along Sportsmans Parade at Kawana and look at the site where our major sports stadium is supposed to be.

There’s a beaut playing surface but that’s it – no grandstand, no hills for spectators, no floodlights, no change rooms.

There’s meant to be by now, of course, but Quad Park has become one of those victims of government funding or, more accurately, the delays in getting approved.

Of course that changed last week when representatives from the Coalition and ALP arrived on the Sunshine Coast on the same day, promising millions to get the work done.

There must be an election on.

“We’ll give $5 million if we get elected,” said the Labor Party.

“We’ll give $7.3 million,” said the current government which, of course, couldn’t tell us that a few months ago when an election campaign wasn’t on.

Are the Liberals getting a little bit concerned about the potential fate of their local member?

Would those promises disappear if independent Caroline Hutchinson trumped both parties and won the seat of Fisher?

I trust neither party and won’t believe there will be a Quad Park stadium, with all the facilities that a region of close to 300,000 people deserves, until the ribbon is cut by some grandstanding pollie on opening day.

The Quad Park stadium has been in the planning process for as long as I’ve been in this job – six years.

You can probably go back a couple of years before that.

A quick search through the Daily’s library can throw up almost a dozen stories which stated, as we were told back then, when work would be finished and the big games would be scheduled.

Back in April, 2003, the finishing date was going to be March, 2004.

In 2005, when the Western Bulldogs visited, the stadium was going to ready by mid-2006 in time for a possible AFL pre-season game at the start of 2007.

Work on the playing surface began in February, 2005, and we were told stage one, with its hill seating, change rooms and lights, was going to be complete by March, 2006.

By that stage, the plans for a 6000-seat indoor stadium and tennis courts had bit the dust.

The latest estimate is the stadium will be ready by November, 2008 – as long as the funding promises are met.

So still the Sunshine Coast’s sports lovers are left to wait, unlike those fans of the Gold Coast Titans who, next year, will be able to enjoy their new stadium, the second in their city to go with a a shiny new convention and exhibition centre.

When Manly and the Warriors turn up for an NRL trial match at Quad Park next February, the facilities will again be temporary and, to put it bluntly, embarrassing for a go-ahead region like the Coast.

What has happened at Quad Park doesn’t appear to be the fault of those who work there – the people who put in the proposals for funding, lobbied governments and then were left to wait.

They must be as frustrated as the rest of us.

It is the fault of the people who control the money who didn’t think it was a high enough priority until an election rolled around.