Gold Coast Sports Precinct
The Gold Coast Sports Precinct is a series of sports facilities and venues, located on the Gold Coast, Queensland, in Australia.
The precinct has hosted professional sports such as
as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.History
The site of the precinct is on the former farming property 'Birribon' owned by the Cooper family and frequently visited by Sydney Barber Josiah Skertchly.[1]
In 1983 the Nerang Bulls Rugby Union Club began using Carrara Oval but relocated to Nerang a year later. In 1986 it was announced the Brisbane Bears were granted a licence to enter the Victorian Football League and Billionaire owner Christopher Skase decided to base the team at Carrara Oval.[2] Skase redeveloped the oval into a stadium with makeshift stands intended to maximize television viewership. By the beginning of the 1987 VFL season, the newly created Carrara Stadium would hold a maximum seated capacity of 16,500.
In 1989, Skase orchestrated the instalment of $6 million flood lights which were never paid for.
The Gold Coast Rollers basketball team were announced to join the National Basketball League in 1990 and the Carrara Indoor Stadium was built to house the team. A newly formed Baseball team named the Gold Coast Clippers also began using Carrara Stadium in 1990 during the summer months. The Bears would relocate to the Gabba permanently in 1992 after years of financial hardship at Carrara. After several name changes and a relocation, the Baseball team now known as the Gold Coast Cougars returned to Carrara Stadium in 1993. The indoor stadium underwent major upgrades in 1996 to the tune of $800,000 in an attempt attract a bigger audience to Rollers' basketball games. The Rollers would fold later that year due to financial struggles.
A newly created National Rugby League team known as the Gold Coast Chargers would take up tenancy at Carrara Stadium in 1996. The Chargers would only last three seasons before folding in 1998. Now the only team still remaining at Carrara, the Cougars won the 1998-99 ABL Championship. The ABL would be disbanded following the season and the Cougars were no more. Professional sport returned to the precinct in 2007 when the Gold Coast Titans took up tenancy at Carrara Stadium. The following year saw the Titans move to their newly created stadium in Robina.
In 2009 the
Teams
- Gold Coast Football Club, nicknamed the Suns, the team competes in the Australian Football Leagueand play out of Carrara Stadium.
- Dolphin Oval.
- Sapphire Series and play home games at the Sports and Leisure Centre.
Former teams
| Team | Sport | Used | Competition | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisbane Bears | Australian rules football | Carrara Stadium | Australian Football League | 1987–92 |
| Gold Coast Clippers | Baseball | Carrara Stadium | Australian Baseball League |
1989–90 |
| Gold Coast Dolphins | Cricket | Carrara Stadium | Queensland Premier Cricket | 1990–93 |
| Gold Coast Rollers | Basketball | Carrara Indoor Stadium | National Basketball League | 1990–96 |
| Daikyo Dolphins | Baseball | Carrara Stadium | Australian Baseball League | 1992–93 |
| Gold Coast Cougars | Baseball | Carrara Stadium | Australian Baseball League | 1993–99 |
| Gold Coast Chargers | Rugby league | Carrara Stadium | National Rugby League | 1996–98 |
| Gold Coast Titans | Rugby league | Carrara Stadium | National Rugby League | 2007 |
East Coast Aces |
Rugby union | Carrara Stadium | Australian Rugby Championship | 2007 |
| Gold Coast Blaze | Basketball | Carrara Indoor Stadium (training) | National Basketball League | 2007–12 |
Gold Coast United |
Soccer |
Western Fields (training) | A-League |
2011–12 |
Sports facilities
Current facilities
- Gold Coast Football Club hold management rights over the stadium and are currently the only tenants of the venue. Prior to the 2010 redevelopment, the ground played host to a number of rugby league teams such as the Gold Coast Chargers and the Gold Coast Titans while defunct AFL side the Brisbane Bearswere also former tenants of the stadium.
- Gold Coast Suns' training/administration facilities as well as a synthetic grass oval.
- Carrara Indoor Stadium (capacity: 2,992; indoor), a multipurpose venue that is located next door to Carrara Stadium. Serves as the Headquarters for Squash Australia as of 2018.
- Carrara Elite Field 1 (outdoor) known as Austworld Centre Oval for sponsorship reasons, the premier oval that is predominately used for Australian rules football training and some Victorian Football League matches.
- Carrara Eastern Oval (outdoor), an Australian rules football oval that is used primarily as a training ground for the Gold Coast Suns academy.
- Carrara Southern Sports Fields (outdoor), a series of football (soccer) fields that are used by Gold Coast Soccerlocated on the southern side of the precinct.
- Carrara Cricket Nets (outdoor), a cricket training facility located on the outside of Carrara Stadium.
- KDV Sport Academy (outdoor), a golf and tennis academy that includes a 12-hole golf course, 12 Italian clay tennis courts and 8 plexipave hard tennis courts.
- National BMX Freestyle Park (outdoor), a BMX training and competition facility featuring walls of up to 5.2 metres high and includes quarter pipes, big spine, step up, fat spine, box jump, half bowl and transfers.
See also
References
- ^ "Science and Nature Study". The Queenslander. No. 2799. Queensland, Australia. 24 April 1920. p. 38. Retrieved 16 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Smart, Nick (27 May 2011). "No longer a white elephant". Gold Coast Bulletin.
- ^ Houghton, Des (2 August 2010). "Breaking the curse of Carrara". The Courier Mail. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
- ^ "Brisbane Roar set up Gold Coast training base after dispute with Logan City Council". news.com.au. 16 October 2020.
- ^ "National BMX Freestyle Park opens on the Gold Coast". news.com.au. 17 May 2022.