Eureka Stadium
 | |
| Former names | Northern Oval #1 and AUSTAR Arena |
|---|---|
| Location | Creswick Road, Wendouree. Ballarat, Victoria, Australia |
| Operator | City of Ballarat |
| Capacity | 11000 (from February 2017) |
| Field size | 159.5m x 128.8m |
| Surface | Grass |
| Scoreboard | Video-electronic (from February 2017) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1990 |
| Built | 1990 |
| Opened | 1991 |
| Renovated | 2016-17 |
| Construction cost | $15 million (Stage 1) |
| Architect | Peddle Thorp |
| Tenants | |
|
North Ballarat Football Club (VFL), North Ballarat Rebels (TAC Cup) North Ballarat Cricket Club (Ballarat Cricket Association) (1993-) North Ballarat Eagles (VWFL) | |
Eureka Stadium, (formerly known as Northern Oval or more accurately Northern Oval #1), is an oval shaped sports stadium located in the Ballarat Showgrounds at Wendouree, an outer suburb of Ballarat in Australia.
History
The first oval was originally built between 1990-91 over the site formerly occupied by the Ballarat Showgrounds Harness Racing arena, when the North Ballarat Football Club and North Ballarat Cricket Club relocated from their original club facility that was located adjacent to Creswick Road. The original oval was significantly larger and orientated East to West. More recently the oval has been completely rebuilt and realigned in a North-East to South-West orientation with enhanced drainage and irrigation systems. The Eureka Stadium site is today owned by the City of Ballarat and remains part of the Ballarat Showgrounds complex.
Until 2016 the ground had a legal spectator capacity of around 6,000 which featured a main covered seating terrace (with limited seating) to the front of the existing North Ballarat Football Club social club. Other vantage points around the facility had remained limited until recent development. The current record attendance at the ground is 8,000 (set during an AFL pre-season match between North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs during the 2012 NAB Cup).
The ground has been used as a major venue for multiple sports events and is primarily used as an Australian rules football and cricket venue. It is also home to the Ballarat Gift (Athletics Carnival) and is used by the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society during the annual Ballarat Agricultural Show.
The ground is tenanted by the North Ballarat Football Club of the Victorian Football League and North Ballarat Rebels of the TAC Cup, and is the homeground for both teams.
AFL venue
Australian Football League club North Melbourne established a relationship with the North Ballarat Football Club in 2009 and played AFL pre-season matches at the ground between 2010 and 2012 with strong attendances. The 2010 NAB Challenge match between North Melbourne and Hawthorn drew an attendance of 4,500. The healthy crowd resulted in the AFL scheduling the stadium to host the 2011 NAB Challenge between North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs which drew 7,000[1] and a 2012 NAB Cup between North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs which drew a record attendance of 8,000.
In June 2015 the North Melbourne Football Club officially announced their withdrawal from the Ballarat region due to their existing AFL commitments to play a percentage of their AFL 'home games' in Hobart (Tasmania) clearing the way for the Western Bulldogs to confirm their commitment to playing AFL home games in Ballarat from 2017 and between two to three games per year from 2018 with the option to extend the contract from 2022.
Redevelopment
Provisional funding for stadium redevelopment was obtained during the 2014 State Election Campaign. In June 2015 the new Victorian government announced a $31.5 million commitment to upgrade the stadium and the wider Ballarat Major Events Precinct (with approximately half of this funding to be directed to the stadium infrastructure redevelopment).[2]
The Ballarat Major Events Precinct Master Plan (Released in June 2015), details the development of the stadium in three stages. Concept designs for Stage 1 development of the stadium upgrade were announced on 18th November 2015, with Stage 1 to feature a 5,000 seat grandstand and terraced seating flanking approximately half the oval to increase anticipated capacity of the stadium to 11,000.[3] Other Stage 1 development works included the re-alignment of the oval and reducing its dimensions to match Melbourne's Etihad Stadium, installation of four 300 lux (VFL Football grade) light towers, and installation of a video scoreboard.[4] Soon after the release of the concept designs a brief period of community consultation allowed members of the public to engage with architects and the City Council to ensure that the design would enhance and not detract from the local environment. Changes to the design concept included redesigning the roofline of proposed grandstands to prevent shadowing over adjacent housing, enhanced landscaping, addressing concerns in relation to light pollution and confirming long term plans for car parking, road development and pedestrian movement around the stadium precinct.
Stage 1 construction of the new playing surface was completed in February 2016 and installation of light towers occurred in late March 2016. Tenders were released by the Ballarat City Council for construction of the remainder of Stage 1 facilities on 18 February 2016, with the winning tenderer to be confirmed by mid-2016. It is intended that all Stage 1 works are to be completed in time for the first Western Bulldogs game in 2017.
The Ballarat City Council is currently studying the stages two and three of development of the stadium precinct in accordance with the Ballarat Major Events Precinct Master Plan, although these stages are not yet funded.[4] Stages two and three are planned to include the construction of two more grandstands as well as ongoing development of surrounding infrastructure. When completed the stadium will seat approximately 13000-15000 spectators.
References
- ↑ NAB Challenge hit-out: Roos right at home, The Courier, 9 March 2011.
- ↑ "Eureka Stadium funding confirmed". Western Bulldogs. 17 June 2015.
- ↑ "Ballarat a step closer to hosting AFL games at Eureka Stadium". Herald Sun. 20 November 2015.
External links
- Eureka Stadium at Austadiums
Coordinates: 37°32′22.3″S 143°50′52.9″E / 37.539528°S 143.848028°E
Ballarat Major Events Precinct Masterplan Final Report