Ballymore Stadium
Ballymore is a rugby union stadium situated in Herston, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia. It is the headquarters of Queensland Rugby Union and the home ground of the Brisbane City team in the National Rugby Championship. It is also used as a training facility for the Queensland Reds and Australian Wallabies rugby teams.
Ballymore | |
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| Location | Herston, Queensland |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 27°26′31″S 153°1′4″E |
| Owner | Queensland Rugby Union |
| Capacity | 18,000 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Opened | 1966 |
| Tenants | |
| Queensland Reds (Super Rugby) (1996-2004) Football Superstars (2010) Brisbane City (NRC) (2014–present) Queensland Country (NRC) (2014) Kagifa Samoa (2019-pres.) | |
The stadium was the home ground of the Reds until they moved to Suncorp Stadium in 2006. The Brisbane Strikers football club also played at the ground prior to 2003. Ballymore was used as a training facility and headquarters for A-League club Brisbane Roar from 2008 to 2014.
History
The QRU set up headquarters at Ballymore in 1966 under a deed of grant from the state government. The first club game played at the new site was a match between Teachers and Wests. The QRU moved in February 1967. In March of the following year Ballymore's grandstand was officially opened. The Eastern Stand was opened on 21 June 1992. The ground exceeded capacity in 1993 when 26,000 watched the Wallabies play South Africa. A year later the first match under lights was played at the ground. Today the grandstand is known as the McLean Stand (named in 1982 after the McLean family).[1] The Eastern stand is known as the Bank of QLD stand.
The Queensland Reds played their home matches at Ballymore from 1967 until 2005.[2] Their Super Rugby matches were moved to Suncorp Stadium for the 2006 season but they still played their home games in the 2006 Australian Provincial Championship at Ballymore. The stadium also hosted the Ballymore Tornadoes during the only season of the Australian Rugby Championship in 2007.
Present use
Though the Reds have since moved out of Ballymore to Suncorp Stadium, which has almost three times the capacity, Ballymore is still the host to many rugby union matches. The Queensland Premier Rugby finals are held at the ground, and Queensland XV and off-season matches for the Reds are also played at Ballymore. Since 2014, the Brisbane City team in the National Rugby Championship has played home matches at the stadium.
The QRU has plans to redevelop the site to include a high performance centre comprising advanced sports medicine and training facilities, a gymnasium and aquatic facilities, as well as on-site accommodation for visiting teams.
Ballymore was the planned home venue for Brisbane City's failed bid to join the A-League.[3] In November 2018, a planned friendly football match between South Korea and Uzbekistan had to be moved to QSAC due to the poor state of the pitch.[4]
Rugby World Cup
Ballymore hosted five matches of the 1987 Rugby World Cup. These matches were:
| Date | Competition | Team | Score | Team | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 May 1987 | 1987 Rugby World Cup Pool 1 | Japan  | 8–21 |  United States | 4,000 |
| 31 May 1987 | 1987 Rugby World Cup Pool 1 | Australia .svg.png.webp){kind=small} | 47–12 | United States | 10,855 |
| 3 June 1987 | 1987 Rugby World Cup Pool 2 | Ireland  | 32–9 |  Tonga | 4,000 |
| 8 June 1987 | 1987 Rugby World Cup Quarter-final | England  | 7–16 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Wales | 15,000 |
| 14 June 1987 | 1987 Rugby World Cup Semi-final | New Zealand  | 49–6 | Wales | 22,576 |
References
- Meares, Peter (2002). Legends of Australian Sport: The Inside Story. University of Queensland Press. pp. 166–167. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
- "The move to Suncorp from Ballymore". Queensland Rugby. 2013. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- "FC Brisbane City's bid to enter A-League has redevelopment of home ground Ballymore as a key proposal". Fox Sports. 5 May 2017. Archived from the original on 9 June 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
- Atfield, Cameron. "Poor pitch sees international switched from Ballymore to QSAC". Brisbane Times. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.