Gold Coast Sports Precinct facts for kids

The Gold Coast Sports Precinct is a large area on the Gold Coast, Queensland, in Australia, filled with different sports fields and buildings. It's a place where many exciting sports events happen!

This precinct has hosted professional sports like Australian rules football, baseball, basketball, cricket, rugby league, and rugby union. It was also a key venue for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, hosting events like athletics, badminton, weightlifting, and wrestling. Plus, the opening and closing ceremonies for the Games were held here!

The exterior of Carrara Stadium.

History of the Sports Precinct

The land where the Gold Coast Sports Precinct now stands used to be a farm called 'Birribon'. It was owned by the Cooper family.

In 1983, the Nerang Bulls Rugby Union Club started using Carrara Oval. But they moved away a year later. Then, in 1986, a new Australian rules football team called the Brisbane Bears was allowed to join the Victorian Football League. Their owner, Christopher Skase, decided to make Carrara Oval their home ground. He rebuilt the oval into a stadium, making it look good for television. By the start of the 1987 VFL season, the new Carrara Stadium could hold 16,500 seated fans.

In 1989, Skase arranged for expensive floodlights to be installed. However, these lights were never paid for. When his company faced problems, he left the country. The floodlights remained unpaid. It was decided it was cheaper to leave the lights at Carrara Stadium than to try and remove them. On July 15, 1989, the Bears played their first night game at Carrara against the Geelong Cats. A record 18,198 people came to watch!

In 1990, the Gold Coast Rollers basketball team joined the National Basketball League. The Carrara Indoor Stadium was built for them. A new baseball team, the Gold Coast Clippers, also started using Carrara Stadium in 1990 during the summer. The Bears later moved to the Gabba in 1992 because of money troubles at Carrara. After some changes, the baseball team, now called the Gold Coast Cougars, returned to Carrara Stadium in 1993. The indoor stadium was upgraded in 1996 to attract more basketball fans. But the Rollers team stopped playing later that year due to financial difficulties.

A new National Rugby League team, the Gold Coast Chargers, started playing at Carrara Stadium in 1996. They only played for three seasons before stopping in 1998. The Cougars baseball team was the only team left at Carrara. They won the 1998-99 ABL Championship. But then the ABL league ended, and the Cougars team was no more.

Professional sports returned to the precinct in 2007 when the Gold Coast Titans rugby league team started playing at Carrara Stadium. The next year, the Titans moved to their new stadium in Robina.

In 2009, the Gold Coast Football Club was created and made the precinct their home. A big redevelopment of Carrara Stadium began in 2010. This was followed by the successful bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in 2011. The precinct then really started to grow, with new venues and facilities being built for the Games.

In October 2020, the Brisbane Roar soccer team moved their training base to the Gold Coast Sports Precinct.

Teams Playing Here

• The Gold Coast Football Club, also known as the Suns, plays Australian rules football games at Carrara Stadium.
• The Brisbane Roar soccer team trains at Elite Field 1. They play in the A-League and have their home games at Dolphin Oval.

Past Teams at the Precinct

Sports Facilities at the Precinct

Current Facilities You Can Find Here

• Carrara Stadium (capacity: 25,000; outdoor) is the main place for Australian rules football and cricket. It also hosts other fun events. The Gold Coast Football Club manages the stadium and is currently the only team that calls it home. Before 2010, many rugby league teams like the Gold Coast Chargers and the Gold Coast Titans played here. The old AFL team, the Brisbane Bears, also used to play at this stadium.
• Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre (capacity: 5,000; indoor) is a venue for basketball and netball. Gold Coast Basketball uses it. It also has the Gold Coast Suns' training and office areas, plus a special artificial grass oval.
• Carrara Indoor Stadium (capacity: 2,992; indoor) is a building that can be used for many different sports. It's right next to Carrara Stadium. Since 2018, it has been the main office for Squash Australia.
• Carrara Elite Field 1 (outdoor) is a top-quality oval mainly used for Australian rules football training.
• Carrara Eastern Oval (outdoor) is another Australian rules football oval. It's mostly used as a training ground for the Gold Coast Suns' junior academy.
• Carrara Southern Sports Fields (outdoor) are a group of soccer fields. They are used by Gold Coast Soccer and are located on the southern side of the precinct.
• Emerald Lakes Golf Club (outdoor) is an 18-hole golf course right next to the southern sports fields.
• KDV Sport Academy (outdoor) is a golf and tennis academy. It has a 12-hole golf course and 20 clay tennis courts.

Future Facilities Coming Soon

• Carrara Elite Field 2 (outdoor) will be a main rectangular sports ground. It will be built north of Elite Field 1.