Eureka Stadium

Eureka Stadium

Mars Stadium
The Eureka Stand
Former names	Northern Oval #1, AUSTAR Arena and Eureka Stadium
Location	Midland Highway, Wendouree, Victoria, Australia
Owner	City of Ballarat
Operator	City of Ballarat
Capacity	11,000 (6,000 seated)[1]
Field size	159.5 m × 128.8 m (523 ft × 423 ft)
Surface	Grass
Scoreboard	Video-electronic (50 m2 [540 sq ft])
Construction
Broke ground	1990
Built	1990
Renovated	2016–17; 2020-21
Expanded	2017
Construction cost	$21.976 million (AUD) (Stage 1) and $6.6 million (AUD) (Stage 2)
Architect	Peddle Thorp (Melbourne)
Main contractors	AW Nicholson Constructions and Atelier Projects
Tenants
North Ballarat Football Club (VFL/BFL) (1990–) GWV Rebels (NAB League) (1993–) North Ballarat Cricket Club (BCA) (1993–) Western Bulldogs (AFL) (2017–) Western United FC (A-League) (2019–)

Eureka Stadium, known commercially as Mars Stadium, is an oval shaped sports stadium located in the Eureka Sports Precinct of Wendouree, 2.9 km (1.8 mi) north of the CBD of the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

History[]

The first permanent oval used by the North Ballarat Football Club was established in the centre of the Ballarat Showgrounds show-ring and Harness Racing track that was used by the Ballarat Trotting Club as its main venue between 1952 and 1966. In 1990 a new large all-weather oval (dimensions 170 by 140 metres (560 ft × 460 ft)) replaced the old harness racing track. The oval was complemented by a new sports pavilion (The North Ballarat Sports Club) which was constructed on private land to the oval's northern flank.

Between 1990 and 2015, the oval was used for many sporting and entertainment purposes although mainly as an Australian rules football and cricket venue. It annually hosted the (Athletics Carnival) and the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society's show-ring events during their annual Show. During this time the North Ballarat Sports Club underwent a number of expansions and upgrades.

The stadium oval in its original configuration during the annual Ballarat Show, November 2011

The 1990 oval lacked elevated vantage points bordering the main playing arena and its configuration and large footprint limited options for development of grandstands and other facilities. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s various proposals to play AFL football at the ground had been discussed by the Ballarat football community, media, and business groups in isolation. However, in 2008 a proposal to develop the stadium for use by AFL team North Melbourne and the North Ballarat VFL team was put forward to the Victorian State Government by the Ballarat Council backed by the city's leading business and civic leaders under a campaign titled "Think Big Ballarat". The proposal received support from the State Government in 2010 during the State Election, however the Government were'nt returned to office and the new incoming Government were not supportive of the proposal. The Ballarat Council, media, sports groups and Chamber of Commerce continued lobbying until the 2014 State election when the then Opposition announced that the oval would be developed as an AFL Tier 2 stadium with the first AFL seasonal game to be played from 2017 if elected. Once elected, the new government immediately allocated funding thus setting wheels in motion for the redevelopment to finally commence.

In order to accommodate grandstands and other facilities the oval was completely rebuilt being oriented to a NE-SW axis and reduced in size in preparation for the first stage of construction. The newly rebuilt oval featured state of the art irrigation and drainage systems, a 4000 capacity spectator earth berm on its South-Eastern flank, and four 37 metres (121 ft) light towers rigged in their present configuration to illuminate the arena to 300 lux (sufficient for non-televised Tier 2 Australian Football night competition). The light towers are presently rigged with 21 (expandable to 36) Metal-Halide lighting units per-tower.

In June 2017 naming rights for the venue were granted to Mars Confectionery Australia, with the facility presently commercially named as Mars Stadium. From April 2017 to June 2018 the City of Ballarat and North Ballarat Sports Club negotiated for Council to purchase the freehold title land to the North that encompassed the North Ballarat Sports Club to ensure that the newly built stadium and existing sports club would be developed and managed as a singular entity into the future.

The facility today remains the home of the including the Greater Western Victoria Rebels of the NAB League and the North Ballarat City FC of the Ballarat Football League. It is also used as a venue for Central Highlands Football League and Ballarat Football League for both seasonal games and finals in addition to hosting two AFL seasonal games per-year since 2017.

AFL venue[]

2014 AFL pre-season match before the stadium's re-development. Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne.

In 2006 the Australian Football League club North Melbourne established a partnership with the North Ballarat Football Club where some of its Reserve Team players played alongside the North Ballarat FC players in the VFL competition. North Melbourne also played AFL pre-season games at the ground during this time with strong and growing local support. In 2014 the State Government and AFL endorsed the Western Bulldogs AFL club to play at least two AFL Premiership home games per-season in Ballarat from 2017, though not affiliated with North Ballarat Football Club as North Melbourne had been. North Melbourne Football Club ceased to be sponsored in Ballarat and subsequently broke its association to the Ballarat region instead committing to play a percentage of their AFL Premiership season home games in Hobart (Tasmania) until 2021.

In August 2017, the Western Bulldogs hosted the first AFL match for premiership points at the venue against Port Adelaide in front of 10,087 spectators. Port Adelaide won the match by 17 points. The Western Bulldogs have also played pre-seasonal men's (AFL) and Women's (AFLW) games at the ground. In November 2021 the Western Bulldogs and the Ballarat Council announced that the Western Bulldogs would continue playing two home games per-season (to be reviewed in 2024) plus one AFLW home game each season.^[2]

In July 2021 the stadium hosted the Round 17 AFL match between the GWS Giants and the Gold Coast Suns that was originally scheduled to be held in Sydney before a COVID-19 outbreak in New South Wales necessitated a change of venue.^[3]

Association Football venue[]

Since 2019 the stadium has hosted association football (Soccer) with A-League club Western United FC playing some of its Victorian home games in Ballarat. The first game played against Wellington Phoenix on 28 December 2019^[4] with the Phoenix winning the match 3–1 in front of 5,084 fans. The club has committed to utilising the venue for future home matches until construction of a new dedicated home soccer stadium in Tarneit in Western Melbourne is completed. In October 2020 A-League Players voted the stadium as having equal to or the best surface of all A-League venues.^[5]

Rugby Union venue[]

Having successfully hosted Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby AU pre-seasonal and seasonal games against Queensland Reds and the during 2019 and 2020 respectively, and Australian Rugby receiving strong positive feedback from fans and teams about the stadium, the venue is being considered as a possible Rugby 7's venue under a proposal by Regional Victorian Councils to bid for and host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.^[6]

Re-development and Construction[]

The 2015 Ballarat Major Events Precinct Master Plan was a Ballarat Council strategic document detailing a ten-year plan for a three-stage development of the Eureka Sports Precinct, including Eureka stadium, the Ballarat Showgrounds, neighbouring sports ovals and club pavilions; netball facilities and construction of the Ballarat Sports Events Centre.^[7]

In June 2015 the Victorian government committed $38.5 million to upgrade the stadium and the wider Eureka Sports Precinct, with approximately half of the funding allocated to Stage-One development of the stadium.^[8]

The Eastern Stand

Planning for construction of the stadium's first stage was significantly fast-tracked and occurred whilst the reconstruction of the oval was underway during 2015. Initial design proposals for the grandstands were released for public comment in late 2015 resulting in significant revisions before the final designs were released in May 2016. Almost immediately tenders for construction were announced and the building works for new grandstands to seat 5000, installation of a video scoreboard, construction of player races, coaches boxes and new media broadcast suites had commenced by July. All Stage-One construction works were completed on time and budget by July 2017.

In May 2018 the Victorian State Government funded a $500,000 Ballarat Council study to determine priorities, scale and timing for future stadium development. This study identified immediate works considered necessary to address the facility's known shortcomings as well as long-term, higher capital development options. The study's recommendations were delivered to the State Government and informed the Victorian State Government's "Home Ground Advantage - Victoria's Major Stadia Strategy" document.^[9]

In September 2020 a $6.6 million building upgrade commenced to fix minor issues by constructing new amenities that could not have been built within the original time-frame and budgetary limitations of the 2017 first construction stage. The latest works at the stadium including upgrading player change-rooms as uni-sex facilities, construction of two permanent covered entrances and ticketing facilities, food and beverage outlets, permanent public conveniences at the southern boundary of the stadium, and partial concreting of the south-east grass berm.

It is likely that before any future expansion of the stadium capacity occurs that development car-parking and upgrading the stadium's lighting to enable it to host major televised night sporting events such as twilight AFL games, soccer and T20 cricket would be prioritised first. Original 2015 planning concepts envisaged an all-seat 13,000 capacity boutique stadium while the 2018 Ballarat Council study recommended development as a 15–16,000 capacity venue. Recently the Western Bulldogs Football Club have indicated their preference for a 20,000 capacity stadia consisting of a mixture of covered seating and significantly expanded standing areas.

Attendance records[]

Top 5 Attendance Records

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eureka Stadium.

• Eureka Stadium at Austadiums
• Ballarat Major Events Precinct Masterplan Final Report

Coordinates: 37°32′22.3″S 143°50′52.9″E / 37.539528°S 143.848028°E / -37.539528; 143.848028