The Gardens Greyhound & Sporting Complex is an Australian stadium located in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

. The complex is known as Newcastle Greyhounds when it was used as a

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

venue. It was the former home of the

Newcastle Breakers Newcastle Breakers FC are a defunct Australian football (soccer) club. Formed out of elements of the Newcastle Austral club, they participated in the National Soccer League from season 1991/1992, until their dissolution in 1999/2000. The club fare ...

, who played in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

(NSL) from 1991 until 2000. It was also the home ground of the short-lived

Hunter Mariners The Hunter Mariners were an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Hunter Region's largest city, Newcastle. Hunter was formed in mid-1995 and was later disbanded at the end of 1997. The club was formed because of the Super Leagu ...

rugby league team, who participated in the only season of the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

in 1997. The stadium is currently used by soccer team Wallsend FC.

History

The ground was primarily used for soccer, hosting the

during their tenure in the National Soccer League. It was later used by rugby league team

. Despite redevelopment in 2005 and 2006 which added a greyhound running track, the stadium is still used for soccer and rugby league with Wallsend FC a current tenant.

Naming

The stadium was named Breakers Stadium after the Newcastle Breakers. In the early 1990s it was sponsored by hardware chain Mitre 10 and known as Mitre 10 Stadium. In the mid-1990s, sports manufacturer Topper sponsored both the team and the ground, and was known as ''Topper Stadium''. When the company went into administration, it withdrew its sponsorship, and it reverted to its original name. The stadium became known as The Gardens Greyhound & Sporting Complex and is also referred to as Newcastle Greyhounds.

Structure and facilities

The single stand on the eastern side holds 2,000 general viewing seats with corporate facilities behind. It also has a restaurant/bistro below the stadium and change rooms for the sport teams that play there.

References

External links

* Sport in Newcastle, New South Wales Rugby league stadiums in Australia Soccer venues in New South Wales Sports venues in New South Wales Newcastle Breakers FC {{Australia-sports-venue-stub