Belmore Sports Ground, formerly known as Belmore Oval, is a multi-purpose stadium in Belmore, New South Wales,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The park covers and from 1951 has contained the Belmore Bowling Recreation Club green. It is close to

Belmore railway station Belmore railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Bankstown line at Burwood Road, Belmore in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is served by Sydney Trains T3 Banks ...

. The stadium has a capacity of 19,000 people and was built in 1920, with the grandstand itself having the capacity to seat 10,000 people. The ground record crowd for Belmore was set on 12 April 1993 when 27,804 fans saw Canterbury defeat local rivals

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

42–6. The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Sydney Olympic Football Club are the current co-tenants of the ground.

History

In 1920, the local council took steps to acquire park areas around the Belmore area. The park was named after the suburb it was located: Belmore Park. Belmore Park was eventually purchased in three sections between 1918 and 1921. The first two parcels were purchased by the State government and the third by Council. The park was opened around the early 1920s, the land was formerly known as Gunn's Paddock. In 1936, council purchased a large stand from the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and association f ...

and had it re-erected at the park as part of unemployment relief works. This stand was opened on 14 March 1936 by Mayor SE Parry and was named after him. Around 1967, council moved other sports played at the park to grounds else-where and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

was given priority.

Ground Use

Association football

The ground is currently (and mainly) used for

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

as the home ground for former Australian National League club Sydney Olympic FC, who now competes in the New South Wales Premier League. Sydney Olympic competed in the ground from 1977 to 2001 during the National Soccer League. In 2001 they left the ground to join Endeavour Field. Once the league ceased in mid-2004, the team returned to Belmore where they currently compete.

Rugby league

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

team played their home games at Belmore Sports Ground from 1936 until 1998, after which time the club moved its home games to a series of more modern stadiums (currently Accor Stadium at

Sydney Olympic Park Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, located 13 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Parramatta Council. It is commonly known as Olympic Park but officially ...

). The club still used Belmore for training and administration, but subsequently moved these functions to a facility at Olympic Park in early 2008, leaving the club with no connection to the Sports Ground for the first time since the 1930s. However, the club subsequently announced its intention to redevelop the facilities at Belmore and move training and administration back to the ground. The Canterbury-Bankstown club relocated their offices and resumed training at the ground. In 2011, Canterbury's NSW Cup, SG Ball and

Harold Matthews Harold Turner Matthews (7 December 1902 – 29 August 1986) was an Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda in the VFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of ...

teams began playing most home games at Belmore once again. The spectators' hill on the eastern side of the ground is named after Canterbury legend Terry Lamb. From 1982 until the end of 1985, Canterbury's arch-rivals the Parramatta Eels used the ground as their temporary home ground while

Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres west of Sydney's central business district. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure ...

was under construction. The St. George Dragons also used the ground for one season in 1988 while Kogarah Oval was re-developed. Canterbury-Bankstown returned to playing NRL games at Belmore with two home games during the 2015 NRL season against

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

and Cronulla as part of its 80th anniversary celebrations. Canterbury-Bankstown played the Premiers, North Queensland Cowboys, and Canberra Raiders in the 2016 season at Belmore Sports Ground. In 2016, it held an International rugby league match between the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

. At the end of the 2016 NRL season, Belmore Sports Ground will have hosted 661 games of first grade rugby league since the first game on 13 April 1936. Of the active and semi-active grounds used by the NRL, only the SCG,

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Sydn ...

and Brookvale Oval have hosted more games.

Melanesian Cup

Back to Belmore

=NRL pre-season trials

=NRL season games

=World Club Championship games

Ground record

The ground record attendance was set on 12 April 1993 during Round 5 of the 1993 NSWRL season when 27,804 saw Canterbury-Bankstown defeat

42–6.

References

External links

Back to Belmore – Official Campaign Website
* {{City of Canterbury-Bankstown topics, state=collapsed Sports venues in Sydney Baseball venues in Australia Rugby league stadiums in Australia Soccer venues in Sydney Multi-purpose stadiums in Australia Sydney Olympic FC St. George Dragons 1920 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1920 Parramatta Eels