McKellar Park, formerly known as Belconnen Soccer Centre and McKellar Soccer Centre, is an

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 ...

stadium in the

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

suburb of

McKellar McKellar is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Archibald McKellar (1816–1894), Canadian politician * Archie McKellar (1912–1940), Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain * Colin McKellar (1903–1970), Au ...

, in

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 playing surface is rectangular in shape and is used almost exclusively for

matches. The venue is the home ground of

National Premier Leagues Capital Football The National Premier Leagues Capital Football 1 (also known as NPL ACT 1 or simply NPL1) is a soccer competition contested by clubs affiliated to Capital Football. The league is the highest level (level 1) competition in the Australian Capital Te ...

club

Belconnen United FC Belconnen United Football Club (formerly ''Belconnen Blue Devils'') is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in the northern Canberra region of Belconnen, ACT. The women's First Grade team currently competes in the Nat ...

and W-League club

Canberra United FC Canberra United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the southern Canberra suburb of Wanniassa, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 2008 by Capital Football, the club was an inaugural member of the W-League and ...

Stadium Facilities

The main grandstand is named after Ken Carter, who has been involved in the Belconnen Soccer Club since its formation and contributed significantly to the club's development. The grandstand contains approximately 600 seats, concession area, change rooms, public toilets, storage, moderate corporate areas and press facilities. It has been designed for easy lateral expansion if the need arises.

Primary Use

McKellar Park is primarily used by

for W-League regular season and finals matches during the summer months and

in the

(The highest level of men's football in the ACT) in the winter months.

Events History

Opening & First Game

The venue was opened on 23 November 2002 by ACT

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Margaret Reid. The first match played at the ground was a

New South Wales Premier League The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, the organising body in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Leagues Norther ...

match between

and

Bonnyrigg White Eagles Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Bonnyrigg, Sydney, New South Wales, currently playing in the NSW League One. The club was founded in 1968 as Avala Sports Club and took its current name in 1992. H ...

which ended in a 2–2 draw.

2003 OFC Women's Championship

5 – 13 April 2003, the

2003 OFC Women's Championship The 2003 OFC Women's Championship was held in Canberra, Australia from 5 to 13 April 2003. It was the seventh staging of the OFC Women's Championship. Originally scheduled for 19–29 November 2002, the tournament was postponed after withdrawal b ...

was hosted at McKellar Park. The ground hosted all ten matches that was concurrently used as the OFC Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament for the

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial championship of women's national soccer teams organized by FIFA. It was held in the United States from September 20 to October 12, 2003, at ...

held in the US.

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

and

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

contested the tournament at McKellar. Australia won the tournament by finishing top of the group with twelve points after beating New Zealand 2–0 in front of 2,200 fans.

2012 W-League Grand Final

28 January 2012, McKellar Park hosted the W-League grand final for the 2011/12 W-League season after Canberra United earned the right to host the grand final by finishing league premiers and winning their semi-final. The match between Canberra United and

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

was sold out with 2,512 fans packing the stadium to cheer on the Canberra girls to their first championship title. There was plenty of early action during the match with three goals scored in the first half, Canberra taking a 2–1 lead to the half time break.

Michelle Heyman Michelle Pearl Heyman (born 4 July 1988) is an Australian soccer player and commentator who currently plays for Canberra United in the W-League in Australia. She became the all-time record goalscorer in the W-League in March 2021, after scorin ...

pounced in the fifty-fifth minute to give United a 3–1 lead before a penalty to the visitors eight minutes later set up a grand stage finish to the match. With no more goals scored after the penalty, United ran out 3–2 victors to be crowned W-League champions for the first time.

2015 Asian Cup

McKellar Park was selected as one of three venues to be used as a training venue for the

2015 Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was ...

in the ACT along with host venue

Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium (GIO Stadium for commercial reasons) is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sports ven ...

and the second training venue

Deakin Stadium Deakin Stadium is an association football ground located in the south-central Canberra suburb of Deakin, ACT. It is the home ground of Canberra Croatia FC in the NPL ACT. Primary Use Canberra FC are the primary tenants of Deakin Stadium. C ...

. The stadium received an upgrade to its lighting as part of the $650,000 ACT facility upgrade fund for the tournament.

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

was the primary team that used McKellar Park for closed training sessions during the tournament while they were base in Canberra.

2017 Young Socceroos

8 February 2017, The Australian U20 national team (Young Socceroos) played a practice match at McKellar Park against Belconnen United's NPL first team. The Young Socceroos' Canberra based manager,

Ufuk Talay Ufuk Talay (born 26 March 1976) is an Australian football coach and former player. Talay was suited to play in central midfield and was known for his good distribution and on-field vision. He is the current manager of Wellington Phoenix. Club ...

, arranged the match for a very young squad with most of the players selected being seventeen years old. One Canberra player, Marc Tokich, was selected for the team.

A-League pre-season friendlies

Mckellar Park has a long standing of hosting pre-season matches primarily between Belconnen United and

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

opposition. The below table details these matches:

Records

Record attendance: 2,512 (Canberra United vs Brisbane Roar, 28 January 2012, W-League Grand Final)

References

External links

*
Belconnen Soccer Club Ltd. (Venue owners)

Belconnen United FC

NPL ACT home

Capital Football home

Canberra United website

W-League Official Website
{{W-League stadiums Sports venues in Canberra Canberra United FC A-League Women stadiums