The State Sports Centre (known commercially as the Quaycentre) is a multi-use

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and was opened in November 1984. With a total of 3,854 fixed and retractable seats the main arena is a focal point of the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre. An additional 1,152 portable seats can be accommodated on the floor level to bring seated capacity to 5,006.

History

Basketball and netball

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, Centre became home to Sydney's then two National Basketball League (NBL) teams, the

Sydney Supersonics The Sydney Supersonics are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). The team joined the NBL in 1979 as the City of Sydney Astronauts, becoming the Sydney Supersonics in 1982 as a result of a merge ...

and West Sydney Westars. When they merged before the

1988 NBL season The 1988 NBL season was the tenth season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 13 teams contested the league. Clubs Following the merger of the Sydney Supersonics and West Sydney Westars to form the Sydney Kings, the NBL ha ...

to form the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and play their home games at Qudos Ba ...

, the new team remained at the centre and would stay for two years before moving to the 12,000 seat

Sydney Entertainment Centre Sydney Entertainment Centre, later known as Qantas Credit Union Arena, was a multi-purpose arena located in Haymarket, Sydney, Australia. It opened in May 1983, to replace Sydney Stadium, which had been demolished in 1970 to make way for the ...

(SEC) in 1990. The Centre then hosted local basketball until the formation of a new NBL team in 1998 called the

West Sydney Razorbacks The West Sydney Razorbacks (known in its final season as the Sydney Spirit) were an Australian professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The club was based in Sy ...

(later renamed the Sydney Spirit). The new club called the Centre home from 1998 until the club folded in 2009. The

Sydney Sandpipers Sydney Sandpipers were an Australian netball team based in Sydney. Between 1997 and 2003, they represented Netball New South Wales in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league. Together with Sydney Swifts and Hunter Jaegers, they were one of three ...

netball team called the venue home from 1997–2003 until they folded, and since 2008 it has been the home venue for the

New South Wales Swifts New South Wales Swifts are an Australian professional netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. ...

netball team. Between 2017 and 2019, it was home to the

Suncorp Super Netball The Super Netball League (known predominantly by its sponsored name Suncorp Group, Suncorp Super Netball (SSN)) is a professional netball league in Netball in Australia, Australia. It superseded the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship, which also inc ...

team

Giants Netball Giants Netball (stylised as GIANTS Netball) are an Australian professional netball team based in Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. The team was formed in 2016 as a joint venture bet ...

. Due to a schedule conflict at the SEC, the Sydney Kings returned to the State Sports Centre for a game against defending NBL champions the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Bank of New Zealand, BNZ Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers are the only non-Australian side currently competing in Austral ...

in Round 10 of the

2012–13 NBL season The 2012–13 NBL season was the 35th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams contested the league. The regular season was played between 5 October 2012 and 24 March 2013, followed by a post-season which inv ...

. The Kings defeated the Breakers 75–62 in front of 4,178 fans. The centre was one of two venues for the

2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup The 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, the 19th edition of FIBA's premier international tournament for women's national Women's basketball, basketball teams, was held in Sydney, Australia, between 22 September and 1 October 2022. The Unite ...

and the venue for the

2023 FIBA Women's Asia Cup The 2023 FIBA Women's Asia Cup was the 30th edition of the tournament, held from 26 June to 2 July 2023 in Sydney, Australia. This was the first time Australia hosted this tournament. The top four teams qualified for the 2024 Women's Olympic Qual ...

Futsal

The centre hosted finals games in the Australian

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

league, with crowds higher than would have been appropriate for the usual Sydney venue of the Fairfield Leisure Centre.

2000 Olympic Games

The State Sports Centre was one of the

venues A venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a conce ...

of the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, held in Sydney. It hosted the

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

and

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

events.

Other

Hillsong's album '' For This Cause'' was recorded at the centre on 5 March 2000. C3 Church's album ''Send Down Your Love'' was also recorded at the centre during the Church's "Love Sydney" event held on 10 September 2009. In 1998, Shout to the Lord 2000 was recorded at this place as well during the 1998 Hillsong Conference.

References

2000 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 1. p. 382.

External links

State Sports Centre
* 1984 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1984 Tourist attractions in Sydney Sports venues in Sydney Music venues in Sydney Indoor arenas in Australia Netball venues in New South Wales Basketball venues in Australia Defunct National Basketball League (Australia) venues Badminton venues Venues of the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic table tennis venues Olympic taekwondo venues Sydney Kings West Sydney Razorbacks New South Wales Swifts Giants Netball Sydney Swifts Sydney Olympic Park {{Summer-Olympic-venue-stub