Central Coast Stadium

History

In 1911, Erina Shire Council proposed to create a park on the shore of Brisbane Water. The park required much land to be reclaimed from marshland. It also required privately owned land to be purchased by the council and a section of road to be demolished. Waterside Park was opened in 1915 and a cricket pitch was added during that year. Further reclamation of the foreshore extended the park during the Depression that gave work to the unemployed. By 1939 surplus railway land had been added and a bowling club and green, as well as tennis courts, had been constructed. In 1939 the park was renamed Grahame Park, after the then mayor of Gosford, William Calman Grahame.

A full stadium was then touted and later built in the late 1990s, planned to be ready in 1999 for NRL club the North Sydney Bears, before construction problems including large spells of inclement weather delayed completion. Three grandstands with a combined capacity of 20,000 were built by Abigroup. The stadium finally opened in early 2000 as NorthPower Stadium at Grahame Park, the Northern Eagles National Rugby League team (a merging of the aforementioned Bears and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles) taking residence there until their dissolving after the 2002 season.

In 2003, with no major sporting team in residence, the stadium played host to three group matches in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The Pacific Islanders rugby union team played one match at the stadium on their 2004 tour.

The stadium gained its second full-time tenant in 2005 with the formation of the Central Coast Mariners, a team in the newly formed national A-League football competition. It became the first full-time national sporting competition to have a team play at the stadium. Further use of the stadium in 2006 follows from it being the home ground to the Central Coast Waves rugby union team, which joined the Shute Shield in 2006.

The stadium continues to host NRL competition matches from time to time, as well as a some pre-season trials. The Central Coast Rays, the Central Coasts' Australian Rugby Championship team, played out of the stadium during the only season of the competition in 2007. The stadium continued as a home to the Mariners A-League side , and hosted NRL matches throughout the 2008 Centenary Year. In 2014, the NSW Country Eagles hosted a National Rugby Championship match at Central Coast.

In recent years the Sydney Roosters have hosted one NRL game per season at Central Coast Stadium; other clubs such as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Wests Tigers, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have also taken games to the Central Coast. In 2004, Central Coast Stadium played host to two North Queensland Cowboys matches, the first of which resulted in a historic 20–20 draw with wooden spooners South Sydney, the first such result since golden point was introduced in 2003.

A photo taken at the stadium appeared in a Season 5 episode of the U.S. TV series The Office. As described by reddit user kiasam111, new boss Charles (Idris Elba) walks out of his office to find Andy (Ed Helms) looking at what appears to be a screen-saver with a series of photos of football. A photo appears of two players, taken from an A-League game between Central Coast Mariners and Perth Glory, played at Bluetongue Stadium on 31 December 2008. The players in the photo (taken by Corey Davis of Getty Images) are Marc Anthony (Perth) and Matthew Osman (Central Coast).

In the 2020, and the first four months of the 2021 NRL seasons, the ground was used as a temporary home ground for the New Zealand Warriors, due to border restrictions between Australia and New Zealand which prevented the club from travelling freely between the two countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

VenuesLive took over the management of the ground from the Central Coast Council on 1 July 2022, and Industree Group acquired naming right on 14 November 2022.

Name changes

There have been several name changes since the Stadium was built, primarily reactions relating to sponsorship:

• Waterside Park, from 1915
• Grahame Park, from 1939
• NorthPower Stadium at Grahame Park, from January 2000
• Central Coast Stadium at Grahame Park, from 23 September 2002
• Central Coast Express Advocate Stadium at Grahame Park, from 11 February 2003
• Central Coast Stadium at Grahame Park, from 21 March 2005
• Central Coast Bluetongue Stadium at Grahame Park, from 28 March 2006
• Central Coast Stadium at Grahame Park, from 25 January 2014
• Industree Group Stadium, from 14 November 2022
• Polytec Stadium, from 1 July 2025

Description

The stadium is rectangular and unusual in that seating is located on only three sides of the ground. The southern end is open giving filtered views of Brisbane Water through a row of palm trees. With an all seater capacity of 20,059, it was the second smallest stadium in the A-League. It is within walking distance of the Gosford CBD and Gosford railway station. The Central Coast Leagues Club and League Club Field are adjacent to the stadium, across Dane Drive.

Transport

Gosford railway station is nearby. The station is served by the Central Coast & Newcastle Line and a small number of long-distance services.

Osprey nest

There is a nest of eastern ospreys, a vulnerable species of bird, nesting in one of the light towers. The breeding pair produced chicks every year from 2016 until July 2023, when a video of the osprey family was posted on Facebook. The parents were named Rosie and Hutch by patrons of the stadium.

Attendance records

Record crowds for different sports:

Rugby league test matches

The stadium has hosted one rugby league international.

Rugby World Cup

The stadium hosted three games of the 2003 Rugby World Cup which was held in Australia.

References

References

1. "Stadium facts & FAQ's". Central Coast Council.
2. Fredman, L. E.. (1983). "William Calman Grahame (1863–1945)".
3. Annual report for year ended 30 June 1999 [[Abigroup]]
4. Chammas, Michael. (23 March 2016). "St George Illawarra Dragons could lose more home games in NSW Government stadium plan". [[Illawarra Mercury]].
5. (16 May 2004). "Souths, Cowboys share the points". [[ABC News (Australia).
6. (9 April 2009). ""The Office" Dream Team - Season 5 Episode 20". [[IMDb]].
7. (2019). "A-League featured in the Office???". [[reddit]].
8. (1 January 2009). "New Year's special puts Mariners top". [[Central Coast Mariners]].
9. (31 December 2008). "A-League 2008/09 Rd 18 - Mariners v Glory". [[Getty Images]].
10. (10 May 2020). "Central Coast confirmed". New Zealand Warriors.
11. "The Stadium".
12. "Proudly presenting Industree Group Stadium".
13. [http://www.gosford.nsw.gov.au/council/council_meetings/agenda_reports/2005/04/26/community_services.pdf Gosford City Council, Council Meeting, Agenda Report, Naming of Central Coast Stadium (IR 1537310), 26 April 2005] {{webarchive. link. (22 March 2011 (accessed 27 December 2010))
14. [http://www.gosford.nsw.gov.au/council/council_meetings/agenda_reports/2006/03/28/28-march-06-late-agenda.pdf Gosford City Council, Council Meeting, Late Reports, Application to RenameStadium at Grahame Park (IR 2074468), 28 March 2006] {{webarchive. link. (22 March 2011 (accessed 27 December 2010))
15. [https://www.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/council/council-news/beloved-stadium-announces-new-name Beloved stadium announces new name]
16. Kumar, Ayush. (27 July 2023). "Beak-ing News! Three Little Hatchings In The Stadium Nest As Our Birds Deliver For the Sixth Straight Year".
17. "We have BEAK-ING NEWS on the Central Coast...". Industree Group Stadium.
18. (25 July 2022). "Our Birds".
19. [http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/venues/grahame-park/results.html Central Coast Stadium results @ Rugby League Project]