Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Central Coast Stadium, named Bluetongue Stadium due to sponsorship

Naming rights

In the private sector, naming rights are a financial transaction whereby a corporation or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, typically for a defined period of time. For properties like a multi-purpose arena, performing arts venue or an athletic field, the term ranges from three...

, is a sports venue in Gosford

Gosford, New South Wales

Gosford is a city located on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, approximately 76 km north of the Sydney central business district...

, on the Central Coast

Central Coast, New South Wales

The Central Coast is an urban region in the Australian state of New South Wales, located on the coast north of Sydney and south of Lake Macquarie....

of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

. The stadium is home to the Central Coast Mariners Football Club

Central Coast Mariners FC

Central Coast Mariners Football Club is a professional football club based on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. They participate in the A-League and are one of three teams from the state of New South Wales playing in the competition...

who compete in the A-League

A-League

The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...

. The stadium also hosts rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

and rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

fixtures on an ad hoc basis as well as other major social events.

The stadium was originally designed to be the home stadium for the North Sydney Bears

North Sydney Bears

The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. They currently compete in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 92 years of top-grade competition. The Bears are based on...

rugby league football club.

The stadium is rectangular and is unusual in that seating is located on only three sides of the ground. The southern end is open giving filtered views of Brisbane Water

Brisbane Water

Brisbane Water is the northern arm of Broken Bay on the east coast of New South Wales Australia. Brisbane Water is named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales between 1820 and 1825...

through a row of palm trees. With an all seater capacity of 20,119 it was the sixth largest stadium in the A-League

A-League

. It is within walking distance of the Gosford CBD and Gosford railway station

Gosford railway station, New South Wales

Gosford Railway Station is located in Gosford on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia on the Newcastle & Central Coast Line. The station has three platforms, including one for terminating intercity trains from Sydney. The three platforms are bi-directional.The station is served by...

. The Central Coast Leagues Club and League Club Field are adjacent to the stadium, across Dane Drive.

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 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

William Calman Grahame

William Calman Grahame, known as W. C. Grahame, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Wickham from 1907 to 1920, and the first mayor of the City of Gosford, from 1936 to 1944. Central Coast Stadium in Gosford was formerly known as Grahame Park, named after him in...

.

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

North Sydney Bears

, before construction problems including large spells of inclement weather delayed completion. The stadium finally opened in early 2000 as NorthPower Stadium at Grahame Park, the Northern Eagles

Northern Eagles

The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team, that competed in the National Rugby League between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by the merger of the North Sydney Bears and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in 2000...

National Rugby League

The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...

team (a merging of the aforementioned Bears and the Manly Sea Eagles) taking residence there until their dissolving at the conclusion of 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

2003 Rugby World Cup

The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...

. The Pacific Islanders rugby union team

Pacific Islanders rugby union team

The Pacific Islanders rugby union team is an international rugby union team, started in 2004, that represents Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. While Niue and the Cook Islands are not members of the Pacific Tri-Nations competition, they did supply players to the squad for the Pacific Islanders' tour in 2004...

played one match at the stadium on their 2004 tour.
The stadium gained its second fulltime tenant in 2005 with the formation of the Central Coast Mariners

Central Coast Mariners FC

, a team in the newly-formed national A-League

A-League

soccer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

competition. It became the first fulltime 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

Central Coast Waves

The Central Coast Waves are a rugby union club based on the Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia. They contest the Shute Shield NSW club competition...

rugby union

Rugby union

team, which joined the Shute Shield

Shute Shield

The Shute Shield is a rugby union competition in Sydney, New South Wales. It is the premier grade rugby trophy in NSW rugby. The Shute Shield is awarded at the end of the Sydney Club Rugby season to the team that wins the Grand Final...

in 2006. The stadium continues to host NRL competition matches from time to time, as well as a number of pre-season trials. The Central Coast Rays

Central Coast Rays

The Central Coast Rays were an Australian rugby union football club that played in the now-defunct Australian Rugby Championship. The Rays were formed as one of New South Wales' three clubs that participated in the inaugural season of the championship, which started in August 2007. The team were...

, the Central Coasts' Australian Rugby Championship

Australian Rugby Championship

The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC , was a domestic Rugby union football club competition in Australia which ran for only one season in August–October 2007...

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.

Landlord & Leasehold

Gosford City Council

Gosford City is a local government area of the Australian state of New South Wales, governed by the Gosford City Council. It is located approximately midway between Sydney and Newcastle in an area known as the Central Coast...

are the landlord of Grahame Park that includes the Stadium. The current lessee is Ognis Pty Ltd.

Name Changes

There has 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 Graham 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 Blue Tongue Stadium at Grahame Park, from 28 March 2006.

Attendance Records

Record crowds for different sports:

Sport:	Date	Match	Crowd
Soccer:	12 January 2008	Central Coast Mariners 1 – 2 Newcastle Jets A-League 2007-08 A-League 2007-08 The A-League 2007-08 season was the third season of the Australian A-League football competition, won by the Newcastle Jets. Football Federation Australia hoped to build on the success of the previous two seasons and on the interest generated by and playing in the 2007 AFC Champions League, and... , Round 20	19,238
Rugby league Rugby league Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players... :	6 February 2000	Northern Eagles Northern Eagles The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team, that competed in the National Rugby League between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by the merger of the North Sydney Bears and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in 2000... 24 – 14 Newcastle Knights Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership... NRL season 2000 National Rugby League season 2000 The 2000 NRL season was the 93rd season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the third to be run by the National Rugby League... , Round 1	20,059
Rugby union Rugby union Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand... :	27 October 2003	Japan Japan national rugby union team The Japan national rugby union team represent Japan in international rugby union competitions. Japan is traditionally the strongest rugby union power in Asia but has both enjoyed and endured mixed results against non-Asian teams over the years... 26 – 39 USA Pool B match, 2003 Rugby World Cup 2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...	19,653

External links

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