Dolphin Oval
Encyclopedia
Dolphin Oval, based on the corner of Ashmole and Klinger Roads in Kippa-Ring
, north of Brisbane
, is the home ground for the Redcliffe Dolphins
rugby league
football club, who play in the Queensland Wizard Cup.
The ground regularly hosts pre-season NRL
trials, and hosted the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Queensland Cup Grand Finals.
made re-claimed land available for sporting fields in the 1970s. The Redcliffe Dolphins
, who at the time were based at the Redcliffe Showgrounds, showed immediate interest and applied for the maximum area available. Redcliffe City Council engineer Kevin Tibbets took to the construction of the ground with the utmost enthusiasm, with the football club even hosting a trip interstate for him to study playing arenas in New South Wales.
The transition from the Redcliffe Showgrounds to Dolphin Oval presented some major problems. Due to the isolation of the area at the time of construction, normal services were not readily available and therefore had to be brought in. Due to the gravity flow to Klingner Road, expensive sewerage pumps had to be brought in, power for the floodlights had to go underground to the main oval and the run-through tunnel was transhipped from Western Australia at a cost of $9,000, which was still cheaper than buying one from the Eastern states.
The lighting at the showgrounds was far superior, but the Redcliffe Rugby League Old Boys, led by Neil Okamura, contributed a $5,000 loan, which was later turned into a grant, for suitable floodlighting. They also constructed a perimeter playing fence around the main oval at a cost of $2,780. In return, the football club provided the Old Boys with a solid can-booth at the northern end of the complex and were granted the rights to sell liquor on a commission basis.
The pressure to build a licenced club at Dolphin Oval was met with a great deal of caution, especially when the existing club at the Showgrounds was still profitable. But within 12 months after the sod-turning ceremony, the new clubhouse was opened by the Mayor of Redcliffe, Ald. Alf Charlish. With the help of the Federal Member for Petrie, Dean Wells, and his Government's contribution through their C.E.P. Funding, along with the football club's own financial arrangements with the Commonwealth Bank, the move was made possible.
However the heavily publicised and enforced "Don't Drink and Drive" policy by the Government struck the thriving bar trade, and, according the From Shellgrit to Dolphins, a book on the History of the Redcliffe Dolphins, says:
"Suffice to say the club only barely kept its doors open and its creditors at bay until the advent of poker machines in 1992, but proudly was able to meet its financial commitments"
In January 1979, the committee proposed to name the complex the Don McLennan Oval, but Mr McLennan requested that it be called Dolphin Oval.
Fittingly, the first game at Dolphin Oval was between Redcliffe
and Norths
, the club that originally proposed Redcliffe's admission into the BRL. The original lease was acquired to 1998 and later extended to 2008, before the Redcliffe Dolphins bought the land.
Kippa-Ring, Queensland
Kippa-Ring is a residential and light industrial suburb of the Moreton Bay Region at the center of the Redcliffe peninsula, approximately north-northeast of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia.-History:...
, north of Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, is the home ground for the Redcliffe Dolphins
Redcliffe Dolphins
The Redcliffe Dolphins are a rugby league team from the city of Redcliffe in Queensland, Australia. The Redcliffe Dolphins were founded in 1947, accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League premiership in 1960, and since 1996 have played in the Queensland Cup....
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...
football club, who play in the Queensland Wizard Cup.
The ground regularly hosts pre-season NRL
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...
trials, and hosted the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Queensland Cup Grand Finals.
History
The creation of the Dolphin Oval began when the Redcliffe City CouncilCity of Redcliffe
City of Redcliffe is a defunct Local Government Area in South East Queensland, Australia. It is in the northern part of the County of Stanley. The council covers the suburbs of Clontarf, Kippa-Ring, Margate, Redcliffe, Rothwell, Scarborough and Woody Point – a total area of 38.1 km² with a...
made re-claimed land available for sporting fields in the 1970s. The Redcliffe Dolphins
Redcliffe Dolphins
The Redcliffe Dolphins are a rugby league team from the city of Redcliffe in Queensland, Australia. The Redcliffe Dolphins were founded in 1947, accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League premiership in 1960, and since 1996 have played in the Queensland Cup....
, who at the time were based at the Redcliffe Showgrounds, showed immediate interest and applied for the maximum area available. Redcliffe City Council engineer Kevin Tibbets took to the construction of the ground with the utmost enthusiasm, with the football club even hosting a trip interstate for him to study playing arenas in New South Wales.
The transition from the Redcliffe Showgrounds to Dolphin Oval presented some major problems. Due to the isolation of the area at the time of construction, normal services were not readily available and therefore had to be brought in. Due to the gravity flow to Klingner Road, expensive sewerage pumps had to be brought in, power for the floodlights had to go underground to the main oval and the run-through tunnel was transhipped from Western Australia at a cost of $9,000, which was still cheaper than buying one from the Eastern states.
The lighting at the showgrounds was far superior, but the Redcliffe Rugby League Old Boys, led by Neil Okamura, contributed a $5,000 loan, which was later turned into a grant, for suitable floodlighting. They also constructed a perimeter playing fence around the main oval at a cost of $2,780. In return, the football club provided the Old Boys with a solid can-booth at the northern end of the complex and were granted the rights to sell liquor on a commission basis.
The pressure to build a licenced club at Dolphin Oval was met with a great deal of caution, especially when the existing club at the Showgrounds was still profitable. But within 12 months after the sod-turning ceremony, the new clubhouse was opened by the Mayor of Redcliffe, Ald. Alf Charlish. With the help of the Federal Member for Petrie, Dean Wells, and his Government's contribution through their C.E.P. Funding, along with the football club's own financial arrangements with the Commonwealth Bank, the move was made possible.
However the heavily publicised and enforced "Don't Drink and Drive" policy by the Government struck the thriving bar trade, and, according the From Shellgrit to Dolphins, a book on the History of the Redcliffe Dolphins, says:
"Suffice to say the club only barely kept its doors open and its creditors at bay until the advent of poker machines in 1992, but proudly was able to meet its financial commitments"
In January 1979, the committee proposed to name the complex the Don McLennan Oval, but Mr McLennan requested that it be called Dolphin Oval.
Fittingly, the first game at Dolphin Oval was between Redcliffe
Redcliffe Dolphins
The Redcliffe Dolphins are a rugby league team from the city of Redcliffe in Queensland, Australia. The Redcliffe Dolphins were founded in 1947, accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League premiership in 1960, and since 1996 have played in the Queensland Cup....
and Norths
Norths Devils
The Northern Suburbs Devils, Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They play in the Queensland Wizard Cup, and, through their predecessors, are one of the oldest clubs in...
, the club that originally proposed Redcliffe's admission into the BRL. The original lease was acquired to 1998 and later extended to 2008, before the Redcliffe Dolphins bought the land.
Sources
- McLennan, Don, From Shellgrit to Dolphins: A History of the Redcliffe District Rugby League Football Club, 1995, Peninsula Printers.