NORTH BALLARAT will have to wait another three weeks before playing its first match of the Victorian Football League season at its home ground.Roosters officials yesterday declared the refurbished playing surface at Eureka Stadium would not be ready for use on May 24 as scheduled.They were to have played Casey Scorpions at the ground in the Sunday encounter, as well as unfurling their 2008 VFL premiership flag.North Ballarat will now take on the Melbourne-aligned Casey at the Mountain High Eastern Oval - the first time the Roosters have played a VFL match at the ground.The Roosters had planned to make a final inspection early next week, but North Ballarat football manager Marg Richards said it had been brought forward to provide sufficient time in the case of a venue change.She said any later and it would have been extremely difficult to make the required arrangements.Richards said the surface still had a substantial amount of sand and the rye grass was still immature.This is the second time the Roosters have had to put back the return to the venue, which has undergone a million dollar redevelopment.North Ballarat was originally scheduled to play Collingwood at the newly named Eureka Stadium in round four on May 2.The Roosters now hope the ground will be ready for round nine on Sunday, June 7, when the Selkirk Roosters play Coburg Tigers.Although the City of Ballarat had given the green light for the oval to be used, North Ballarat Football Club chief executive officer Mark Patterson, Roosters head coach Gerard FitzGerald, Richards and North Ballarat Rebels regional manager Phil Partrington gave it the thumbs down after an inspection yesterday.The Rebels were scheduled to play there on Saturday, May 23.They will now clash with Northern Knights at the Eastern Oval on that day.Richard said unfortunately the surface had not progressed as well as hoped."While having to further postpone our first game on the new ground is disappointing, this will provide further opportunity for the juvenile surface to establish, which is critical to the longevity of the surface," she said.Richards said although the Roosters had looked at the possibility of switching home games with Casey, playing in Ballarat had been the preferred option.She said with the home and away season a third of the way through by the time they met the Scorpions, it was important to get the Roosters playing in Ballarat again.Richards said with the Ballarat Football League playing Bendigo in an inter-league clash that weekend, it was a perfect fit to play at the Eastern Oval.Patterson, FitzGerald, Richards and the Rebels' Ballarat development officer Tim Shearer met with East Point club president Alan Dennis, vice-president Michael Walsh and secretary Karen Monument at the Eastern Oval last night.