INTERNATIONAL and national sporting events have long played out in our backyard but an incredible transformation in Ballarat sporting facilities has played out this century.
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The hard work and vision from our city's leaders and community clubs has helped deliver Ballarat a competitive edge for results to both grow this city and develop the grassroots. Imagine what the next decade might bring.
Here are the major plays:
MORSHEAD PARK
Campaign Back the Bid helped bring Bahrain's national soccer team to train here, and a friendly against Jordan, ahead of the 2015 FIFA Asian Cup. Australian women's team The Matildas camped here on their road to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Not to mention A-League practice matches.
A $8.3 million project created Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility, complete by early 2014. Council, state and Ballarat District Soccer Association funds allowed stage one works for a new synthetic pitch, change facilities, lighting and street soccer by May 2013.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard pledged a further $2.7 million a month later for extra pitches, a 500-seat grandstand and extra pavilion upgrades.
ROWING
Lake Wendouree, home to Olympic Rowing for the 1956 Melbourne Games, was bone dry by 2006. There was even a 5000-people trek across the rowing course in March.
Ballarat City Council splashed $6.2 million to revive the jewel of Ballarat, including deepening the rowing course and improving facilities, in the six years from 2007-08. Declared a budget blow-out, it was enough to bring schools' Head of the Lake home for the regatta centenary in 2012 and to host World Rowing Masters in 2014.
CYCLING
Contract negotiations are underway to keep Cycling Australia Road Nationals in Ballarat and Buninyong. The championships arrived in 2002 but moved to South Australia in 2005. They were back in 2007 and we have kept them since but only with continued investment, drawing greater coverage and promotion.
City of Ballarat hosted a prelude race to the 2010 UCI Road World Championships in Geelong, drawing a string of big names - most notably the whole Italian team - to put the Buninyong climb on the global map. A Gran Fondo was added to RoadNats in 2016, para-cycling joined in 2018 and the program, with community support, continues to grow.
DOWLING FOREST
While Ballarat Turf Club plans a $10 million Australian-first undercover training track this place has already been setting pace for gallops. The state racing minister opened a $10 million synthetic track in May last year, opening up an alternative for race fixtures in inclement weather.
This helps to position Dowling Forest as a training centre of excellence, drawing in new stables.
A synthetic uphill training track was a major addition to the precinct in 2011, featuring electronic timing, boosted by more than $2 million from the state government. Designed to strengthen horses, TAC Cup club North Ballarat Rebels also tested played in pre-season running climbs.
PRINCE OF WALES PARK
Home to baseball, hockey and croquet, the monster investment in this precinct was the $9 million Olympic-sized pool in Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre, opening with a splash in 2015. A boom can split the pool in half and create a water polo rink.
SUPERDOME
A self-funded, million-dollar Superdome at Sebastopol Bowling Club opened a chance to bowl under cover rain, hail or scorching sunshine since early 2016. A major selling point for the region, a streaks ahead of neighbouring bowls rivals in Geelong.
GOLF
Australia's oldest continuously played golf course needed a dramatic overhaul for survival. In 2002 members voted for a local developer's proposal to take land from the east for housing and redevelop the course in the west. The $50 million joint venture called in multiple British Open winner Peter Thomson to design a new course, and this opened in November 2009.
NORTHERN OVAL
Mars Stadium was just a Think Big Ballarat campaign in 2001. Homegrown AFL talent Drew Petrie (North Melbourne) and Nathan Brown (Collingwood) gave voice to this.
North Ballarat Football Club entered the Victorian Football League in 1996 as a major step to bringing AFL premiership season games to the city. The Roosters won three consecutive VFL flags (2008-10) but it was not until Daniel Andrews made an election promise in 2014 did the idea gain traction.
Initially costed at $15 million in a $32 million precinct package, with Western Bulldogs thrown in, the 5000-seat stadium became a reality in 2017. The Bulldogs played the first in-season AFL match in Ballarat in the August, launching a five-year agreement. Mars Stadium hosted its first A-League match last week and will host an in-season Super Rugby clash next month.
INDOOR SPORT
The Minerdome had a freshen-up to host preliminary round basketball in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
Wendouree Sports and Events Centre had barely been touched since 1984. In a decade-long campaign, led by Basketball Ballarat, the first sod for the $24 million project was turned in 2018. Daniel Andrews' $32 million package provided $9 million for this project with $5 million from City of Ballarat.
It was knocked back three times federally before finally earning a full $10 million grant in July 2017. The difference was two extra courts, a 3000-seat showcourt, eased community court pressure and facilities up to modern elite sporting team standards. Ballarat Sports and Events Centre opened in July,
BSEC had global attention for its first major event in September, a National Basketball League practice match featuring American high school superstar LaMelo Ball. The stadium hosted a Women's National Basketball League in-season game last month.
Plans are underway for a $5.2 million, funded by the state government, stage two works, including Olympic standard three-on-three basketball courts and a strength and conditioning gym.
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