Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium

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Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium

Full name	Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium
Built	1999
Opened	February 2000
Capacity	20,059
Home of	Central Coast Mariners FC Central Coast Rays

Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium at night

Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium (formerly known as Northpower Stadium and Central Coast Express Advocate Stadium) is a sports venue on Grahame Park in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Originally designed to be the home stadium for the North Sydney Bears rugby league team, the stadium is now home to the Central Coast Mariners football club and the Central Coast Rays rugby union club. The stadium also continues to host irregular rugby league and rugby union fixtures although unsuccessful bids have been made to have locally based teams play in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Super 14.

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 through a row of palm trees. With an all seater capacity of 20,059 it is currently the sixth largest stadium in the A League. It is within walking distance of the Gosford CBD, the railway station and is adjacent to the Central Coast Leagues Club.

[edit] 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.

For the three years 2000-2002, it was one of the home grounds of the Northern Eagles, a merged team from the North Sydney Bears and Manly-Warringah clubs.

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 their on their 2004 tour.

The prospects for the stadium improved in 2005 with the formation of the Central Coast Mariners, a team in the newly-formed national A-League football (soccer) competition. This team is resident at the stadium, resulting in regular national-level competition at the stadium. The stadium is regarded as iconic of the Mariners Football team as it has the back drop of brisbane water.

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.

Before the A-League season re-commenced in 2006, a NRL match was held there between the Sydney Roosters and Newcastle Knights (won by the Knights 32-18), drawing a large crowd of 18,124. The shunning of a Central Coast team by the NRL however is leading to an increase in the dominance of football (soccer) in the area. Despite this, the stadium is set to host at least 5 NRL competition matches in 2007, plus two pre-season trials in February and March.

The Central Coast Rays, the Central Coasts' Australian Rugby Championship (ARC) will play out of the Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium when the competition starts in August of 2007.

[edit] Trivia

The seating at Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium still spells the words "Bears" in each bay in spite of the originally intended tenants, the North Sydney Bears, never having called the ground home.
The stadium has had many naming rights sponsors, including NorthPower Energy, the Central Coast Express Advocate (a local newspaper), and now Bluetongue Brewery.
Bay 16 is the area which is the base of the Central Coast Mariners' most vocal supporters group, "The Marinators".