Blacktown International Sportspark (BISP) (formally known as Blacktown Olympic Park) is a multi-sports venue located in
Rooty Hill
Rooty Hill is a heritage-listed historic site and now parkland at Eastern Road, Rooty Hill, City of Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1802 to 1828. It is also known as The Rooty Hill and Morreau Reserve. The property is ...
, a suburb in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The venue includes two
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
grounds, which have also been used for
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
, an
athletics track and field, three
baseball diamonds
A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...
, two
soccer fields, four
softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
diamonds, administration centers and park land.
It was constructed for the
2000 Sydney Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
to host
softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
and
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
events. The facilities have since been used as a training and administrative base for the
Greater Western Sydney Giants
The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park, which represents the ...
from 2010 to 2012, and for the
Western Sydney Wanderers FC
Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premie ...
since 2012. Since 2010 the
Sydney Blue Sox
The Sydney Blue Sox are a professional baseball team, and one of eight foundation teams in the re-formed Australian Baseball League (ABL). The team plays their home games at Blacktown International Sportspark (BISP), one of the two venues use ...
of the
Australian Baseball League
The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it sh ...
have used the main baseball stadium as their home field.
Facilities
*
Blacktown Baseball Stadium
Blacktown Baseball Stadium is a baseball facility located in Rooty Hill, a suburb in Sydney, Australia.
Description
The Blacktown Baseball Stadium was built for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games as the secondary baseball stadium. The stadium is now ...
*
Blacktown ISP Oval
Blacktown International Sportspark Oval is an Australian rules football and cricket ground located in Rooty Hill, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. The stadium was constructed in 2009 as part of the Blacktown International Sportspark. It has a capa ...
* Blacktown Softball Stadium
* Blacktown Football Park
Australian Rules Football & Cricket Centre
The Australian Rules Football & Cricket centre was constructed in 2008. It features two ovals for Australian Rules Football & Cricket, stadium, function facilities and an indoor practice centre for Cricket. The official opening of the centre was held in on 22 August 2009 with the Mayor of Blacktown City, Councillor Charlie Lowles joined by Chief Executive Officers from AFL NSW/ACT and Cricket NSW.
Greater Western Sydney Giants
Greater Western Sydney Giants (GWS) had a permanent presence at
Blacktown
Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Grea ...
from 2010 to 2014. After Blacktown Councils spent $27 million on an AFL stadium & training facility, GWS abandoned the facility, in favour of a $45m facility that built by the NSW Government at
Sydney Olympic Park
Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, located 13 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Parramatta Council. It is commonly known as Olympic Park but officially na ...
,
Homebush
Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Municipali ...
in Sydney's inner west, that also included an upgrade to the
Sydney Showground Stadium
Sydney Showground Stadium (Known commercially as GIANTS Stadium during the AFL Season) is a sports and events stadium located at the Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park. It hosted the baseball events for the 2000 Summer Olympics. The Show ...
at Sydney Olympic Park. The club has used the stadium for
AFL Women's
AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...
and men's reserves games in the
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
.
Blacktown Football Park
The combined football facilities on the southern side are known as "Blacktown Football Park", and are the Blacktown Spartans home ground and the Wanderers Centre Of Football. In addition to two broadcast level boutique stadiums, there are another dozen football pitches and the Wanderers administrative & training base.
Blacktown Spartans
A boutique stadium at the facility hosts National Premier League fixtures for
Blacktown Spartans FC. There is a small grandstand with the player facilities, seating and a canteen. The far side has metal bench railings while the two ends are slight elevated grassy hills.
Western Sydney Wanderers
When the Wanderers started in 2012 the club used the Athletics Centre grandstand as temporary offices and the grassed middle of the field as their training pitch, with some pre-season games played on it. The youth team would also use the Spartans stadium for Youth League & NPL fixtures.
In 2014, Western Sydney Wanderers began the process of building a centre of excellence, consisting of a training base, offices and their youth academy at Blacktown International Sportspark. As part of the multimillion-dollar elite training base and academy, purpose-built grass playing fields, administration facilities, medical rooms and offices on the southern side of the precinct were built. The $15 million club funded project ran into a land rights issue that delayed the completion until 2019. The main pitch has a 500 capacity grandstand and the playing surface replicates the one at the
Western Sydney Stadium
Western Sydney Stadium, commercially known as CommBank Stadium, is a multi-purpose rectangular stadium in Parramatta, within the Greater Western Sydney region, approximately west of Sydney CBD. It replaced the demolished Parramatta Stadium ...
.
In addition to being the training facility for the club it also hosts senior team pre-season matches, the W-League team, the youth side in the National Premier League system and junior league matches. The Wanderers first W-League match was a 2-1 win vs the
Newcastle Jets
Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...
on Saturday 2 January 2021, with Rosea Galea scoring both goals for the home side. The youth team defeated the Northern Tigers by 3-1 on Sunday 21 March 2021 at the ground. It has also been regularly used for the Wanderers NPL NSW team, and in May 2022 it hosted a competitive game for the A-League Men's team for the first time, with the Wanderers losing an
2022 Australia Cup
The 2022 Australia Cup was the ninth season of the Australia Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. This edition was the first under the new name of the "Australia Cup" following the renaming of Football Federatio ...
play-off qualifier match against the Brisbane Roar.
Cricket
The three-day match between Cricket Australia XI and New Zealanders in October 2015 was abandoned after concerns over the pitch, New Zealand apparently refusing to bat because of the dangerous state of the wicket. In that match, Ryan Carters (209) and Aaron Finch (288 not out) scored 503 for the opening wicket and the match score remained as Cricket Australia XI 503/1 (dec). The stand easily eclipsed the previous Australian record of 456 set by openers Ernie Mayne and Bill Ponsford for Victoria state in 1923–24.
The
Indian cricket team in Australia in 2020–21
The India cricket team toured Australia from November 2020 to January 2021 to play four Tests, three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches. The Test series formed part of the inaugural ICC World Test Champi ...
tour saw the visiting Indian team use the cricket ground as their Covid lockdown training area.
Proposed developments
As part of Australia's unsuccessful
2018–2022 FIFA World Cup bid, the athletics track at the western end of the park was proposed to be developed into a soccer stadium named Blacktown Stadium. The stadium would have had 41,000-seat, a figure which would be downgraded to 26,000 post-tournament.
Blacktown Stadium – Sydney
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See also
* 2000 Summer Olympics venues
References
External links
Official website
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Australian rules football grounds
Cricket grounds in Australia
Baseball venues in Australia
Sports venues in Sydney
Softball venues in Australia
Olympic baseball venues
Venues of the 2000 Summer Olympics
1999 establishments in Australia
Sports venues completed in 1999
AFL Women's grounds
Women's Big Bash League
Sports complexes in Australia
A-League Women stadiums