Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre was located on the grounds of ''Barton Park'' in

Arncliffe, New South Wales Arncliffe is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Arncliffe is located 11 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Bayside Council. Arncliffe is south ...

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 ...

. It was the home ground of the

Rockdale Ilinden Football Club Rockdale Ilinden Football Club (formerly known as the Rockdale City Suns Football Club from 1992 to 2020) is an Australian Macedonian soccer club based in Sydney suburb of Rockdale. Founded in 1969, the club competes in the highest men's compe ...

, who played in the

New South Wales Super League The NSW League One Men is an Australian semi-professional association football league comprising teams from New South Wales. The league sits at Level 2 on the New South Wales league system, behind the National Premier Leagues NSW, (Level 3 of th ...

. A new Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre has been constructed at Bicentennial Park South, 468 West Botany Street, Rockdale. It is the home of the Rockdale City Suns Football Club. The old centre is located near

St George Stadium St George Soccer Stadium is a soccer stadium in Banksia, New South Wales, Australia. History The ground was opened in 1978 to be the home of St George-Budapest who played in local competition until playing in the national competition at the ti ...

, a football ground used by the St. George Saints.

was not used during 2007-2008, but has started to be used again in 2009. Despite this re-use, Rockdale Ilinden is still used as the venue for many St. George Saints local division finals pending Rockdale Ilinden's move. The old Ilinden Sports Centre contains the Clubhouse which has hosted numerous functions - of which have included mainly Macedonian-orientated non-soccer related functions. The ground boasts an indoor/outdoor licensed canteen, proper home & away change rooms, ample grass and bitumen parking, two superior playing surfaces (main and training), two other soccer ovals and two makeshift

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 ...

arenas.

Rockdale City Suns

The Rockdale Ilinden Football Club played at the Sports Centre for 40 years after their Australian birth. They won premierships there and developed their mainly Macedonian traditions, and celebrated their 40th anniversary year in 2009 with a minor premiership in the

NSW Super League The NSW League One Men is an Australian semi-professional association football league comprising teams from New South Wales. The league sits at Level 2 on the New South Wales league system, behind the National Premier Leagues NSW, (Level 3 of th ...

. Over time however, the Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre has become worn out, and the club bought a lease for

Bicentennial Park South Bicentennial Park South, currently known as Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre, is a football (soccer) stadium in Rockdale, a suburb of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The venue is owned by Bayside Council and is currently leased and operate ...

, which was re-developed in 2009 as the new home of the Rockdale City Suns. The new facilities were officially opened on Saturday, 12 December 2009.

Cook Cove Development

A joint venture between developer John Boyd and Westpac Funds Management has begun construction of a A$1.7 billion dollar project titled the ''Cook Cove Development'' near

Sydney Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (colloquially Mascot Airport, Kingsford Smith Airport, or Sydney Airport; ; ) is an international airport in Sydney, Australia, located 8 km (5 mi) south of the Sydney central business district, in the ...

. The 270,000 square meter area will contain offices, a hotel and a retail precinct on the current Kogarah Golf Club grounds, with the Golf Club relocating nearby south to Barton Park after related ''Bicentennial and Scarborough Park'' upgrade takes place, relocating sporting teams further south for this construction to happen. The move is planned to take place in late 2009 to early 2010, after being originally slated for early in 2009.

References

External links

Football NSWRockdale City Suns Official Website
{{Rockdale Ilinden Sports venues in Sydney Soccer venues in Sydney Rockdale Ilinden FC Arncliffe, New South Wales