Springfield Central Stadium (also known by
naming rights sponsorship as Brighton Homes Arena
and colloquially as The Reserve) is an
Australian rules football venue located in the
Ipswich,
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
suburb of
Springfield, approximately 30 km south-west of
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
. The facility has been the permanent training and administrative home of professional
Australian Football League club the
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of t ...
since 2022, and plays host to the club's
AFL Women's and
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). I ...
home matches, with the inaugural game played at the venue being the
AFL Women's season seven Grand Final.
History
The City of Ipswich has a long association with Australian rules, with some of the earliest matches in the 1860s played there. Ipswich Grammar was the first school in Queensland to adopt football in 1868. The senior Ipswich Football Club (1870-1940s) was the first football club based at the
North Ipswich Reserve where interstate Australian rules contests between Queensland and New South Wales were also played. Even after the collapse of the
Queensland Football Association in 1890 support for the code was stronger in Ipswich than anywhere else in the colony. However following failed attempts to re-establish the code, it became a stronghold for
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...
followed by
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
and
soccer. Australian rules has seen a resurgence since the 1950s and 1960s, and current clubs date back to this time. In recent years, the western growth corridor had seen a boom in participation and it has produced professional players for the Brisbane Lions, including men's team players
Rhan Hooper (played for the
Ipswich Eagles) and
Sean Yoshiura as well as AFLW team players
Kate Lutkins and
Dakota Davidson.
Since its creation as an amalgamated team in 1996, the Brisbane Lions have always trained at the 42,000-seat
Gabba
Gabba may refer to:
Music
* Gabber, a subgenre of hardcore techno also known as "gabba"
* Gabba (band), a tribute band covering the pop songs of ABBA in the punk style of The Ramones
People with the surname
* Bassano Gabba (1844–1928), ...
during the football season, which is the senior men's team home ground. During the off-season, the Lions usually shifted training sessions to various suburban grounds. Over the years this has included the University of Queensland campus, Leyshon Park in
Yeronga
Yeronga is a southern riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Yeronga had a population of 6,535 people.
Geography
The suburb is bounded to the west and north by the Brisbane River and to the south-east by ...
,
Giffin Park in
Coorparoo,
Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex in
Burpengary and elsewhere, meaning the club lacked a dedicated and permanent home year-round. When the club entered a women's team in the
AFL Women's (AFLW) competition in 2017, it played home matches at Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex and
Hickey Park in the north of Brisbane and later
Maroochydore Multi Sports Complex on the Sunshine Coast. Consequently the club sought to establish a permanent training and administrative base for the senior men's team that could also host AFLW and
reserves matches.
In 2018, the club settled on vacant land in Springfield. A total of $70 million was required for construction of the facility, which was later costed at $80 million.
The Lions and the AFL contributed $10m, Ipswich Council $12m, Springfield Land Corporation $18m and the
Queensland Government
The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...
$15m. The final $15m stream of funding was secured from the
Federal Government in late January 2019, allowing earthworks and preliminary construction of the facility to commence later that year.
The facility had a working title of The Reserve Community Arena at Springfield.
Major construction commenced in March 2020 and the club moved into the facility upon its completion in October 2022.
[ The Brisbane Lions signed a 99-year lease on the facility.
The first premiership match to be played at the venue is the AFL Women's season seven Grand Final (2022) between ]Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
and Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...
.
Facilities
Springfield Central Stadium's main oval has a capacity of up to 10,000, with several rows of seating around the perimeter, administration and indoor training buildings, a grandstand with seating for 600 spectators, balconies surrounding half the ground, grass hills, four light towers and a scoreboard.[ A second and smaller oval is located directly across the main oval.][
The broader precinct encompasses training and administration facilities catering for the men's and women's elite players, such as a high-performance gymnasium, extensive learning and teaching facilities, lap pool, aquatic recovery pools, and a cafe and other spaces for community use.
]
Naming rights
In May 2021, the Brisbane Lions announced that Springfield Central Stadium would be known for commercial purposes as Brighton Homes Arena, in a deal signed with home construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...
company Brighton Homes. The main oval's playing surface has been named the Michael Voss Oval, in recognition of the club's triple-premiership men's captain.
References
External links
Official site
Brighton Homes Arena at Austadiums
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reserve, Springfield, The
2021 establishments in Australia
Sports venues completed in 2021
Australian rules football grounds
Sports venues in Queensland
Sport in Ipswich, Queensland
Brisbane Lions
AFL Women's grounds
Venues of the 2032 Summer Olympics and Paralympics
Proposed sports venues in Australia
Stadiums under construction