The Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre, also known as the State Hockey Centre of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

is a multi-use

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

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 Mounta ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. It was built in 1998 as part of

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 ...

sporting complex, having held matches for the

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

events at the

2000 Summer 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 ...

. Its current capacity is 8,000 people, with

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...

for 4,000. For the Sydney Olympic Games capacity was boosted to 15,000 through the use of temporary stands.

Usage

The Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre is a premier

facility, with the governing body of hockey in New South Wales, Hockey NSW being based there. The Sydney representatives of both the male and female versions of the semi professional

Australian Hockey League The Australian Hockey League (AHL)AHL Webpage
was Australia's premier national domestic

...

, the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the stat ...

and the New South Wales Arrows both play their home games at the stadium. The stadium also hosted the

field hockey at the 2000 Summer Olympics Field hockey at the 2000 Summer Olympics was held at the Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre. Medal summary Medal table Medalists Gallery File:Hockey Sydney Olympics.jpg File:Sydney 2000 Olympic hockey.jpg File:Sydney Olympic Park Hockey C ...

, in which the

Kookaburras Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri ''guuguubarra'', onomatopoeic of its call. The ...

, the men's Australian national hockey team, won the bronze medal, and the

Hockeyroos The Australia women's national field hockey team (nicknamed the Hockeyroos) are, as of January 2019, ranked third in the world. Having played their first game in 1914, and their first Olympic game in 1984, they are one of Australia's most succes ...

, the woman's Australian national hockey team won the gold medal for the third consecutive time. At the Sydney Paralympic games in 2000, the Paralympic football 5 and 7-a-side games were played at the stadium. Other sports such as gridiron, touch football, Oztag and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

have all been played at the stadium. The stadium has also been hired out by schools who require such a facility. During the

2018 Invictus Games The 2018 Invictus Games was an adaptive mulit-sport event for wounded, injured and ill veteran and active defence personnel, held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The fourth Invictus Games, an event founded in 2014 by Prince Harry, include ...

located in Sydney, Archery was held on the second (original) field with entry via the Quaycentre.

Facilities

The stadium contains two fields, one for warm-ups (of which is still used for lower competitions) with the other for actual competition. The surface of both these fields, resurfaced in 2008, are POLIGRAS Olympia 2008 which contain polyethylene yarn for improved durability, UV stability, optimum ball/surface interaction and significantly less water requirements. POLIGRAS uses 100% recycled rubber for the elastic layers and heavy-metal-free yarns for the playing surface and uses 30-40% less water than other surfaces available on the market at the time. The pitch is 91.44 metres long by 54.86 metres wide. The main grandstand was designed by architects Ancher Mortlock Wooley and has seating for 1,500 people. It has a roof resembling a soaring glider or sail that sits 25 metres above the ground. It is held up by a 41m high mast removing any requirement for columns, a design that gives spectators an uninterrupted view of the action on the pitch. Other facilities available at the stadium include a conference room (Waratah) overlooking the Olympic Pitch, and the Eva Redfern Lounge (overlooking Pitch 2) also available for hire. The Olympic pitch also has a series of team changerooms, FA room, tournament and drug testing rooms. A kiosk and retail outlet are open during competition and tournament events. Being part of the

sporting complex, it shares many other facilities with the rest of the complex and makes it easily accessible by bus, train, ferry and car.

References

2000 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 1. p. 381.

External links

New South Wales Government website
*

{{Olympic venues field hockey Sports venues in Sydney Field hockey venues in Australia Olympic field hockey venues Venues of the 2000 Summer Olympics 1998 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1998 Hockey Field hockey in New South Wales

Usage

Facilities

See also

References

External links