Beaton Park Stadium is an Australian basketball centre in

Gwynneville, New South Wales Gwynneville is an inner city suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia located approximately 2 km north west of the city centre. It was originally named Gwynne Ville after the Gwynne family who owned the property. It was sold in two ...

. It was the home of National Basketball League side

Illawarra Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) is an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games ...

between 1979 and 1998, and is the home to local basketball in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

. It was nicknamed "The Snake Pit" during its time with the Illawarra/Wollongong Hawks.

History

After the stadiums construction in 1965, a game between Illawarra and the Sydney Paratels opened the stadium. In 1979 the stadium was used as the

home stadium during the inaugural season of the National Basketball League. The Hawks remained at the venue until the opening of the 6,000 seat

Wollongong Entertainment Centre Wollongong Entertainment Centre (also known by its naming rights sponsor WIN Entertainment Centre and colloquially as the WEC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena, located in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. The WEC opened on 5 September 1998 ...

in 1998, though they continue to train at the stadium and use it for pre-season games. The stadium has in the past hosted multiple Australia Boomers and

Opals Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) is a spacecraft communication instrument developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that was tested on the International Space Station (ISS) from 18 April 2014 to 17 July 2014 to demonstrate the te ...

exhibition games in the past, as well as the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

, the

United States women's national basketball team The USA Basketball Women's National Team, commonly known as the United States women's national basketball team, is governed by USA Basketball and competes in FIBA Americas. The team is by far the most successful in international women's basketbal ...

and multiple

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

college teams.

References

{{NBL Arenas Illawarra Hawks Defunct National Basketball League (Australia) venues Basketball venues in Australia Sports venues in New South Wales