Belmore Sports Ground is a stadium located in the Sydney suburb of Belmore. It is primarily used for rugby league and soccer as a home ground of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Sydney Olympic FC in the National Premier Leagues NSW Men's.
The stadium was built in 1920, since then the stadium has been upgraded and redeveloped numerous times with it today hosting a total capacity of 19,000 spectators, with its grandstand hosting 10,000 spectators. The stadium is owned and operated by the City of Canterbury Bankstown council, where it is located.
History In 1920, the local council took steps to acquire park areas around the Belmore area. The park was named after the suburb it was located: Belmore Park. Belmore Park was eventually purchased in three sections between 1918 and 1921. The first two parcels were purchased by the State government and the third by Council. The park was opened around the early 1920s, the land was formerly known as Gunn's Paddock. In 1936, council purchased a large stand from the Sydney Cricket Ground and had it re-erected at the park as part of unemployment relief works. This stand was opened on 14 March 1936 by Mayor SE Parry and was named after him. Around 1967, council moved other sports played at the park to grounds elsewhere and rugby league was given priority.
Ground Use
Soccer The ground is currently (and mainly) used for soccer as the home ground for former Australian National League club Sydney Olympic FC, which now competes in the New South Wales Premier League.
Sydney Olympic competed in the ground from 1977 to 2001 during the National Soccer League. In 2001 they left the ground to join Endeavour Field. Once the league ceased in mid-2004, the team returned to Belmore where they currently compete.
In 2021, the ground hosted a Round of 32 Australia Cup game between Sydney Olympic and A-League side Sydney FC with Sydney FC winning 4–2.
Rugby league The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs NRL team played their home games at Belmore Sports Ground from 1936 until 1998, after which time the club moved its home games to a series of more modern stadiums (currently Accor Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park). The club still used Belmore for training and administration, but subsequently moved these functions to a facility at Olympic Park in early 2008, leaving the club with no connection to the Sports Ground for the first time since the 1930s. However, the club subsequently announced its intention to redevelop the facilities at Belmore and move training and administration back to the ground. The Canterbury-Bankstown club relocated their offices and resumed training at the ground. In 2011, Canterbury's NSW Cup, SG Ball and Harold Matthews teams began playing most home games at Belmore once again.
The spectators' hill on the eastern side of the ground is named after Canterbury legend Terry Lamb.
From 1982 until the end of 1985, Canterbury's arch-rivals the Parramatta Eels used the ground as their temporary home ground while Parramatta Stadium was under construction. The St. George Dragons also used the ground for one season in 1988 while Kogarah Oval was re-developed.
Canterbury-Bankstown returned to playing NRL games at Belmore with two home games during the 2015 NRL season against Melbourne and Cronulla as part of its 80th anniversary celebrations. Canterbury-Bankstown played the premiers, North Queensland Cowboys, and Canberra Raiders in the 2016 season at Belmore Sports Ground. The match against the Cowboys was notable as it marked a homecoming for their co-captain, Johnathan Thurston, who debuted with the Bulldogs in 2002 and was part of their 2004 premiership team.
In 2016, it held an International rugby league match between the Cook Islands and Lebanon.
At the end of the 2016 NRL season, Belmore Sports Ground will have hosted 661 games of first grade rugby league since the first game on 13 April 1936. Of the active and semi-active grounds used by the NRL, only the SCG, Leichhardt Oval and Brookvale Oval have hosted more games.
In 2023, the ground hosted its first NRLW matches with the Newcastle Knights taking on the North Queensland Cowboys in the first game, followed by the Wests Tigers taking on the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the second game.
Melanesian Cup
Back to Belmore NRL pre-season trials HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDateVenue & CrowdMatch Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs28–16 Sydney Roosters5:00pm, Sunday,12 February 2012 Belmore Oval (12,000)Back to Belmore 1 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs36–14 Newtown Jets5:00pm, Sunday,10 February 2013 Belmore Oval (12,000)Back to Belmore 2 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs20–28 South Sydney Rabbitohs5:00pm, Sunday,9 February 2014 Belmore Oval (5,913)Back to Belmore 3 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs20–0 Melbourne Storm5:00pm Saturday,20 February 2016 Belmore Oval Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs10–20 Penrith Panthers6:00pm Saturday,11 February 2017Belmore Oval Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs24–10 Penrith Panthers6:30pm Saturday,24 February 2018Belmore Oval Wests Tigers36–4 Canberra Raiders2:55pm Sunday,19 February 2023Belmore Oval (7,801) 2023 NRL pre-season Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs16–36 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks5:00pm Sunday19 February 2023Belmore Oval (7,801) 2023 NRL pre-season Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Melbourne Storm7:00pm Thursday15 February 2023Belmore Oval South Sydney Rabbitohs Sydney Roosters6:00pm Friday23 February 2024Belmore Oval Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs8:00pm Thursday23 February 2024Belmore Oval
NRL season games HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDateVenue & CrowdMatch Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs20–4 Melbourne Storm7:00pm, Monday,29 June 2015 Belmore Oval (16,764)2015 NRL seasonRound 16 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs16–18 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks5:00pm, Sunday,26 July 2015 Belmore Oval (19,005)2015 NRL seasonRound 20 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs8–22 Canberra Raiders7:00pm, Monday,4 Apr 2016 Belmore Oval (13,463)2016 NRL seasonRound 5 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs16–24 North Queensland Cowboys7:50pm, Thursday,25 August 2016 Belmore Oval (10,144)2016 NRL seasonRound 25 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs6–12 Melbourne Storm6:00pm, Friday,3 March 2017 Belmore Oval (8,712)2017 NRL seasonRound 1 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs20–18 Newcastle Knights4:00pm, Sunday,9 July 2017 Belmore Oval (13,103)2017 NRL seasonRound 18 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs10–32 Gold Coast Titans3:00pm, Saturday, 16 June 2018 Belmore Oval (6,874)2018 NRL seasonRound 15 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs28–32 Canberra Raiders7:30pm, Saturday, 7 July 2018Belmore Oval (10,145)2018 NRL seasonRound 17 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs6–28 Melbourne Storm2:00pm, Sunday, 26 May 2019Belmore Oval (13,131)2019 NRL seasonRound 11 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs24–34 St George Illawarra Dragons2:00pm, Sunday, 29 May 2022Belmore Oval (16,991)2022 NRL seasonRound 12 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs26–22 Wests Tigers4:05pm, Sunday, 19 March 2023Belmore Oval (16,404)2023 NRL seasonRound 3 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs24–44 Brisbane Broncos3:00pm, Saturday, 15 July 2023Belmore Oval (17,103)2023 NRL seasonRound 20 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs32–0 Gold Coast Titans3:00pm, Saturday, 23 March 2024Belmore Oval (12,037)2024 NRL seasonRound 3 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs22-18 Canberra Raiders4:05pm, Sunday, 4 August 2024Belmore Oval (18,110)2024 NRL seasonRound 22
World Club Championship games HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDateVenue & CrowdMatch Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs18–22 Wigan Warriors7:00pm, Monday,9 June 1997 Belmore Sports Ground (10,680)1997 World Club ChampionshipRound 1 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs58–6 Halifax Blue Sox7:00pm, Monday,16 June 1997 Belmore Sports Ground (5,034)1997 World Club ChampionshipRound 2 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs34–18 London Broncos3:00pm, Sunday,22 June 1997 Belmore Sports Ground (4,000)1997 World Club ChampionshipRound 3
Ground record The ground record attendance was set on 12 April 1993 during Round 5 of the 1993 NSWRL season when 27,804 saw Canterbury-Bankstown defeat Parramatta 42–6.
References
External links Back to Belmore – Official Campaign Website