Mars Stadium misses out as City and Eastern Oval win hosting rights
The City of Ballarat is hoping this year will be the last grand final at City Oval with the council pushing for another venue for next year. And it has the support of another party.
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The City of Ballarat says the ideal spot to host the Ballarat league grand finals is Mars Stadium and will push for the venue to be used for next year and beyond.
City Oval will be used for this year’s junior and senior Ballarat league (BFNL) grand finals after the BFNL announced it would be heading back there after it was used in 2023.
The women’s grand final is also on the move from Mars Stadium, due to an AFL match being held there on the same weekend, August 24, with Eastern Oval to host the decider.
It means for the second straight year Ballarat’s largest venue, in terms of capacity, will not be used for some grand finals in the BFNL.
While accepting the decision for this year, the City of Ballarat says grand finals in the future should head back to Mars Stadium.
“We have been working closely with the league and look forward to working in collaboration with them in the years ahead, including securing Mars Stadium for future grand finals from 2025 onwards,” a spokesman from the council said.
“The future upgrades at Mars Stadium are not expected to impact the ability to host crowds at grand finals in 2025.”
North Ballarat Football Netball Club (NBFNC) agrees with the City of Ballarat and said Mars Stadium not hosting this year was a shame for the community.
“The stadium should be used to its potential,” NBFNC vice-president Angela Carey said.
“We’re blessed in Ballarat to be blessed with great stadiums.
“But North (Mars Stadium) is the premier ground and it’s our belief is it is the best place to play the BFNL grand final.”
Carey said the venue worked for both football and netball and for traffic to and from the ground during the day.
She added North Ballarat loses money as a sports club when it is hosting the grand final.
But Mars Stadium needs to be used by the BFNL.
“We actually don’t make money out of the grand final,” Carey said.
“Handing over the venue for the grand final, which we willingly do, it impacts on the business but we’re more than comfortable of that if Mars Stadium hosts.
“In terms of the grand final it is a loss to us we make more money when it isn’t there.”
Carey said the biggest disappointment was kids didn’t get the chance to run out at Mars Stadium.
“It’s unfortunate particularly for juniors who don’t get to play at an AFL standard,” she said.
“There is nothing that compares to that.”
EARLIER
The Ballarat league has revealed date clashes, logistics and club preferences have prevented them from using Mars Stadium this year for any of its grand finals.
On Monday it was revealed City Oval would host the junior and senior men’s grand finals with Eastern Oval to host the women’s decider on August 24.
The City Oval finals will be held on September 15 and September 21 for juniors and senior men respectively.
Ballarat league board director Robert Simmonds said the women’s grand final clashed with the AFL game between the Western Bulldogs and GWS Giants, which will be held at Mars Stadium, on the same weekend.
And Eastern Oval was chosen for two reasons.
“We were thinking of Mars, but they have the AFL match on, so we had the clash,” Simmonds said.
“We didn’t want to have the girls at City Oval because it will get a fair workload with the other finals.
“It’s also the last weekend Eastern Oval can be used before the cricket (which worked out).
“The Eastern Oval is a nice little ground and has better female friendly change rooms.”
City Oval was selected for the juniors and seniors by most clubs over Mars Stadium but that wasn’t the only reason.
Simmonds said the juniors had a clash with the Central Highlands grand final, which will be at Mars Stadium.
With the CHFL grand final on Saturday and the juniors on Sunday, the BFL could still host at Mars Stadium but it would force their staff to quickly turn around the venue to get it ready for juniors.
The CHFL have access to Mars Stadium until 8pm on Saturday and with BFL finals starting at 8am on Sunday, a 12-hour turnaround would make it hard for volunteers to get the place ready to play.
It’s something the BFL wasn’t going to do to put pressure on its volunteers.
With junior and seniors using similar facilities the decision was made to have both grand finals at the same venue to ease logistical concerns.
“It’s just a logistical nightmare to be honest,” Simmonds said about juniors and seniors potentially playing at Mars Stadium.
“We had good feedback from (using) the City Oval last year. They (the clubs) like the country atmosphere.
“It’s not going to be a disaster if we give it another go.”
But the board said playing at Mars Stadium is still on the radar for 2025 and beyond as the upgrades start to happen at the multi-purpose ground.
“We’re going to hopefully next year relook at it,” Simmonds said.
“If we can work out our grand finals around Central Highlands we might be able to work it back.
“We’ll work with the City of Ballarat over the summer.
“We’re not locking ourselves into one venue.”
All up, eight venues will be used for the finals, which start next month.
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