Toowoomba Olympics: Four projects identified after Quirk review scraps stadium upgrade
With the proposed $80m upgrade of the Toowoomba Sports Ground scrapped, leaders and experts have revealed the path forward for the Garden City’s chance to be involved with the Olympics.
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Toowoomba must pivot towards securing funding for venues to support equestrian, basketball, squash and athletics to meet community needs now and also keep our Olympic dream alive.
That’s the advice of political leaders and experts, after a proposed $80m upgrade of the Toowoomba Sports Ground (TSG) was urged to be scrapped for the 2032 Games.
The report, created by a panel chaired by former Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, concluded there was “minimal identified legacy” from the planned upgrades in East Toowoomba following a massive backlash from the community.
The venue was slated for an upgrade to 15,000 seats to host preliminary football matches during the Olympics, but the Quirk report said the panel “was not presented with any evidence that additional legacy content would be attracted to the stadium”.
The Toowoomba council and lobby group Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise will now pivot to help the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland (RASQ) get $20m to fund the first two stages of the shovel-ready Equestrian Centre of Excellence at the Toowoomba Showgrounds.
But opportunities have also been identified to develop sporting facilities that would not only be used by sports before and after the Olympics, but could cater for visiting athletes and teams to train at or host pre-games tournaments.
Here are four projects that experts say we need to move on now:
1. Equestrian Centre of Excellence
RASQ chief executive Damon Phillips says his team is ready to start building the first two stages of its planned Equestrian Centre of Excellence now, if it can secure about $20m in government funding.
With the recommended scrapping of the TSG from the slate of Olympic venues in the report, the showgrounds remains the only viable option for the city to host any events in 2032.
The report also highlighted the Toowoomba Showgrounds as a potential site for equestrian events, arguing it “had merit and a clear vision for legacy”.
The report also cast doubt over the RNA Showgrounds’ ability to host all equestrian events, especially if the government follows the recommendation to scrap the Gabba stadium rebuild in favour of a new venue at Victoria Park.
Mr Phillips said the ECE proposal was not only shovel-ready, but viable even without the Olympics.
“We’ve laid that groundwork, now the review is out and we’ll see what happens with those discussions,” he said.
“If given the nod, we’d start building stables tomorrow.
“There is no national-standard all-surface equestrian facility in Queensland, so we knew there was a definite need for it here and that’s how it started.
“We would still have the local pony club kids who would come out here, the Toowoomba Show horse events would still be the largest in the state.
“There would be an almost guarantee that these facilities are used 40 weeks a year.”
This notion was supported by Toowoomba mayor Geoff McDonald, who said the council would focus on securing the funding for the RASQ.
“My view is as one door is seemingly closing, another door is seemingly opening,” he said.
“Many exhibitors felt the RNA Showgrounds would be a challenge, and the fact it was mentioned in the report opens the door for us, so that’s a conversation for us to have Olympic events here.
“Every weekend, there would be some level of equestrian activity at the showgrounds.
“For us, we’ve got the bones there for the Toowoomba equestrian centre, a centre of excellence would be a win for everyone, for our region and nation in general.”
TSBE Olympic strategy and legacy project manager Mark Mason said the project’s viability was based on the fact the games would simply be a bonus benefit to it being approved — not the sole reason for its existence.
“The equestrian centre is a really world-class facility, so we need to focus on funding and developing it and making sure it’s a good fit for the community, and if we can lay the Olympics over the top, we can look at placing that venue into the mix,” he said.
“This is an RASQ project, we would encourage the council to be as supportive of the development as possible.”
The ECE is Equestrian Queensland’s preferred location for all 2032 horse events, over the RNA Showgrounds and the Queensland State Equestrian Centre at Caboolture.
“Logistically, it would be far more preferential to have those activities co-located on one site (so) From our perspective, Toowoomba is the standout venue,” EQ chief executive Briston Toft said.
2. Future funding for Toowoomba Sports Ground
While the dream of hosting Olympic events at the TSG is dead, TSBE’s Mark Mason said the next move needed to be securing funding to ensure the stadium suits the community’s needs for the next 20 years.
“We just need to let the dust settle, and understand the ramifications of the (Quirk) review,” he said.
“We need to work with the state and find out the amount they will invest into that stadium over the next 10 to 15 years.
“What we can’t let happen is no investment at all into Toowoomba stadium, there will be a need for continued investment into a stadium (for existing uses), given it’s the only stadium we have.”
This was backed by Toowoomba mayor Geoff McDonald, who argued a more “boutique” stadium upgrade could be considered.
“Our catchment is close to 500,000 now, so there’s no doubt we’re undersupplied for rectangular stadiums,” he said.
“Maybe there’s an opportunity to revisit the sports stadium in the future to increase the capacity to 12,000 to create a boutique stadium.”
3. Clive Berghofer Arena expansion
Sports infrastructure experts say the proposed second stage of Clive Berghofer Arena by the St Mary’s Old Boys would play a big role before the Olympics.
With the Toowoomba Basketball Association signing a partnership to make Clive Berghofer Arena its permanent home, a total of five courts with seating for potentially up to 400 people would allow the Garden City to bid for lucrative state and national championships.
TSBE’s Mark Mason said the not only would the facilities be used by sporting clubs now and into the future, Olympics teams could use it for training centres and to host pre-games warm-up competitions with other nations.
“The Clive Berghofer Arena stage two is critical (for) teams and events attraction, say for a pre-Olympic mini-tournament,” he said.
Toowoomba mayor Geoff McDonald said the expansion was a big opportunity to allow the Garden City to be part of the Olympics in some capacity.
“There’s also a secondary opportunity, which is the St Mary’s basketball courts which is seen as a legacy project. It’s something St Mary’s College has worked on for some time,” he said.
4. Fit-for-purpose athletics centre
The need for a “fit-for-purpose” athletics facility in Toowoomba was also raised by TSBE’s Mark Mason, who called it essential to not only develop local kids into tomorrow’s stars but also host touring athletes for training in the lead-up to 2032.
“The other piece of sports infrastructure that the community needs, which would have a significant impact for team and event attraction, is a fit-for-purpose athletics centre,” he said. “It would be based on community needs and have the ability to aid Olympic team and event attraction.”
This idea was supported by Olympian and Allora boy Matt Denny, who said the lack of quality sporting infrastructure forced him to leave the region.
“Toowoomba needs an actual athletics track that’s accessible for everyone,” Mr Denny said.
“We have Glennie but it’s getting quite old, so we need a public track similar to QSAC where we can bring international camps over, an area where people can actually train and compete.
“If you’re able to train on actual tartan, competitions can come to Toowoomba rather than us going out to other places.”
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