How the QRU plans to convert Ballymore to an Olympic hockey stadium

Like most stadiums, Ballymore, the spiritual home of Queensland rugby, has a lush, green grass surface. It can be pounded by studded rugby boots and almost repair itself.

So just how did Brisbane Olympic organisers expect the Herston stadium to host Olympic hockey, which is played on a synthetic blue surface that is expected to be smooth?

Great Britain taking on New Zealand in 2019, on a drop-in hockey field at the Twickenham Stoop rugby stadium in London.Credit: Alex Davidson/Getty Images

Queensland Rugby Union chief executive David Hanham said for the answer, one just needed to look to another famous rugby ground for inspiration.

A stone’s throw from London’s imposing Twickenham Stadium is the Stoop, the 14,800-seat home of storied English rugby club Harlequins.

In recent years, the stadium has doubled as a major hockey venue for large-drawing international matches, with a synthetic hockey field placed above the grass surface.

“It’s almost like how you prepare Suncorp Stadium for a concert, you’ve got infrastructure that goes over the grass,” Hanham said.

“One of the concepts that I’ve been sort of mentioning in early stages to government is, why can’t the government look at purchasing that temporary infrastructure?

“Because then, prior to the Olympics, you could be activating this as a venue that can be utilised and the national men’s and women’s teams could be playing international games here while they’re getting ready for the Olympics.”

The Big Stadium Hockey concept was hailed as a way for the sport to “break free and give the players and fans the big stadium experience they deserve and hosts the flexibility they need” after previously being forced to play in low-capacity, hockey-specific venues.

In addition to the Twickenham Stoop, the Big Stadium Hockey has also been played at Dublin’s Donnybrook Stadium.

Hanham said the technology would allow Hockey Queensland to “mobilise the game” and take it to venues previously unavailable to the sport.

“They can take the game to Cairns, Townsville or the Gold Coast, where you’ve got this infrastructure that can be utilised in venues, depending on what the size of their events is going to be,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Hockey Queensland said the organisation was “hesitant to make a comment on the Olympic set-up for hockey in 2032”.

In its field specifications and technical requirements prepared for the International Olympic Committee, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) tentatively endorsed the use of temporary pitches.

“Providing the use of this technology does not compromise the long-term legacy benefits to hockey in the host country, the FIH endorses its use whenever there is a benefit in either locating one or more of the Games’ fields in an existing sports stadia, or building temporary fields that can be relocated to other locations following the Games,” it said.

Ballymore’s nomination as an Olympic hockey venue has been contentious, reigniting a debate about public transport access and its location in the middle of a quiet suburban neighbourhood.