Sports on the Gold Coast, Queensland
Encyclopedia
Sporting teams
The Gold Coast is host to a number of national sporting teams, notably the Gold Coast TitansGold Coast Titans
Gold Coast Titans are an Australian professional rugby league football club, based in the Gold Coast, Queensland. The club competes in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership. It is the newest of the sixteen clubs in the league, having commenced its...
(rugby league), Gold Coast Suns
Gold Coast Suns
The Gold Coast Suns were one of the eight original franchises that began play in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989. The club split their home games between Miami and Pompano Beach, FL and hired future Hall of Famer Earl Weaver as manager. In the league's inaugural season, the...
(Australian Rules football), Gold Coast Blaze
Gold Coast Blaze
The Gold Coast Blaze is an Australian professional basketball team which competes in the National Basketball League . The Blaze competed in their inaugural season in 2007/08. The club is based on the Gold Coast and joins two other NBL clubs competing from Queensland...
(basketball) and Gold Coast Blue Tongues (ice hockey) and several V8 Supercar
V8 Supercar
V8 Supercars is a touring car racing category based in Australia and run as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile regulations...
racing teams.
Rugby League
The Gold Coast TitansGold Coast Titans
Gold Coast Titans are an Australian professional rugby league football club, based in the Gold Coast, Queensland. The club competes in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership. It is the newest of the sixteen clubs in the league, having commenced its...
became the first Gold Coast team in a national competition for almost a decade when it was announced on 27 May 2005 that they would join the 2007 season
National Rugby League season 2007
The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League...
of the National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
.
The Gold Coast is home to two teams in the Queensland Cup
Queensland Cup
The Queensland Cup is the premier rugby league football competition in the State of Queensland, Australia.It is a statewide competition with the majority of teams based in South East Queensland but also including sides based in Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton.The competition began in 1996 as a...
: The Tweed Heads Seagulls
Tweed Heads Seagulls
The Tweed Heads Seagulls, often referred to simply as Tweed or Seagulls, is a rugby league club based in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, and is the only non-Queensland team to play in the Queensland Cup.-History:...
and the Burleigh Bears
Burleigh Bears
The Burleigh Heads Rugby League Football Club are one of the oldest rugby league football clubs on the Gold Coast, Australia. Originally formed in 1934 playing out of Rudd Park, the club relocated to Pizzey Park in 1971, their current home ground....
, two of the oldest clubs in the competition. The Tweed Heads Seagulls are the 2007 champions.
It is also a very popular schoolboy sport in the area. As of 2003 there were 89 rugby league teams in Gold Coast primary schools and 59 teams in Gold Coast high schools representing about 2300 young players. Gold Coast high schools, such as Keebra Park and Palm Beach Currumbin, have won the national high school tournament, the Arrive Alive Cup.
Soccer
Palm Beach Sharks play in the Brisbane Premier LeagueBrisbane Premier League
Brisbane Premier League is the first tier of senior football league in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, run by Football Brisbane . After a 26 match regular season, the top 6 teams on the league table qualify for the finals series...
.
Football Federation Australia
Football Federation Australia
Football Federation Australia is the governing body for the sport of football in Australia. Before 1 January 2005, it was known as the Australian Soccer Association , which succeeded Soccer Australia in this role in 2003...
has announced that Gold Coast United will join the A-League for the 2009–10 season. Gold Coast United FC will be funded by local billionaire Clive Palmer. The new club is not connected to the previous Gold Coast Galaxy bid.
Rugby Union
The Gold Coast BreakersGold Coast Breakers
The Gold Coast Breakers are an Australian rugby union club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland. The team competes in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition, which is a state-club competition....
play in the Queensland Premier Rugby
Queensland Premier Rugby
Queensland Premier Rugby is a club rugby union competition in Queensland, Australia. Ten clubs compete in the competition, eight of which are from Brisbane, with a club each from the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast also competing. The competition has been contested in its present form since 1929...
competition, the fourth level of rugby union in Australia. The Gold Coast also hosted a team in the ill-fated Australian Rugby Championship
Australian Rugby Championship
The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC , was a domestic Rugby union football club competition in Australia which ran for only one season in August–October 2007...
for one season before the team and competition folded.
The Brisbane-based Reds
Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...
have played trial games on the Gold Coast. The Southport School
The Southport School
The Southport School , is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in Southport, a suburb on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia....
on the Gold Coast is famous for being a nursery of rugby union players.
Beginning in 2011–12, the Australian leg of the IRB Sevens World Series
IRB Sevens World Series
The IRB Sevens World Series, known officially as the HSBC Sevens World Series as of the 2010-11 season, through sponsorship from banking group HSBC, and also sometimes called the World Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby union sevens tournaments organised for the first time in the...
will move from Adelaide
Adelaide Sevens
The Adelaide Sevens is a rugby union sevens tournament, part of the IRB Sevens World Series. The competition is currently held at the Adelaide Oval, South Australia. The inaugural competition, the 2007 Adelaide Sevens, took place on 7 and 8 April and replaced the Singapore Sevens...
to the Gold Coast. The event, initially called the International Rugby Sevens Gold Coast before being rebranded as simply the Gold Coast Sevens
Gold Coast Sevens
The Gold Coast Sevens is an annual rugby union sevens tournament held in Gold Coast, Australia. It´s held at the Robina Stadium since 2011 and is part of the IRB Sevens World Series.-Results:-External links:*...
, will be held in late November at Skilled Park.
Australian rules football
The Gold Coast was the home of the Brisbane BearsBrisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
who moved to Brisbane in 1993, then merged with Fitzroy
Fitzroy Football Club
The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
to become the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
.
Currently the Gold Coast is home to three clubs (The Southport Sharks, the Broadbeach Cats and the Labrador Tigers) in the amateur Queensland AFL State League, the state's highest level ARF
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
of competition.
In 2008, the AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
announced plans for a 17th team to enter the competition. After a bidding process, the AFL granted the licence for the 17th franchise in March 2009 to a group initially known as GC17. The franchise debuted in the TAC Cup in 2009, then played in the VFL in 2010 before graduating to the AFL in 2011, where they are now known as the Gold Coast Suns.
V8 Supercar
Numerous professional racing teams are based in the Gold Coast area competing in several national championships spread across circuit and drag racing. The biggest operations have been the V8 SupercarV8 Supercar
V8 Supercars is a touring car racing category based in Australia and run as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile regulations...
teams, led by three times series champions Stone Brothers Racing
Stone Brothers Racing
Stone Brothers Racing is an Australian motor racing team competing in the International V8 Supercars Championship, formed in 1998 by experienced New Zealand-born motorsport veterans, Ross Stone and Jim Stone after buying out their partner in their previous racing team...
, Paul Morris Motorsport, Triple F Racing
Triple F Racing
Triple F Racing is an Australian motor racing team that is competing in the International V8 Supercars Championship. The team is today based on the Gold Coast in Queenland but continues to have strong links with the team's original home in Perth, Western Australia.The team was formed by the West...
and Australia's oldest touring car team, Dick Johnson Racing
Dick Johnson Racing
Dick Johnson Racing is Australia's oldest operating motor racing team. Founded by Dick Johnson, the team has won seven Australian Touring Car Championship titles and has taken three victories in Australia's hallmark race, the Bathurst 1000...
.
Recreation
There are many recreational activities situated on the Gold Coast ranging from Surfing to fishing and Boating to Golf.Surfing
The Gold Coast is a popular place for surfingSurfing
Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...
. World class breaks including TOS, Sandpumping Jetty, Burleigh, Currumbin Alley, Greenmount, Kirra, Snapper Rocks and Duranbah (just over border into NSW). There are also many other surfing locations along the open beaches. The Roxy Pro and Quiksilver
Quiksilver
Quiksilver, Inc. , is an American company based in Huntington Beach, California, one of the world's largest manufacturers of surfwear and other boardsport-related equipment...
Pro are held on the Gold Coast and kickstart the World Championship Tour calendar each year.
Fishing
Fishing is a popular activity on the Gold Coast. Popular fishing spots include the Sandpumping Jetty on the Spit, Offshore reefs at Palm Beach, The Narrowneck Reef, the Gold Coast BroadwaterGold Coast Broadwater
The Gold Coast Broadwater, also known as Southport Broadwater and Gold Coast Harbour, is a large shallow estuary of water reaching from the locality of Southport to the southern section of the World Heritage Listed Moreton Bay along the eastern coast of Australia...
, Jumpinpin, Coomera, Logan and Albert Rivers, Currumbin and Tallebudgera Creeks and fresh water environments at Robina Lakes and Hinze Dam
Hinze Dam
The Hinze Dam, also known as Advancetown Lake, supplies most of the water provided to Gold Coast City in Queensland, Australia. Some water is drawn from Little Nerang Dam and until recently northern suburbs received water from Wivenhoe Dam. It was completed in 1976 and expanded in 1989. Advancetown...
.
Boating
Boating is a popular activity on the Gold Coast. There are waterskiing areas at upper coomera, santa barbara, along the western BroadwaterGold Coast Broadwater
The Gold Coast Broadwater, also known as Southport Broadwater and Gold Coast Harbour, is a large shallow estuary of water reaching from the locality of Southport to the southern section of the World Heritage Listed Moreton Bay along the eastern coast of Australia...
, Tipplers, Currigee, Isle of Capri, Carrara and Tallebudgera Creek. There is an olympic standard sailing basin in the Broadwater and marks offshore for various types of vessel events. Sailing is popular. The Gold Coast has a growing mega yacht industry and boat manufacturing industry. Fishing vessels include tinnies up to three storey fly bridge versions. There are 35 public boatramps spread throughout the City from Waterford to Currumbin and there are 105,000 registered vessels {2001} within two hours drive of a Gold Coast Boatramp.
Golf
The Gold Coast has over fifty private and public golfGolf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
courses including several outstanding resort courses. Generally, golf club members play competitively every Saturday. A short list of eighteen hole golf courses within the city includes Arundel Hills Golf Club, Emerald Lakes Golf Club, Hope Island – The Links, Parkwood International Golf Course, Royal Pines Resort, Sanctuary Cove – The Palms, Sanctuary Cove – The Pines, Southport Golf Club, The Glades Golf & Spa, Robina Woods, Palm Meadows, Lakelands, The Colonial and Gainsborough Greens.
Horse Racing
The Gold Coast Turf Club hosts weekly horse races every Saturday from 12 o'clock midday for a minor entry fee. Facilities include a bookmakerBookmaker
A bookmaker, or bookie, is an organization or a person that takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed upon odds.- Range of events :...
's ring, betting tote
Tote
Tote may refer to:*Tote, abbreviation for Tote board, the name for the computerised system which runs parimutuel betting, calculating payoff odds, displaying them, and producing tickets based on incoming bets...
through UNItab
Totalizator Agency Board
Totalisator Agency Board in Australia and New Zealand, universally shortened to TAB, is the name given to monopoly totalisator organisations. All were originally government owned...
, four small to large function venues and public food and drink outlets.
Magic Millions
Magic Millions
Magic Millions Sales Pty Ltd is an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse auction house which holds a sale each January at Surfers Paradise in Queensland. Eight days of auctions are joined by a major Thoroughbred horse race meeting where all ten races are only open to horses who were bought at auctions...
a thoroughbred auction sales and racing event is the largest to be held on the Gold Coast. This annual event held in January each year attracts buyers and enthusiasts from around the world, with one year a staggering $100 million dollars turnover in yearling sales.
Gold Coast sports venues
The Gold Coast is host to a range first class sporting venues, from outdoor stadiums like the just-completed Skilled Park to the indoor Gold Coast Convention Centre and the Olympic class Runaway Bay Sports Super Centre. Other facilities include Carrara StadiumCarrara Stadium
Carrara Stadium is a sporting venue on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara....
, the Carrara Indoor Sport Centre and the Nerang Velodrome.
Surfers Paradise street circuit
Gold Coast's biggest sporting event is not held at a permanent facility, but a temporary facility that does not exist for 50 weeks of the year. Laid out on streets of Surfers Paradise, with the Gold Coast HighwayGold Coast Highway
The Gold Coast Highway in Queensland, Australia links the coastal suburbs of the Gold Coast. 33 km in length, the highway passes through popular tourist resorts such as Southport, Surfers Paradise, Burleigh Heads and Currumbin...
as the front straight, tens of thousands of spectators attend the Gold Coast Indy 300 each October to see the V8 Supercar Championship Series
V8 Supercar
V8 Supercars is a touring car racing category based in Australia and run as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile regulations...
and headlining for the first time this year the IndyCar Series
IndyCar Series
The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and...
, replacing the now defunct Champ Car World Series. It is the third of three racing circuits to have existed on the Gold Coast. Surfers Paradise International Raceway
Surfers Paradise International Raceway
Surfers Paradise International Raceway was a motor racing complex at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The circuit was designed and built by Keith Williams, a motor racing enthusiast. It was located opposite the Surfers Paradise Ski Gardens at Carrara...
existed just to the west of Carrara Stadium until it was closed in the mid-80s and laid derelict for several decades until finally built over. Another street circuit existed for on weekend in 1954
1954 Australian Grand Prix
The 1954 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held on the streets of Southport in Queensland on November 7, 1954. The race had 28 starters. The race was held over 27 laps of the large nine kilometre circuit....
further north in Southport.
Robina Stadium
Robina Stadium, known commercially as Skilled Park, is the premier stadium on the Gold Coast and seats 27,000 people undercover. Completed in February 2008 it is located in the suburb of RobinaRobina, Queensland
Robina is a suburb on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 Census, Robina had a population of 19,182.The Robina Town Centre shopping centre and Bond University are located in Robina.- History :...
and sits adjacent to Robina Train Station
Robina railway station, Queensland
Robina is a railway station at Robina on the Gold Coast Line of South East Queensland, Australia. It is part of the Queensland Rail City network and is the site of a medium sized out stabling yard, capable of storing 10 electric multiple units...
. It was built specifically for the Gold Coast Titans
Gold Coast Titans
Gold Coast Titans are an Australian professional rugby league football club, based in the Gold Coast, Queensland. The club competes in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership. It is the newest of the sixteen clubs in the league, having commenced its...
' re-entry to the National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
.
Carrara Stadium
Carrara StadiumCarrara Stadium
Carrara Stadium is a sporting venue on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara....
is the city's largest oval stadium, it has an official capacity of 18,000 (most of which are not undercover or seated). The stadium has however on numerous occasions hosted attendances in excess of this official capacity. It was previously the home rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
on the Gold Coast and Brisbane Bears
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
(merged and relocated).
Carrara Indoor Sport Centre
The Carrara Indoor Sport Centre neighbours Carrara Stadium and has a seated capacity of 3,000. It was previously the home of the basketball team, the Gold Coast RollersGold Coast Rollers
The Gold Coast Rollers were an Australian basketball team, that played in Gold Coast, Queensland, in the National Basketball League. The team was originally named the Gold Coast Cougars before being renamed the Rollers in 1992. The team was one of only two teams from the state of Queensland when it...
.
Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre
Situated in BroadbeachBroadbeach, Queensland
Broadbeach is a suburb on the Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 Census, Broadbeach had a population of 3,791.Development in the area today mostly incorporates low rise structures, consisting of single bedroom houses and apartment blocks...
, the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre
Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre
The Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre located on the Gold Coast Highway in Broadbeach, Gold Coast was opened on 29 June 2004 at a cost of $167 million and is linked by a covered walkway to Conrad Jupiters...
was opened on 29 June 2004 at a cost of $127 million. It is home to the Gold Coast Blaze
Gold Coast Blaze
The Gold Coast Blaze is an Australian professional basketball team which competes in the National Basketball League . The Blaze competed in their inaugural season in 2007/08. The club is based on the Gold Coast and joins two other NBL clubs competing from Queensland...
in the National Basketball League
National Basketball League (Australia)
The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....
and will reportedly be able to seat over 5000 spectators.
Sports Super Centre
This facility is located at the northern end of the Gold Coast, in the suburb of Runaway Bay, has been earmarked as a world class training facility. The centre includes nine purpose built villas which provide accommodation for touring groups or sporting teams, FINAFina
Fina may refer to:*Fina, a character in the Skies of Arcadia video game*FINA, the International Swimming Federation*FINA, the North American Forum on Integration...
approved 50 metre outdoor swimming pool, an IAAF certified 10 lane 400 metre athletic track with 3000 seater capacity stadium, a 600 m2 gymnasium and health spa. It is being used by the Gold Coast Titans until their own HQ and training facilities are built in Robina.
Nerang Velodrome
The Nerang Velodrome (including the Nerang International CriteriumCriterium
A criterium, or crit, is a bike race held on a short course , often run on closed-off city center streets....
Circuit Velodrome) is a 356 m asphalt track with lights for night time use. There is a permanent covered grandstand for 240 people and temporary grandstands for a further 150 people. The Criterium Circuits include three hot-mix asphalt circuits. There is a flat 600 m circuit, and 900 m and 1500 m circuits which both include a 200 m hill.
It hosted the pre-2000 Olympic Games training for Great Britain Cycling (Road) and Triathlon Teams, and the Sweden Cycling (track) Team. The nearby Nerang State Forest, with its hilly terrain and well-maintained trails is a favourite recreational area for mountain bike
Mountain bike
A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle created for off-road cycling. This activity includes traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines,...
riders.