Carrara goes back to the future
Football's permanent return to the Gold Coast will begin next year, with the AFL to schedule four matches at the Carrara venue it abandoned, seemingly forever, in 1992.
Provided necessary refurbishments are completed on the stadium's dressingrooms, playing surface and floodlights, two premiership season and two pre-season matches will be scheduled.
The AFL, in its long-term strategic outlook, last year publicly identified the Gold Coast and west Sydney as regions that would be pursued in the long term for club relocations.
Fixturing home-and-away games at Carrara was brought forward to 2006 to fill some of the void created by the MCG's unavailability because of the Commonwealth Games.
But the AFL always intended to schedule major matches at the venue before 2010.
It will try to schedule home-and-away games at Carrara beyond 2006.
MCG co-tenants Hawthorn and Melbourne are favoured to be listed as the "home" teams in early home-and-away matches next year, with Richmond also a possibility.
Hawks chief executive Ian Robson has been discussing the Carrara option for several months with the AFL and Southport Sharks, the massively profitable Gold Coast club that has been seeking regular AFL matches since 1996.
"As one of the principally affected clubs in the MCG unavailability, our discussions have consistently had Carrara as an option, and we are delighted to see the AFL's statement of intent on that issue," Robson said.
"We are hopeful further discussions with all relevant parties can bring that about and bring certainty to planning."
Demons chief executive Steve Harris said his club was considering substantial proposals to play matches next year in Launceston, Cairns and the Gold Coast.
"The final decision rests with the AFL, but the reality is we face the prospect of one or two games needing to be transferred, and if that is the case then we will look for the optimum financial benefit," Harris said.
Impetus for the rebirth of Carrara came from a crowd of 16,000 that attended a practice match there this year between the Lions and Bombers.
Ben Buckley, AFL manager of broadcasting, strategy and major projects, said the onus was on Gold Coast City Council to ensure the ground was refurbished to AFL levels.
The AFL will commit up to $1 million to the upgrade, provided works are to its approval.
"Provided that happens, and provided it stacks up commercially, two home-and-away, a Wizard Cup and Wizard Regional Challenge match will be played there next year," Buckley said.
The Carrara move is a key plank of the AFL's plans for football's growth, with 2015 the speculative time frame for a club -- a relocated outfit or a new franchise -- to be based on the Gold Coast.
Competition with rugby league in the region has become fierce. The NRL is on Friday likely to confirm a new franchise will be based on the Gold Coast from 2007.
It is yet to be decided by the Gold Coast City Council, Queensland Government and the sporting bodies whether rugby league will use the run-down Carrara venue currently configured for Australian football, or have a purpose-built stadium erected near that site.
"When we released our strategic plan 18 months ago we targeted south-east Queensland as being a priority and we identified then that we would complement our game development initiatives with more frequent game events," Buckley said.
"This is part of that strategy, and I guess in some ways the Commonwealth Games being on next year has allowed us to look at playing home-and-away matches.
"We will have an eye to the future with this, it is part of our strategic planning and we were particularly pleased with what came out of the Wizard Regional Challenge game."
Carrara was used for 61 Brisbane Bears matches from that club's inception in 1987 until 1992. The Bears moved to the Gabba in 1993.
Gold Coast mayor Ron Clarke said he hoped next year's premiership matches would be the beginning of regular fixturing at Carrara.
