Seagulls Stadium lives on in Wollongong

Moving on involves the completion of a long-awaited pet project of the consortium which owns the Wolves - a new stadium and headquarters in Figtree.

If you've ever wondered what happened to the old Seagulls Stadium at Tweed Heads - which housed the former NRL team - you'll find out in 12 months.

The Wolves consortium purchased the 'stadium' - which included an electronic scoreboard, grandstands with 3500 seats, and 40 corporate boxes - and trucked it down the Pacific Highway. It's been sitting around various Wollongong industrial estates for the past five years and is about to be dusted off and resurrected.

Together with the old two-tiered brick grandstand at Brandon Park - which holds 2800 seats - the various pieces of the jigsaw will be put back together again at Lysaght's Oval to create a new home ground for the team.

Not only that, the surrounds will incorporate a licensed club, a swimming pool, gymnasium, and sports injury centre, and up to seven training fields. The sod-turning ceremony has been held, and, with government funds secured for the rebuilding project, the Wolves hope to move in before the end of next year.

That will give the club the best of both worlds - their own 14,000-capacity stadium and use of the 20,000-capacity WIN Stadium if need be - and with it a launching pad back to the big time of football.

Michael Cockerill