page_title: Carrara Stadium
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Carrara Stadium / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Carrara Stadium. Gold Coast, Queensland
context_page_description: Carrara Stadium is a sporting venue on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara.
  The venue is primarily used for Australian rules football, serving as the home ground of the Gold Coast Suns, who compete in the Australian Football League. In addition, the venue is used occasionally for cricket, including Big Bash League matches. Carrara Stadium received substantial redevelopment work prior to the entry of the Brisbane Bears to the VFL/AFL in 1987, but following the Bears relocation to the Gabba in 1993, it was used for other sports including rugby league, rugby union and even baseball. The stadium has hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2018 Commonwealth Games as well as the athletics competitions.
context_section_description: In 1983, the Nerang Bulls Rugby Union Club was formed and were located at Carrara Oval. During 1983, the Bulls fielded one senior team and in 1984 they fielded two senior teams. The club spent two seasons at Carrara before moving to Glennon Park in Nerang in 1985.
  On 7 October 1986, it was announced that Australian rules football club the Brisbane Bears had been granted a licence to enter the Victorian Football League for the 1987 VFL season. Bears President, Paul Cronin, announced on 23 December 1986 that the club would use Carrara Oval as their home ground. The financial backer of the Bears, Christopher Skase, spent $1 million redeveloping Carrara Oval over a 10-week period at the beginning of 1987, which included upgraded player facilities, seating for 6000 spectators and new electronic scoreboard. On 19 April 1987, the Fitzroy Lions defeated the Brisbane Bears in the first VFL game played at Carrara Oval, before a crowd of 17,795. (The Brisbane Lions website records the crowd unofficially as 22,684.)
  In 1989, the Brisbane Bears and the Albert Shire Council signed off on a 30-year lease for the ground with an option for a further 10 years. Following that announcement, Christopher Skase orchestrated the installation of floodlights costing $6 million, which were never paid for. With the collapse of Skase's company Qintex, he would flee to Spain and the cost of the floodlights continued to be unpaid. Liquidators attempted to extract money from the Gold Coast City Council for the lights but, after an unsuccessful trial, it was found cheaper to leave the floodlights in place at Carrara Stadium. On 15 July 1989, the Bears hosted the first ever night match at Carrara, against the Geelong Cats, in front of a then-record crowd of 18,198.
  Insufficient public transport access to the stadium, and the poor on-field performance of the Bears, resulted in poor crowds at Bears games, prompting local media to refer to the situation as the "Curse of Carrara". The new owner of the Bears, Reuben Pelerman, lost a further $10 million between the 1990–1992 AFL seasons, and the Bears moved permanently to the Brisbane Cricket Ground in 1993, staving off media rumours of a merger with fellow cellar-dwellers, the Sydney Swans, to form a combined Queensland/New South Wales team, the Northern Swans, or a relocation to either Tasmania or Port Adelaide.
  In 1988, Carrara Stadium played host to the very first Touch Football World Cup in which teams from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the USA competed in the Men's, Women's and Mixed Opens, as well as Men's Over 35's divisions. Australia won all four division finals which were all played against New Zealand. The Gold Coast Clippers played their 1989–1990 Australian Baseball League season at Carrara before changing their name to the Daikyo Dolphins and moving to nearby Palm Meadows. For the 1992–93 season, they moved back to Carrara as the Gold Coast Cougars. The Cougars stayed at Carrara until the abolition of the Australian Baseball League in 1999. The Brazilian football team set up camp at Carrara Stadium for pre-tournament training before the 2000 Summer Olympics. The Brazilians later commented that the surface at Carrara was one of the best in the world.
  The ground was owned by the Shire of Albert, and transferred to the Gold Coast City Council when the two local authorities amalgamated in 1995. The field is officially known as Laver Oval after long-time Albert Shire Chairman, Bill Laver.
caption: The stadium prior to redevelopment
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