Reds Back to Ballymore

[Darren]

The QR Reds will return to Ballymore for one of their seven Investec Super 14 rugby home matches in 2010.

Season memberships for a red hot seven game package - including the one-off Ballymore match against New Zealand's Blues set down for February 27 - go on general sale on September 7, with existing members able to renew their seats from today at a preferential price.

The 2010 packages again include ‘kids free’ family membership options.

Under the provisional Super 14 draw, the remaining six matches at Suncorp Stadium include a season opening blockbuster against the NSW Waratahs on February 13, followed a week later by a Friday night match against New Zealand's Crusaders.

Suncorp is unavailable for the round three match against the Blues because of a date clash with the Socceroos, so the decision was made to lock in Ballymore for the Saturday night match.

"The younger players are particularly excited about the opportunity to play a Super 14 match at Ballymore, as they've heard all the stories from the older hands about what it used to be like," said QR Reds head coach Phil Mooney.

"Hopefully we'll have a full house and the place will be pumping."

The Reds also have home games against Australian rivals the Western Force and the defending Super 14 champions, the Bulls from South Africa.

The scheduled QR Reds home games are:

Feb 13 v Waratahs (NSW) - Suncorp
Feb 19 v Crusaders (NZ) - Suncorp
Feb 27 v Blues (NZ) - Ballymore
Mar 14 v Western Force (WA) - Suncorp
Apr 17 v Bulls (Sth Africa) - Suncorp
Apr 23 v Stormers (Sth Africa) - Suncorp
May 15 v Highlanders (NZ)- Suncorp

The 2010 draw including exact kick-off times is still to be set in stone by the competition's governing body, but the dates and venues for the Reds' games are not expected to change.

[Working Class]

Now all they need to do is move all their games there. Suncorp has been an absolute disaster for them. Back to Rugby's home in Queensland.

[Happy]

Suncorp is a great stadium though.. wish we had one that nice!

[Working Class]

Suncorp is a great big event stadium. Bledisloe Cup matches there are fanastic. But Ballymore is the home of Queensland Rugby and it should return there ASAP.

[TOCC]

the only problem with Ballymore is that its hard to get to, there is no decent public transport connections, and the facilities are getting quite old these days, the corporate facilites arent nearly as good as what they have at Suncorp.

For the Reds to move back to Ballymore permantly, there would need to be a decent upgrade of the facilities

[tic]

I think it would be a good idea to send some Reds games back to Ballymore - but the opponents should be some lesser drawing South African teams.

Auckland will always pull circa 25000 even when the Reds are playing like rubbish.

The odd thing is that since the Reds have moved to Suncorp, they have been so bad that they have barely tested its capacity. They drew 40000 there against the Tahs a few years ago but they rarely get a crowd over 24000 otherwise.

If they could get some form up, they would probably regularly pull 30000 - 40000 and even the odd 50000 - then Ballymore would be completely redundant.

But in saying all that, Ballymore is brilliant - very social and relaxed - some great memories there.

[The Man]

TOCC is right, Ballymore's time has come and gone , when Reds start winning again Suncorp will be full as a boot!

[Happy]

Yeah .. I was at Ballymore last year to pick up some tickets and agree: it needs some restoration work asap!!

[mudskipper]

Why not play a Reds match at the Skilled Park stadium? Modern facilities with a fresh Gold coast crowd…

[tic]

That's quite a possibility.

[mudskipper]

i think the Reds Admin are either looking to save a buck at B-more or to try and re-engage the old crowd... either way its looking back and not to the future... there is only failure in that approach... go south to a modern fresh stadium and find a new fresh crowd of supporters... ones who are under 50 years old... the Gold Coast didn't win the S15 spot so exploit the opportunity to strengthen the Reds...

The Force need to more to get a watchable field... Australian rugby doesn't need all provinces to be rebuilding next year....

[TOCC]

your right Muddy they should have taken the game to Skilled Park, then again a big thing which may have swayed there opinion was that members and corporate sponsors pay to see 6/7 matches per season, keeping the corporate base and members happy is a big thing to.

This may also be a chance for the QRU to test the waters for support back at Ballymore, i was actually out at Ballymore today to watch my mates grand final, and to be honest the facilities are a lot better then i remember. Yeah they are looking old and ragged, but nothing that a decent makeover couldnt fix, a lot of it is pure aesthetic as well, things like fading paint, loose boardings etc.

Its obviously not up to Suncorp Stadium or the Gabba standards considering they are practically new stadiums, but its definetly still useable, IMO theres nothing which would stop the Reds from returning to Ballymore in 2010 for all there fixtures.

They would need to upgrade a few things though, lack of 'jumbotron', there is no tv or live replay screen, corporate facility spruice up(new seats and paint).

[tic]

your right Muddy they should have taken the game to Skilled Park, then again a big thing which may have swayed there opinion was that members and corporate sponsors pay to see 6/7 matches per season, keeping the corporate base and members happy is a big thing to.

This may also be a chance for the QRU to test the waters for support back at Ballymore, i was actually out at Ballymore today to watch my mates grand final, and to be honest the facilities are a lot better then i remember. Yeah they are looking old and ragged, but nothing that a decent makeover couldnt fix, a lot of it is pure aesthetic as well, things like fading paint, loose boardings etc.

Its obviously not up to Suncorp Stadium or the Gabba standards considering they are practically new stadiums, but its definetly still useable, IMO theres nothing which would stop the Reds from returning to Ballymore in 2010 for all there fixtures.
They would need to upgrade a few things though, lack of 'jumbotron', there is no tv or live replay screen, corporate facility spruice up(new seats and paint).

Except that its capacity is about 23000. Even playing like crap, the Reds can pull bigger crowds at Suncorp.

I favour matches at Ballymore/Skilled Park for teams like The Cheetahs and The Lions. All the rest at Suncorp.

[TOCC]

Except that its capacity is about 23000. Even playing like crap, the Reds can pull bigger crowds at Suncorp.

I favour matches at Ballymore/Skilled Park for teams like The Cheetahs and The Lions. All the rest at Suncorp.

Well the reality is that there aren't many games which would pull much bigger then 23000, they could move the NSW match to Suncorp but the rest would fit at ballymore
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[tic]

If they start winning they will pull alot better