Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility was developed for the City of Ballarat and is an Association football-specific stadium in Redan, a suburb immediately to the south of central Ballarat.
It is home to the Ballarat Red Devils, who play in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. The Facility was selected from a national pool of soccer sports facilities as the training ground for Bahrain during the 2014 Asian Cup. The facility makes up the first section of a larger master plan for the transformation of the site into a stadium.
The history of the Ballarat Red Devils dates back to 1967. Since then they have established themselves in the second division of the National Premier League.
Past Ballarat Red Devils President Tony Spurgo believes Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility fits perfectly with the perception of the club.
“The facility looks great and all of the teams who travel from Melbourne comment on how lucky we are to have such a high quality facility,” Tony said.
“It is a sight to see the whole facility on a sunny day.
“The interior resembles a soccer ball and I always hear people commenting on this detail.
“In regional Victoria the facility has become an iconic building and will help set the pathway for future design in the surrounding areas.”
Designed to drain with the utmost efficiency- 100 millilitres of rain in 30 minutes, Tony said the playing pitch is one of the highlights of the new facility.
“It is perfectly flat and designed to the highest specifications,” he said.
Two weeks prior to the 2014 Asian Cup, Bahrain soccer team arrived and based themselves 15 minutes outside of Ballarat. They trained at Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility twice a day during that time and Tony said they were extremely impressed with the facility.
“They loved the facility and playing pitch and said they could not compare it to others they had previously trained at,” Tony said.
“Since their return home I discovered they have continued to praise the club overseas and if they were to ever return to Melbourne I wouldn’t be surprised if they asked to train here again.”
Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility has also acted as the training ground for Melbourne Victory FC and Melbourne City FC.
If the master plan to increase the seating capacity of the stadium from 500 to 10,000 were to take-off, Tony said it would mean even greater awareness of Regional Victoria and the Ballarat Red Devils.
“If the extension were to happen this would mean we would be able to attract an even larger crowd on game days,” Tony said.
“In the near future we are hoping to have the lights upgraded so that we can broadcast our games on Foxtel and SBS.
“The dream would be to see the Socceroos train here one day.”