About

First established in 1990 on the site of an old harness track, Mars Stadium in Ballarat hosted its first AFL game in round 22 of 2017, making it the latest ground to have Australia’s premier Aussie Rules competition played on its surface. With a capacity of only 11,000, and one of the smallest pitch sizes, Mars Stadium is easily the most diminutive ground in the game.

Since its opening, the North Ballarat Football Club has called the ground home for its matches in the VFL. Eureka Stadium—as it has been called for majority of its existence—also hosts the Ballarat Gift, and the Ballarat Agricultural Show, two annual events in the regional city. A major three-part development began in 2015 in readiness for the recently-announced AFL games that would be brought to the ground from the 2017 season. The ground capacity now sits at 11,000, which will increase in the coming years.

It was the Western Bulldogs who moved to make Ballarat their second home. Playing their first home game in late 2017 in front of a record crowd of 10,087, and the first crowd to exceed the 10,000 mark, the Dogs were defeated by Port Adelaide by 17 points. With two home games scheduled for the 2018 season, the Bulldogs will be hoping to change their fortunes and establish Ballarat as fortress that away teams will fear to travel to.

With one of the smallest playing surfaces in the AFL, there is a potential for huge scores to be racked up at the new ground. This will make for entertaining viewing, rendering the second and third stages of the planned redevelopment essential. The people of Ballarat will be hoping that the Western Bulldogs can continue the success of their 2016 flag on the park, giving locals a champion team to get behind.