Sevens heaven: Ballymore upgrade 20 years in making

Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 4:48 AM
Murray Wenzel - AAP
by Murray Wenzel - AAP
The new-look plans for Ballymore were unveiled on Thursday and will make it home to the Sevens and Wallaroos programs. Photo Supplied.
The new-look plans for Ballymore were unveiled on Thursday and will make it home to the Sevens and Wallaroos programs. Photo Supplied.

Australia's rugby sevens programs at Moore Park have never had enough car park spaces, let alone their own field to train on.

That will change after Rugby Australia's landmark decision to shift both the men's and women's programs, as well as the Wallaroos, from Sydney to Brisbane's upgraded Ballymore precinct.

Watch every second of the Wallaroos 100th Test live and on demand via Stan Sport.

Queensland Rugby Union, Rugby Australia and the state government on Thursday confirmed the project, which will feature a new, lit training pitch, gym, team rooms and office space at the famed Brisbane venue.

Crucially, the derelict eastern stand will also be demolished to create a 2400-seat stand and complete the 8000-capacity multi-purpose arena.

The Wallabies will also call it home when they're based in Queensland.

Demolition will begin late this year and construction is hoped to be completed in 2028, ahead of the 2029 Women's Rugby World Cup in Australia and Brisbane's 2032 Olympics.

For years Australia's rugby sevens players (and RA staff) have run the gauntlet with parking inspectors around their Moore Park facility, where there are only four spaces allotted per team.

It's left players reaching into their own pockets for parking, copping fines or walking 20 minutes to reach a training field that was never their own.

Yet since 2016 they've still won four world titles and the inaugural Olympic gold medal.

"The biggest thing is having a designated field for our rugby teams, something we don't have in Sydney," captain and proud Brisbane product Isabella Nasser told AAP.

"A high-performance gym, recovery ... the differences in competition are so small - everything you do to prepare matters to make us one per cent better."

The move marks the first instance of an Olympic sport moving its high-performance base to the Games city since Brisbane was confirmed as 2032 host.

Stakeholders were reluctant to disclose the price-tag of a project afforded by the $7.1 billion Games Legacy Fund, a joint Australian and Queensland government pot aimed at delivering long-term economic, social, and sporting benefits across the state.

It comes after the first, $31.5 million stage of the Ballymore project's 2023 completion, which resulted in the National Rugby Training Centre and Queensland Reds headquarters.

That was considered a triumph in itself, given a $25 million John Howard project funding promise in 2017 disappeared when Kevin Rudd's Labor won the federal election a year later.

Up to 90 Rugby Australia staff and players will relocate and there will be space for commercial tenancy in the new facility, plus approval for 4000 square metres of new buildings reserved for allied health, wellbeing and education facilities.

That should set up the Queensland Rugby Union, who in 2020 were coughing up more than $1 million annually to maintain their dilapidated former Ballymore stadium, to build on what's now six consecutive operational profits.

"Ballymore is back," QRU boss David Hanham declared on Thursday. "This is a day of huge significance for rugby in Queensland and Australia.

"We set out with a clear and ambitious vision to create a truly world-class high-performance and community sporting precinct. 

"Today, we have realised that vision.

"This will be one of the best high-performance precincts in the world for rugby and it will stand proudly here in Queensland."

RA boss Phil Waugh, the former Wallaby who played 136 times for the NSW Waratahs, called it a "historic moment for Australian rugby".

"And the benefits from today's announcement will be felt for generations," he said.

Share