Queensland Roar announced on Tuesday that it will be shifting its headquarters from Richlands to Ballymore, the traditional home of rugby union in the sunshine state, on November 3.
However, Queensland will continue to play it’s Hyundai A-League fixtures at its current home ground Suncorp Stadium.
Roar chief executive Lawrence Oudendyk revealed one of the reasons why the club decided to make the switch to Ballymore was the feedback from the Socceroos after they trained there recently.
“The Socceroos recently trained at Ballymore and it was described as one of the best training facilities for football in the country,” Oudendyk said.
“We would like to thank Queensland Rugby Union for the opportunity to move to Ballymore and look forward to developing a strong relationship with such a professional organisation.”
“People think because we are rival codes we should be competing, but we both represent Queensland in national competitions and we feel this can be a mutually beneficial relationship.”
Queensland Rugby chairman Peter Lewis saw the move by the Roar as an opportunity to strengthen the case to turn Ballymore into a world-class facility.
“This is a vote of confidence in our existing facilities – including what is already the best training surface in Australia – and in our plans to develop this asset to a new level of sporting amenity,” Lewis said.
“Ballymore is big enough for both of us – and hopefully for other sports looking to put down roots in this fantastic location, so close to the CBD.”
