Brighton Homes Arena – Springfield, QLD
The Australian rules football team, The Brisbane Lions, recently unveiled their new state-of-the-art facility, Brighton Homes Arena. The facility is the result of 10 years of planning which involved finding funding and partners to bring everything together into one modern and multi-functional site
Prior to this newly built facility, the Brisbane Loins used a range of venues around Brisbane including:
- Giffin Park, Coorparoo – Training Field
- The Gabba – Gym
- Nudgee College and QSAC stadium – Track
- Pre-season games in different venues around Brisbane
Brighton Homes Arena has a capacity of 8,000 spectators with the scope to expand on this in the coming years. The facilities for teams are unique in that the men’s and women’s facilities are identical, with equal gym, changing rooms, and office spaces to give both teams the same opportunities. This was really important for inclusivity with the new arena being home to the Brisbane Lions AFLW Team for both training and matches.
The Brighton Homes Arena playing surface covers 1.9 hectares and is built on a 280mm sand profile. AFL Queensland were the leading subcontractor on design of the oval and commissioned Labosport to do the specifications for the field and engaged Twin View Turf for field construction and Irri-Flow Contracting for the design and installation of the irrigation system.
The ground was specified with TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda turf to complete the project. TifTuf was introduced as a new and improved turf variety in recent years with superior drought tolerance, tensile strength and colour retention benefits the key reasons behind its selection.
The field and surrounds are managed by AFL Queensland, and the principal contractor for the construction was Hutchinson’s Builders. AFL Queensland is excited to have a newly developed hybrid bermuda grass on the oval, leading the way in innovation, and performance, plus it looks incredible. Chris Dalton has been employed by AFL Queensland as a Sports Turf Manager for the last 17 years, including time at Ashgrove and Nudgee Golf Clubs as well as the Gabba. Chris now oversees the new Brighton Homes Arena as well as other venues around Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
The Arena covers a broad home base for several teams, and the oval is used on average 12-18 hours per week for training.
- Brisbane Lions Men’s AFL training – 3 days per week
- Lions VFL – Training and playing, March to November
- Lions AFLW – Training and games, March to November
- Lions Academy program – Training and games plus community and open days
Field construction on the oval began in June 2022 and was completed on 14th October 2022, with the last roll of TifTuf turf laid. AFL Queensland took over maintenance of the field and 10 days later, the oval was aerated and top-dressed with 192 tonnes of topdressing. The first training season for the Lions AFLW team was on the 21st of November, and on Sunday 26th of November, the Grand Final of the AFLW competition was played at the new Arena.
The turf is cut at 16mm and water harvesting is undertaken from a 4,800lt under-field tank from drainage water and pumped into a 300,000lt main irrigation holding tank. The end of January 2023 saw the oval scarified again and top-dressed with 64 tonnes of topdressing. A pre-season AFL game was played on 3rd March 2023, with the Brisbane Lions facing off against Geelong.
This new arena has given the Brisbane Lions, both men and women a home base with a world-class facility all on one site.
