Blacktown Olympic Park
Encyclopedia
Blacktown International Sportspark is a multi-sports venue in Doonside
Doonside, New South Wales
Doonside is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Doonside is located 40 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Featherdale Wildlife Park and the...

, a suburb in western Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It includes three baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 diamonds
Baseball field
A baseball field, also called a ball field or a baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The terms "baseball field" and "ball field" are also often used as synonyms for ballpark.-Specifications:...

, four softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

 diamonds, an athletics track and a Australian Rules Football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

/Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 ground.

It was constructed for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and hosted all softball
Softball at the 2000 Summer Olympics
-Medals:-Schedule:Starting September 17, there will be four preliminary games each day until September 23 for a total of 28 games.Two semi-final games played September 25, with the game for third place same day. The final game for the gold medal played on September 26 at 7:30pm local...

 events for the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

, as well as being the secondary venue for baseball
Baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics was the third time an Olympic baseball tournament had been held as a full medal sport, and the ninth time it had been part of the Summer Olympic Games in any capacity. It was held in Sydney, Australia from 17 September through to the bronze and gold medal games...

, behind the Sydney Showgrounds
Sydney Showground (Homebush Bay)
The Sydney Showground is a purpose built venue used each year for the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Located at Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, it was opened in 1998, as a venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics and to replace the ageing old Sydney Showground at Moore Park...

. The original stadiums combined hold 8,000 people.

Baseball stadium

Blacktown Baseball Stadium was built for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games as the secondary Baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 Stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

. The stadium is now home to Baseball NSW
Baseball NSW
Baseball NSW is the governing body of baseball within New South Wales . Baseball NSW is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation. It is located in Rooty Hill in Greater Western Sydney, and is based at Blacktown Olympic Park....

 and hosted the Claxton Shield
Claxton Shield
The Claxton Shield was the name of the premier baseball competition in Australia held between state-based teams, as well as the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team...

 between 2002 and 2006. It also hosted the showcase round of the Claxton Shield 2009
Claxton Shield 2009
The 2009 Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield was the 75-year anniversary of the Claxton Shield and was held from 2 December 2008 to 8 February 2009 and was the Shield's Diamond anniversary...

 and will host two other NSW Patriots
New South Wales Patriots
New South Wales Patriots compete in the Claxton Shield baseball championship in Australia.The Patriots were one of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934 and competed as New South Wales until 1988 when the Claxtion Shield was awarded to the winner of the Australian Baseball League...

 home games.

It is also home for the Sydney Blue Sox competing in the Australian Baseball league, commencing their first season in November 2010.

AFL/Cricket stadium

In 2009, a stadium with a capacity of 10,000 people was constructed for Australian Rules Football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 and Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

. It will be the training and admin base for the Greater Western Sydney Football Club to enter the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 in 2012. It hosted its first football match on 19 February 2010 when the Sydney Swans
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...

 defeated the Carlton Blues by 12 points in the NAB Cup first round
2010 NAB Cup
The 2010 NAB Cup was the Australian Football League pre-season competition that was played before the 2010 home and away season. The games were played between 12 February and 13 March, with the first match being between and at Subiaco Oval...

, before a sell-out crowd of 9,732.

Greater Western Sydney will play their first (and only) AFL Premiership game in Blacktown in Round 3 of the 2012 AFL season
2012 AFL season
The 2012 Australian Football League season is the 116th season of the Australian rules football competition. It is the first season in which the new will compete, bringing the number of teams in the competition to a record high eighteen....

, against the West Coast Eagles
West Coast Eagles
The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...

.

External links

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