The Ballymore Story
The QRU set up headquarters at Ballymore in 1966 under a deed of grant from the state government.
The stadium was officially opened by Queensland Governor Sir Alan Mansfield on April 21, 1968, with a double header of matches: Wests v GPS and Brothers v University.
The Eastern Stand was opened on June 21, 1992.
The ground exceeded capacity in 1993 when 26,000 squeezed in to watch the Wallabies play South Africa. A year later the first match under lights was played at the ground. Today the grandstand is known as the McLean Stand (named in 1980), and the Eastern stand is the QR stand.
In 2006 a new proposal was unveiled to turn Ballymore into a state-of-the-art training facility for Australian rugby and for teams from throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The proposed development would also include a Rugby Hall of Fame, and an archive for the preservation of rugby history and memorabilia.
Althought the QR Queensland Reds now play their Investec Super 14 matches at Suncorp Stadium, Ballymore is still used for hundreds of games during the year, from the Queensland Premier Rugby finals to the junior state championships and grand finals.
One of the Queensland teams in the new Australian Rugby Championship will also play its home games at Ballymore in 2007.
