Stead Park to score major upgrades for Games hockey

STEAD Park has been confirmed as the home of hockey at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, with the Corio venue to get two international-standard hockey pitches in a major upgrade.

Geelong will also host eight other sports – aquatics, para swimming, beach volleyball, gymnastics, table tennis, para table tennis, triathlon and para triathlon – at the Games, which will be staged at four hubs across Victoria, and the announcement on Wednesday last week was the first pairing of one of those sports with a venue in Geelong.

Stead Park is the home of Hockey Geelong, the local representative body for hockey, and presently contains two synthetic pitches (one sand and one hybrid).

The two new pitches for the Commonwealth Games will cater to a crowd of up to 15,000 in a mix of permanent and temporary seating.

Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery and Acting Premier Jacinta Allan met with Hockey Geelong president Peter Stuart and players from teams across the region during her visit to Stead Park, alongside Parliamentary

Secretary for the Commonwealth Games and South Barwon MP Darren Cheeseman, Lara MP John Eren, City of Greater Geelong mayor Peter Murrihy, and Victoria 2026 Organising Committee chief executive officer Jeroen Weimar.

Mr Stuart said the association was excited about the possibilities presented by the upgrades at Stead Park.

“It’s an enormous opportunity for us, really. Hockey is a fabulous sport but it’s one that doesn’t quite get the exposure I’d like it to get – this sort of arrangement certainly can lift our profile and allow us to do recruiting and so on with more confidence.

“Then there’s the events and the legacy that comes from it.

“I really see this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity if we can get these facilities built to a fantastic standard, for not only our local players currently, our upcoming players, but also we’ll be able to bring in events from other locations with very high level participants.”

He believed the two new pitches at Stead Park, when they were built, would be only the third and fourth in Victoria built to the FIH (Fédération Internationale de Hockey) standard.

“Therefore, the competitors that play on those really high quality pitches will be looking at this to come to.”

“Geelong is a proud sporting city, and the Commonwealth Games will deliver great benefit to the entire community through improved infrastructure and exposure on the world stage,” Ms Allan said.

“Victoria 2026 will provide a boost to jobs, hospitality and the local economy and allows use to share our incredible regional communities with the rest of the world.”

Mr Eren said Geelong was thrilled to host part of the Commonwealth Games and could not wait to see the athletes in pursuit of hockey gold here in four years’ time.

Mr Weimar said competition dates had been announced and venues for seven of the 16 sports on the existing program had been locked in.

“Victoria 2026 is getting ready to take the baton from Birmingham 2022 in just over a month.”