Royal Hobart GC Confirmed As Future Location of Tasmanian Cricket Centre

Cricket Tasmania can confirm that there is an intended purchase of land at the Royal Hobart Golf Club (RHGC) for the future development of a Tasmanian Cricket Centre for Excellence and Community facility.

The growth of the game, particularly the expansion and professionalisation of our pathway programs and women’s cricket, and the multi-purpose, shared-use nature of Ninja Stadium has been such that the venue is not able to cope with the load needed to support the next phase of the sport’s growth.

Cricket Tasmania CEO, Dominic Baker spoke to the importance of this facility for the growth of the sport in Tasmania.

“For several years Cricket Tasmania has been considering the infrastructure requirements for Tasmanian cricket’s future operations (from grassroots to the elite levels) and what will best support the development of the sport, athlete pathways and commercial outcomes.

“Bellerive Oval (now Ninja Stadium) has played an important role for Tasmanian cricket since the Association relocated its headquarters to the ground in the late 1980s and significant investment has been made to support growth of the game at local, national and international levels.

“It will continue to be our home for the immediate future and to serve the needs of sport in southern Tasmania from a local, national and international perspective,” Baker said.

Cricket Tasmania’s intended purchase of this land at Seven Mile Beach is a strategic investment for the future.

It will support the development of a new state-of-the-art sporting, administration, game development and education facility that will underpin the long-term growth of Tasmanian cricket.

A new facility would directly support Tasmania’s 55 contracted professional cricketers, 200 developing cricketers in Cricket Tasmania’s pathway programs and the broader Tasmanian cricket community that boasts 17 cricket associations, servicing over 72 competitions and 135 clubs.

Cricket Tasmania and RHGC have communicated with their members and additional information will be provided early in the new year in the lead into a vote of the RHGC’s members early in 2025.

Royal Hobart Golf Club General Manager, Nathan Sharrock, emphasised that from the Club’s perspective, this was not simply about selling land, but rather working with a like-minded community organisation for mutual benefit.

“The Club is delighted to be partnering with another community sporting organisation that is entrenched in the Tasmanian sporting community,” said Sharrock.