AFTER 22 years and 71 AFL matches at the antique Gold Coast Stadium, it will be the end of an era on Saturday night. The match between Richmond and Adelaide will mark the last game at Carrara until 2011 when the Gold Coast Football Club enters the AFL.

The venue, which has hosted AFL games since 1987, is about to be transformed into a 25,000-seat first class stadium with construction set to begin in the coming months. Although the venue is finally set for an overdue redevelopment, there will still be a few people sad to see the old place go. It has never been particularly comfortable but Carrara offered supporters a throwback to the now extinct days of being able to watch a game of football from the hill.

And players loved playing there because it is one of the best surfaces in Australia. The venue has been a constant in the lives of many, none more so than former Brisbane Bears players Marcus Ashcroft, Shaun Hart, Corey Bell and Troy Clarke. They played many games there and are still involved in the game.

Ashcroft and Hart are GCFC assistant coaches, Bell is the QAFL game development manager and Clarke the QAFL talent manager. Ashcroft has a long history with the ground after starting at the Bears in 1989.

"It hasn't changed one bit since I started," he said. "I think the palm trees are still out there when you drive in and the grandstands are all still the same."

When Hart thinks about Carrara, he said he remembers how difficult it was for the Bears in the early days. "The main thing was just the battle of trying to produce football that would win us games," said Hart.

"The surface was never a problem but it will be incredible to get a stadium here. It will take the Gold Coast by storm."

Bell said Saturday marks the end of a chapter but the start of another. "Footy has been really good to me over 25 years, so this is were it all started for me," said Bell.

"But I think we are going to take football to another level on the Coast."

"We are going to be a better place so it is fantastic and I think the Coast really want this team to happen." Clarke said he would take away mostly fond memories. "I liked the open spaces as the one thing I could do was run," he said.

"But one of the negative things was there used to be more people supporting the opposition clubs. "They came to see Tony Lockett, Gary Ablett or Peter Daicos."

By Nick Smart,
Courtesy Gold Coast Bulletin.