Wally Fankhauser Sports Park
Gold Coast (Southport), Queensland, Australia
Wally Fankhauser Sports Park, Gold Coast (Southport), Australia — opened 1989, 3 rugby league games hosted, home of No fixed rugby league tenant -- the recorded matches were all played by 'Gold Coast Firsts', a representative side, not a resident club. The venue today is the home of the Southport Sharks Australian football club, with no rugby league connection since 1983.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1989 (1989 is when the current, redeveloped facility (funded by a $2.2 million donation from Wally Fankhauser and officially opened for Australian football) opened -- this postdates the rugby league matches recorded here (1978-1983) by several years. The ground or an earlier facility on the same site clearly existed under a different identity before 1989, plausibly 'Musgrave Sports Park' (a ground of that name is documented at the same Southport intersection from 1976), but this identification is unconfirmed. The pre-1989 ground's own opening date is unknown.) |
| Home club | No fixed rugby league tenant -- the recorded matches were all played by 'Gold Coast Firsts', a representative side, not a resident club. The venue today is the home of the Southport Sharks Australian football club, with no rugby league connection since 1983 |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 3 |
| Top recorded crowd | 0 |
| Capacity | 8,000 (current AFL-era facility; not necessarily the configuration during the 1978-1983 rugby league period) |
| Floodlights installed | Yes, at the current facility; not confirmed for the 1978-1983 period |
| Years used | 1978–1983 |
| Location | Gold Coast (Southport), Queensland |
Name history
- Musgrave Sports Park — 1976 (unconfirmed as the same site)
Rugby league history
Now known as Fankhauser Reserve and used exclusively for Australian football, this Gold Coast venue briefly hosted rugby league in its early competitive era: a 1978 Amco Cup pre-season fixture and two 1983 Queensland State League matches, all involving a Gold Coast representative side against Sydney or Queensland opponents. The ground was redeveloped and renamed for local businessman and Southport AFL benefactor Wally Fankhauser in 1988-89, and has functioned solely as an Australian football venue since, with no rugby league recorded there after 1983.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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