Cahill Oval

The name on the gate belongs to a man from the rugby league club that still plays here. Cahill Oval was Belmont Sportsground, then Belmont Oval, before it was renamed for Pat Cahill — foundation member, life member and former president of the Lakes United Seagulls, and an umpire in Newcastle district cricket. The year of the change is not recorded.

That double life, rugby league and cricket, explains the ground better than any measurement of it. The turf takes four codes: soccer, rugby league, rugby union and turf cricket, which means the square has to survive a winter of forwards before a summer of batting. Lake Macquarie City Council owns and maintains the site, and its own description of the venue stops at the grandstand — it confirms one stands there, and leaves it at that.

Belmont sits about 20 km south-west of the Newcastle central business district, a suburb ground rather than a district showpiece, and the honours reflect that: Lakes United premierships in 1947, then a run through the 1970s and 1980s, more in 1996, 2001, and again in 2006, 2007 and 2015. Valentine FC use the ground for their NPL Northern NSW football, though they also work out of Croudace Bay; Newcastle Jets Youth were here before them.

Council money has since been directed at upgrades, aimed at bringing state-wide school events and bigger club rugby league fixtures to Maude Street.