Magic Park

The ground belongs to the club that plays on it. Broadmeadow Magic FC owns Magic Park, and that ownership sits behind most of what has happened here — a suburban Newcastle ground on the corner of Curley Road and Denny Street.

In 2014 the venue staged the first FFA Cup match ever televised, Newcastle Jets against Perth Glory, and 2,877 people came through the gates on 5 August — the highest crowd recorded at the ground since 2003. A year later, when the 2015 AFC Asian Cup needed places for visiting squads to work, Magic Park was one of 11 training sites chosen. The Local Organising Committee put $650,000 into pitch upgrades.

What that buys, week to week, is a home for more than one side. Broadmeadow Magic FC play their National Premier Leagues Northern NSW football here, Newcastle Jets Youth share the ground, and Newcastle Jets Women used it before moving on. The seating is the smaller part of the capacity — around 500 of it — so most of a full house watches standing, on a ground still known to plenty in the area by its former name, Wanderers Oval.

It is not a neutral venue that happens to host a club.