Early history In 1983, the
Nerang Bulls Rugby Union Club was formed and were located at Carrara Oval. During 1983, the Bulls fielded one senior team and in 1984 they fielded two senior teams. The club spent two seasons at Carrara before moving to Glennon Park in
Nerang in 1985. On 7 October 1986, it was announced that
Australian rules football club the
Brisbane Bears had been granted a licence to enter the
Victorian Football League for the
1987 VFL season. Bears President,
Paul Cronin, announced on 23 December 1986 that the club would use Carrara Oval as their home ground. The financial backer of the Bears,
Christopher Skase, spent $1 million redeveloping Carrara Oval over a 10-week period at the beginning of 1987, which included upgraded player facilities, seating for 6,000 spectators and a new electronic scoreboard. On 19 April 1987, the
Fitzroy Lions defeated the Brisbane Bears in the first VFL game played at Carrara Oval, before a crowd of 17,795. (The
Brisbane Lions website records the crowd unofficially as 22,684.) In 1989, the Brisbane Bears and the Albert Shire Council signed off on a 30-year lease for the ground with an option for a further 10 years. Following that announcement, Christopher Skase orchestrated the installation of
floodlights costing $6 million, which were never paid for. With the collapse of Skase's company
Qintex, he would flee to Spain and the cost of the floodlights continued to be unpaid. Liquidators attempted to extract money from the
Gold Coast City Council for the lights but, after an unsuccessful trial, it was found cheaper to leave the floodlights in place at Carrara Stadium. On 15 July 1989, the Bears hosted the first ever night match at Carrara, against the
Geelong Cats, in front of a then-record crowd of 18,198. Insufficient public transport access to the stadium and the poor on-field performance of the Bears resulted in poor crowds at Bears games, prompting local media to refer to the situation as the "Curse of Carrara". The Brazilians later commented that the surface at Carrara was one of the best in the world. The ground was owned by the
Shire of Albert, which transferred to the
Gold Coast City Council when the two local authorities amalgamated in 1995. The field is officially known as Laver Oval after long-time Albert Shire Chairman, Bill Laver.
Growth Following the folding of the
Gold Coast Seagulls in 1995 and NRL premiership matches played in 2001 and 2005. The ground's capacity was increased slightly during this time. In 2005 the NRL announced that a licence would be awarded to the
Gold Coast Titans, and that the stadium would be their home ground in 2007 In response to the NRL move, the AFL scheduled three AFL 'home games' for the
North Melbourne Football Club and a
NAB Cup match for Carrara in 2007, and the
Queensland State League began hosting grand finals there. The Titans would play ten games at Carrara in 2007 and miss the finals. Following the conclusion of the
2007 NRL season, Titans managing director
Michael Searle warned the AFL that if a team were to be started on the Gold Coast it would disappear into the Carrara 'black hole' within five years. In 2006 it was announced the
North Melbourne Football Club would play nine home games at Carrara between the 2007–2009 seasons. Following the
2007 AFL season the
AFL offered the Kangaroos a $100 million package to relocate from Melbourne to the Gold Coast and be based out of Carrara. On 7 December 2007 the newly appointed Kangaroos chairman
James Brayshaw announced the club would not be moving to the Gold Coast permanently and would continue to be based out of Melbourne. Subsequently, the Kangaroos games played at Carrara after the announcement suffered poor crowds. The AFL released North Melbourne from the final year of a three-year contract after they drew just 6,354 spectators to their first home match at Carrara for the 2008 season.
Carlton,
Richmond and
St Kilda subsequently hosted the remaining home games during the 2009 season.
Redevelopment On 7 May 2009, it was confirmed that the Carrara Stadium would receive a $126 million redevelopment, providing a suitable stadium for new AFL club the
Gold Coast Suns. The last event at the old ground was Richmond vs Adelaide in front of 11,174 fans. On 30 October 2009, demolition of the old stadium began. By January 2010, demolition works were complete. Foundations for the grandstands as well as construction for the player and corporate facilities began in May 2010. The redeveloped stadium cost $144.2 million to build and seats 25,000 spectators (with the ability to house an additional 15,000 temporary seats). The stadium features an AFL oval capable of accommodating an ICC-compliant cricket oval, an IAAF Athletics field and a FIFA World Cup football field, facilities for 2,000 corporate patrons, AFL team and officials' changing facilities, AFL media facilities, and team and officials' suites.
Watpac were contracted for the construction, which was scheduled for completion in mid-2011. The stadium then played host to an
International rules football in November 2011, with 12,595 watching
Ireland defeat
Australia by 50 points to 29. The stadium was opened for an open day on 22 May 2011, before the first match on 28 May 2011. The Gold Coast's successful bid for the
2018 Commonwealth Games resulted in the stadium being upgraded to a temporary seating capacity of 35,000, which was dismantled after the Games and restored back to 25,000. The stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the
athletics. The stadium was used extensively during the
2020 AFL season, which was interrupted by the
COVID-19 pandemic, as several non-Queensland teams spent extended periods of time in Gold Coast quarantine hubs and played home games at the ground, as a means of carrying on the season while state borders were restricted or closed to interstate travel. The stadium hosted several double-headers, and at the peak of hubbing in
round 6, 2020 hosted four senior matches in two days. In all, the ground staged 42 matches in 2020, the most of any ground, and including its first ever finals match. ==Stadium uses==