Have a look at the likes of Carrington Park, Ann Ashwood Park and Proctor Park, to name a few.

But there was a time when Bathurst's sporting fields were at a different standard.

Royce George, a former Railway and Charlestons rugby league footballer, remembers a time when being tackled on the Sportsground was like being tackled on concrete.

"There was a cricket pitch in the middle of it and when you got the first frost, it was like running on concrete. You'd always put petroleum jelly on you, so you wouldn't get grass burns," he said.

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"The middle near the cricket pitch was like a quagmire when it rained. When it didn't rain, it was like concrete. You never went away from it. You just went where you had to go." When George had the opportunity to play on Sydney grounds, like many of his Group 10 rivals, they weren't much better either.

"You'd look at the old Sydney grounds and they weren't that good either," he said.

"The SCG in those days was rock-hard in the middle. They weren't drop in pitches. It was like being tackled on the road."

The Sportsground wasn't the only venue that rugby league footballers played on, with neighbouring Morse Park used, as well as 2BOD and 4BOD at the old army barracks.

"We'd play at Morse Park when there was a double header. There were three Bathurst teams and when both had their home game, whoever had the main game, their reserve grade and under 18s played at Morse Park," George said.

"The Sportsground was where all the grand finals were played. Even Oberon played their grand finals there, when they had their big run."

Carrington Park would come around in the 1980s after years of petitioning by Bathurst Leagues, an organisation that represented St Patrick's, Railway and Charlestons.

The organisation had knocked back proposals by the old Bathurst City Council to build a new venue at a number of locations including opposite the golf course, before ultimately settling on the site that is now Carrington Park. Carrington Park used to host hockey and caravan park before it was redevelopment into a new home venue for rugby league.

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