Fankhauser Reserve

Southport played its home matches at Owen Park when it joined the Gold Coast Australian Football League (GCAFL) in 1962.^[2]

In 1987, the club's board of directors submitted a proposal to the Gold Coast City Council to build a professional Australian rules football ground and licensed club on the 31 acres of land located on the corner of Musgrave Avenue and Olsen Avenue.^[2] The submission was approved and the club was granted a 50-year lease on the site.^[2]

Construction of the $2.7 million development began in 1988.^[2] During the construction, Southport requested that Gold Coast City Council extend its lease at Owen Park until 30 December 1989 because a "major sponsor [was] no longer interested in the project", although no lease extension eventuated.^[3] The club spent the $800,000 it had in its bank account as part of the construction.^[2]

Fankhauser Reserve was completed in February 1989 and officially opened by Southport president Alan Mackenzie on 5 April 1989.^[2] The ground was named after Wally Fankhauser, the club's then-vice-president, who donated $2.2 million towards the facility.^[4][5] The first match at the ground was played on 1 May 1989, with the Sharks defeating Mayne by 59 points.^[6]

The Gold Coast Suns played six matches at Fankhauser Reserve during the 2010 VFL season.^[7] Gold Coast also played regular home matches at the ground while competing in the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) between 2011 and 2019.^[8] Several pre-season Australian Football League (AFL) matches were held at the ground, including one during the 2011 NAB Challenge in front of a record crowd of 4,053 people.^[1][9]

Fankhauser Reserve was scheduled to host an AFL Women's (AFLW) match between Gold Coast and Adelaide during round 7 of the 2020 season, before it was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[10]

Southport has proposed a redevelopment of Fankhauser Reserve at a cost of A$500 million.^[11] Under the proposal, the ground would become a 9,000-seat stadium, with the possibility of further expansion to a capacity of 20,800.^[11] The site would also include three 20-storey residential towers, a four-storey sports science and recovery centre, and an extension of the current clubhouse facilities.^[11]

In addition to Australian rules football, Fankhauser Reserve has also hosted soccer matches.^[12] A pre-season friendly between Brisbane Roar FC and Melbourne Victory FC was played at the ground on 19 August 2015.^[13] The Laneway music festival was held at the ground on 7 February 2026, attracting a crowd of 37,000 people for the ten-hour event.^[14]