AFL Round 7 - Western Bulldogs v Gold Coast Suns
Saturday 5 May, Mars Stadium
Gates open: 12:00pm
First Bounce: 1:45pm 

Mars Stadium will be buzzing with activity on Saturday for the Western Bulldogs’ round 7 clash with Gold Coast.

Chill out in the Bulldogs’ fan zone, keep the kids entertained with football drills and arts and crafts in the Kids Zone or kick back in the Carlton United Brewery Bar and enjoy a beer.

And as always, there’ll be Food Trucks as far as the eye can see!

Broadcast

Televised live on Fox Footy from 1:30pm

Tickets

Tickets are from just $25.00. Click here for more information.

Membership Enquiries and Sales

For members that reside in the Ballarat region* the best way to secure a Reserved Seat at Mars Stadium is through a Ballarat membership. Full details regarding purchasing a Ballarat Membership can be found here.

Our friendly membership staff will be located in the Membership Club Hub located at Gate 3.

Merchandise Enquiries and Sales

Stock up on the latest Western Bulldogs merchandise and visit our team located at Gate 1, 2 and 3.

Fan Zone

Located in the showgrounds area there will be plenty to look out for, including:

  • Petting Zoo
  • Bulldogs Chill out Area
  • Real Strength Bulldogs Van with lots of giveaways, a photo booth and giant games

Kids Zone

There will be plenty of cool activities in the kids zone, including:

  • Arts and Crafts Station
  • Face painting
  • Balloon artists
  • Football Drills

Football Kicking Zone

Located at the end of the Fan Zone will be a dedicated Football Kicking Zone where you can go and practice your skills with your friends and family. Just be aware of flying footballs around you!

Food and Beverages

Some of the offerings include:

  • Gobbles Grill
  • Specialty Pie Van
  • Coffee Van
  • Donut Van

There will also be a Carlton United Brewery Bar that you can sit-down in and enjoy a beer with your friends pre-game or at half-time.

Food trucks will be located around the ground at various locations:

  • Behind the Western Stand
  • Next to the old scoreboard
  • Behind the interchange benches
  • Behind the Eastern Stand

Bars will be located:

  • Behind the Eastern Stand
  • In the Fan Zone
  • Behind the Western Stand
  • Next to the Old Scoreboard

Getting there

Free shuttle bus services

The popular shuttle bus services will again operate from the Ballarat Train Station from 11.30am, running on a continuous loop to and from Mars Stadium up until the first bounce. For more details click here.

Parking

Parking and traffic conditions, including 40km/h zones around the stadium precinct, will take place on Saturday 5 May for the safety of footy fans and motorists.

Drivers are urged to utilise the hundreds of parking spaces available at C.E Brown Reserve and surrounding ovals. These parking spaces can be accessed from Dowling Street.

Patrons will have access to gates 1, 2 and 3 via a short walk. For more details click here.

Patron drop off & pick up zones

While Creswick Road will remain open to traffic, patrons will not have access to parking along this stretch of road between Howitt and Norman Streets on game day.

 This area will be set aside to accommodate buses, taxis and the patron drop-off and pick-up zones. For more details click here.

Safe road infrastructure

If you are traveling to and from the game along the Western Freeway, Midland Highway or Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road, you may come across an in-progress road infrastructure improvement project.

These three roads are benefitting from safety upgrades as part of the Victorian Government’s $1.1-billion Towards Zero action plan to save lives and reduce serious injuries on the state’s roads.

The Western Freeway – from the Western Ring Road to Ballarat
This project covers about 100 kilometres of freeway and will largely involve the installation of flexible roadside safety barriers.

The Midland Hwy, between Ballarat and Creswick
About 20 kilometres of road are covered in this project, which will involve the installation of roadside and centre-line safety barriers, in addition to three new roundabouts.

The Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road.
Roadside and centre-line barriers will be installed on 40 kilometres of road.  Works will also include the construction of two roundabouts

Safe footy road trip

We want everyone driving to and from the footy in Ballarat this weekend, to get there and home safely. There are several ways to ensure you have a safe footy road trip.

  • A safe road trip starts with a good sleep the night before. So if you are driving on Saturday, make sure you are well rested before hitting the road.
  • If you’re feeling tired, stop for a break to stretch your legs and change drivers if possible.
  • Eliminate distractions – stay off your phone while driving.
  • Allow plenty of time so you aren’t rushing to get there.
  • Drive to the conditions, because they can change quickly in the country.
  • Take your time and stick within the speed limits.

Drinking and driving – they’re better apart

  • If you plan on drinking at the game, you should also have a designated driver or a plan to get home safely that doesn’t involve driving.
  • If you plan on driving to the game, don’t drink heavily the night before.
  • If you plan on driving home from the game, don’t plan to drink during.
  • The evidence is clear, impairment starts at low levels and even just one drink impairs a person's ability to drive safely so the best thing people can do is to completely separate drinking from driving.
  • Remember, if you are caught drink driving you will automatically lose your licence. Even at low levels.