Parramatta Stadium
Encyclopedia
Parramatta Stadium is a sports stadium situated in Parramatta
, New South Wales
, Australia
.
The stadium is used primarily as the home ground of Australian National Rugby League
(NRL) club the Parramatta Eels
. The ground's eastern grandstand is named the Mick Cronin
Stand and the western grandstand, the Ken Thornett Stand in honour of two of the club's leading former players.
It has also hosted numerous other sporting and cultural events since its opening in 1986.
The King of Pop Michael Jackson
performed, on two consecutive nights, at the stadium during his Bad World Tour
on 20–21 November 1987 for a total of 90,000 people (45,000 per concert).
Paul McCartney
concluded the Australian leg of The New World Tour
, with two consecutive shows at the stadium, on 22–23 March 1993.
, rugby union
, athletics
and motorsport
.
While used since 1847 as a sportsground, the first stand at Cumberland Oval was built in 1850 and others followed at various times up to the final stand was built in 1936. The oval was surrounded by a post and two-rail fence that was constructed in the 1860s by players of the Central Cumberland Cricket Club.
was played at Cumberland Oval from 1879 and, from 1936, Parramatta (now the Parramatta Two Blues
) played home matches at the Oval, the team now plays its matches at Granville Rugby Park.
The first match was played against Newtown
(now Newtown Jets) on 12 April 1947, before a crowd of 6,000. Cumberland Oval remained the home ground of the Parramatta Eels until 1981, playing their last match there against Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
in August before going on to win their maiden NSWRL
Premiership that year.
The largest crowd to watch a rugby league
match at Cumberland Oval was 22,470 when the Eels took on the South Sydney Rabbitohs
on 26 April 1971.
Government for development in 1983 and the contract for the construction and design of the Stadium was put up for tender.
in 1994.
The ground was also used for the short-lived Sydney Tigers, what became of Balmain Tigers
. in 1997 the Sydney Tigers went back to being the Balmain Tigers and moved back to Leichhardt Oval
.
In more recent times has been used as a host venue for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup
and the 2010 Four Nations.
who also played some games at Parramatta, until the collapse of the Australian Baseball League in 1999.
, a National Soccer League
(NSL) club owned and operated by Parramatta Leagues Club
, played home games at the Stadium between 1999 and 2004. With the announcement of the demise of the NSL, and the creation of the A-League
, the club was wound-up at the end of the 2003/2004 season. It played in the last-ever NSL Grand Final against Perth Glory
which was played at the Stadium. The ground all up hosted 7 NSL Grand Final matches, in 1986 (second leg), 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 2001 and 2004.
In April Sydney FC
played one game in the AFC Champions League here against Persik Kediri
. Sydney FC
won 3-0. In February 2010 during the 2009-10 Hyundai A-League season, Sydney FC defeated Perth Glory 3-2. The game had been moved from the Sydney Football Stadium due to the Edinborough Military tattoo.
The ground was also proposed as the home stadium for western sydney's failed A-League franchise Sydney Rovers FC
.
qualifiers -- Western Samoa
vs Tonga
and Australia
vs Fiji
-- were played at Parramatta Stadium. A number of NSW Rugby Union
club matches were played at the ground between 2001 and 2002. Australia A also played a match against Canada
in 2002 at Parramatta Stadium. During 2007, Parramatta Stadium was also the home ground for the Western Sydney Rams
club side that participated in the now defunct Australian Rugby Championship
.
Parramatta, New South Wales
Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
The stadium is used primarily as the home ground of Australian National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
(NRL) club the Parramatta Eels
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...
. The ground's eastern grandstand is named the Mick Cronin
Mick Cronin (rugby league)
Michael William "Mick" Cronin OAM is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. He was a goal-kicking centre for the Australian national team and a stalwart for the Parramatta Eels club. He played in 22 Tests and 11 World Cup matches between 1973 and 1982...
Stand and the western grandstand, the Ken Thornett Stand in honour of two of the club's leading former players.
It has also hosted numerous other sporting and cultural events since its opening in 1986.
The King of Pop Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
performed, on two consecutive nights, at the stadium during his Bad World Tour
Bad World Tour
The Bad World Tour was the first solo concert tour by American megasuperstar Michael Jackson that visited Japan, Australia, the United States and Europe. Sponsored by Pepsi and spanning 16 months, the tour included 123 concerts to 4.4 million fans across 15 countries...
on 20–21 November 1987 for a total of 90,000 people (45,000 per concert).
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
concluded the Australian leg of The New World Tour
The New World Tour
In 1993, Paul McCartney and his band embarked upon The New World Tour, spanning almost the entire year and almost the entire globe. The tour was intended to promote McCartney's album Off the Ground...
, with two consecutive shows at the stadium, on 22–23 March 1993.
Attendances
- The highest crowd to attend a match at Parramatta Stadium was for the rugby league Test match between Australia and FranceFrance national rugby league teamThe France national rugby league team represent France in international rugby league tournaments. They are also sometimes referred to as "Les Tricolores" or more commonly "Les Chanticleers"...
in 1994. This game attracted a crowd of 27,918.
- The highest crowd to attend a match at Parramatta Stadium for a club match was 27,243 (Parramatta Eels versus South Sydney RabbitohsSouth Sydney RabbitohsThe South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...
in round 24 of the 1986 NSWRL season.)
- The highest crowd to attend a match at Parramatta Stadium after the redevelopment of the hill areas is 21,141 (Parramatta Eels versus Wests TigersWests TigersThe Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...
in round 7 of the 2006 NRL season.)
- The average crowd at Parramatta Stadium for Parramatta Eels home games in 2005 was 16,478.
- The highest average for a Season in the NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL Season for the Parramatta EelsParramatta EelsThe Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...
was set in 1986.
Cumberland Oval (1847 - 1981)
Parramatta Stadium is the second sports ground to occupy the site, the first being Cumberland Oval which was the main sporting venue of the Parramatta District from the mid 19th Century through to the 1980s, hosting horse-racing, cricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
and motorsport
Motorsport
Motorsport or motorsports is the group of sports which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles, whether for racing or non-racing competition...
.
While used since 1847 as a sportsground, the first stand at Cumberland Oval was built in 1850 and others followed at various times up to the final stand was built in 1936. The oval was surrounded by a post and two-rail fence that was constructed in the 1860s by players of the Central Cumberland Cricket Club.
Cricket
Central Cumberland Cricket Club, formed in 1862, played at Cumberland Oval from 1863, and played famous England XI touring sides during the 1880s and 1890s. Now known as the Parramatta District Cricket Club, Sydney grade cricket is now played at Old Kings' Oval, which stands less than 100m behind Parramatta Stadium.Rugby union
Rugby unionRugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
was played at Cumberland Oval from 1879 and, from 1936, Parramatta (now the Parramatta Two Blues
Parramatta Two Blues
Parramatta Two Blues Rugby are a rugby union club based in the second CBD of Sydney, Parramatta.-History:The club was originally formed in 1879 as Cumberland but changed their name to Parramatta when the District competition was implemented in 1900....
) played home matches at the Oval, the team now plays its matches at Granville Rugby Park.
Rugby league at Cumberland
Rugby league was played at Cumberland Oval from as early as 1909 by local clubs such as Parramatta Iona, Endeavours and the Western Districts representative side. When the Parramatta District Rugby League Club (later known as the Parramatta Eels) was admitted into the NSWRL Premiership in 1947 Cumberland Oval became the club's home ground.The first match was played against Newtown
Newtown Jets
The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSWRL Premier League competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season...
(now Newtown Jets) on 12 April 1947, before a crowd of 6,000. Cumberland Oval remained the home ground of the Parramatta Eels until 1981, playing their last match there against Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
in August before going on to win their maiden NSWRL
New South Wales Rugby League
The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and is a member of the Australian Rugby League. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984 when forward thinking marketing managers decided...
Premiership that year.
The largest crowd to watch a rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
match at Cumberland Oval was 22,470 when the Eels took on the South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...
on 26 April 1971.
Cumberland burns
As the Parramatta Eels secured their first-ever Premiership, defeating the Newtown Jets in the 1981 Grand Final, wild scenes erupted in Parramatta, with Eels fans celebrating and rallying at Cumberland Oval and, in a frenzy of excitement, burning the Oval's (soon to be demolished) stand to the ground.Building and opening
The new stadium to be built on the site of Cumberland Oval was approved by the New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
Government for development in 1983 and the contract for the construction and design of the Stadium was put up for tender.
- In November 1984 the construction company Civil & Civic won the contract to design and build the stadium.
- In November 1985 the Stadium was complete and the grass was planted.
- On 5 March 1986, the Stadium was opened by Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II of the United KingdomElizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
(Official Openings by the Monarch in Australia), and, on 16 March, the first NSWRL Premiership match was played at the ground, with Parramatta defeating the St. George DragonsSt. George DragonsThe St George Dragons was an Australian Rugby league football club in St George, Sydney, New South Wales that played in Australia's top-level Rugby league competition from New South Wales Rugby Football League in 1921 until 1998; in 1999 they formed a joint venture with the Illawarra Steelers,...
36 - 6.
Other Rugby League Use
Parramatta Stadium has also been used for other Rugby league matches such as pre-season Sevens tournaments in 1989 and 1990, and a test match against FranceFrance national rugby league team
The France national rugby league team represent France in international rugby league tournaments. They are also sometimes referred to as "Les Tricolores" or more commonly "Les Chanticleers"...
in 1994.
The ground was also used for the short-lived Sydney Tigers, what became of Balmain Tigers
Balmain Tigers
The Balmain Tigers are a rugby league football club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in the history of the premiership, with eleven titles...
. in 1997 the Sydney Tigers went back to being the Balmain Tigers and moved back to Leichhardt Oval
Leichhardt Oval
Leichhardt Oval is a football stadium in Leichhardt, New South Wales, Australia. It is a home ground for the Wests Tigers rugby league team. The stadium has a nominal capacity of 20,000, with recorded highest crowd figures of 23,000 in the 1981 KB Tooth final South Sydney Rabbitohs versus...
.
In more recent times has been used as a host venue for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup
2008 Rugby League World Cup
The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since the inauguration of the tournament in 1954, and the first since the 2000 event...
and the 2010 Four Nations.
Redevelopment (2002 - 2003)
- In December 2002, work began on converting the formerly grassed hill areas (The Brett KennyBrett KennyBrett Kenny is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s. He was a five-eighth for the Australian national team, the New South Wales Blues representative side and the Parramatta Eels. He played in 17 Tests, made 17 State of Origin appearances and won 4...
Hill and The Peter SterlingPeter SterlingPeter Maxwell John "Sterlo" Sterling OAM is an Australian rugby league commentator and former player. He was one of the all-time great halfbacks and a major contributor to Parramatta Eels' dominance of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership in the 1980s. Sterling played nineteen Tests for...
Hill) into seated terrace areas (holding 4,500 spectators). This redevelopment reduced the ground's capacity to 21,487, down from the previous capacity of 27,000.
New Southern Stand
In May 2007 the Parramatta Stadium Trust announced plans to build a new southern stand with room for 2,700 extra patrons as well as a players change room and gym.Baseball
Baseball has also been played at Parramatta Stadium with the Sydney Blues playing home matches there. The Sydney Blues entered the Australian Baseball League in 1992 and played out of Parramatta Stadium to much controversy of having such a short home run fence in right field. The Sydney Blues were later known as the Sydney StormSydney Storm
The Sydney Storm, originally Sydney Blues were a team in the now defunct Australian Baseball League. The franchise won one ABL championship under the former name, defeating the Melbourne Reds in the 1995 championship, also finishing runner-up twice - once against the Brisbane Bandits in 1994, and...
who also played some games at Parramatta, until the collapse of the Australian Baseball League in 1999.
Soccer
Parramatta PowerParramatta Power
Parramatta Power were a football team which was based in western Sydney. They played in the National Soccer League from season 1999/2000 until the league folded in 2004. The Power were runners up to Perth Glory in the 2003/04 season of the NSL after Perth made the Grand Final look easy in...
, a National Soccer League
National Soccer League
The National Soccer League is the former national association football competition in Australasia, overseen by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977, until its demise in 2004...
(NSL) club owned and operated by Parramatta Leagues Club
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...
, played home games at the Stadium between 1999 and 2004. With the announcement of the demise of the NSL, and the creation of the A-League
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
, the club was wound-up at the end of the 2003/2004 season. It played in the last-ever NSL Grand Final against Perth Glory
Perth Glory FC
Perth Glory Football Club is a professional football club in Perth, Western Australia, Australia, competing in Australia's top football competition the A-League. Perth Glory is one of only three clubs to survive from the now defunct National Soccer League...
which was played at the Stadium. The ground all up hosted 7 NSL Grand Final matches, in 1986 (second leg), 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 2001 and 2004.
In April Sydney FC
Sydney FC
Sydney FC is a professional football club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and competes in the country's premier football competition, the A-League...
played one game in the AFC Champions League here against Persik Kediri
Persik Kediri
Persik, an acronym for Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Kediri is an Indonesian professional association football team located in Kediri, East Java, Indonesia. The club was founded in 1950 by Raden Muchamad Machin, T.H.D. Rahmat, and M. Sanusi. In media, the tautology Persik Kediri is often...
. Sydney FC
Sydney FC
Sydney FC is a professional football club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and competes in the country's premier football competition, the A-League...
won 3-0. In February 2010 during the 2009-10 Hyundai A-League season, Sydney FC defeated Perth Glory 3-2. The game had been moved from the Sydney Football Stadium due to the Edinborough Military tattoo.
The ground was also proposed as the home stadium for western sydney's failed A-League franchise Sydney Rovers FC
Sydney Rovers FC
Sydney Rovers Football Club was a proposed professional football club based in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and the 12th official franchise in the A-League. The club was supposed to kick off in the 2011-2012 season....
.
Rugby union
On 18 September 1997 two 1999 Rugby World Cup1999 Rugby World Cup
The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, and the first to be held in rugby union's professional era. The principal host nation was Wales, although the majority of matches were played outside the country, shared between England, France, Scotland and Ireland...
qualifiers -- Western Samoa
Samoa national rugby union team
The Manu Samoa is the men's representative side of the Samoa Rugby Union in both the 15's and the 7's for international competitions. The Samoa Rugby Union is owned by the affiliated rugby unions of Samoa. In Samoa, Manu Samoa is in honour of a famous Samoan warrior. From 1924 to 1997 Samoa was...
vs Tonga
Tonga national rugby union team
The Tonga national rugby union team is nicknamed Ikale Tahi . Like their Polynesian neighbours, the Tongans start their matches with a war dance – the Kailao . They are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance along with Fiji and Samoa...
and Australia
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
vs Fiji
Fiji national rugby union team
The Fiji national rugby union team is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance formerly along with Samoa and Tonga. In 2009, Samoa announced their departure from the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance, leaving just Fiji and Tonga. Fiji are ranked sixteenth in the world by the IRB as of 26...
-- were played at Parramatta Stadium. A number of NSW Rugby Union
New South Wales Rugby Union
The New South Wales Rugby Union is the organisation responsible for the sport of rugby union in most of the state of New South Wales, Australia...
club matches were played at the ground between 2001 and 2002. Australia A also played a match against Canada
Canada national rugby union team
The Canada national rugby union team represents Canada in international rugby union. They are governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and black. Canada is classified by the International Rugby Board as a tier two rugby nation. There are ten tier one nations, and seven tier two nations, the...
in 2002 at Parramatta Stadium. During 2007, Parramatta Stadium was also the home ground for the Western Sydney Rams
Western Sydney Rams
The Western Sydney Rams were an Australian rugby union football club that played in the now defunct Australian Rugby Championship. The Rams were formed as one of New South Wales' three clubs that participated in the inaugural and only season of the championship, in 2007. The team were based out of...
club side that participated in the now defunct Australian Rugby Championship
Australian Rugby Championship
The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC , was a domestic Rugby union football club competition in Australia which ran for only one season in August–October 2007...
.