Rugby League Park is 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...

 stadium in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. Formerly called the Addington Showgrounds, the ground is owned by the Canterbury Rugby League

Canterbury Rugby League

Canterbury Rugby League is the regional body that administers rugby league in Canterbury, New Zealand. CRL manages local competitions from senior level down to age group competitions. Canterbury Rugby League also manages the Canterbury rugby league team which represents the region in New Zealand...

.

History

Bought from the Christchurch City Council

Christchurch City Council

The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since 2007, the Mayor of Christchurch is Bob Parker, who stood as an independent candidate...

 in the 1990s, the park is part of a complex with the CBS Canterbury Arena and the Addington Raceway

Addington Raceway

Addington Raceway or The Met is the home of the Metropolitan Trotting Club in Addington, Christchurch in New Zealand. The venue consists of a trotting track, a greyhound track conference centre and restaurants...

.

The ground has hosted international rugby league matches, including World Cup

Rugby League World Cup

The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by members of the Rugby League International Federation . It has been held nearly once every 4 years on average since its inaugural tournament in France in 1954...

 matches in 1975

1975 Rugby League World Cup

The 1975 Rugby League World Cup was the seventh staging of rugby league football's World Cup tournament...

, 1977

1977 Rugby League World Cup

- Final standings :-Final:Great Britain were the underdogs going to the final, which was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground. They managed to dominate the possession, and it took a last minute try from Australia’s John Kolc to secure the Cup in front of 24,457 spectators.Australia: Graham Eadie;...

, 1988, 1990 and 1991.

It was at this ground that the Kiwis won a match against Great Britain to qualify for the 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup final.

Earthquakes and Crusaders

Rugby League Park sustained significant damage during the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and is currently closed.

After the earthquake the stands had to be demolished. However AMI Stadium, the main sporting ground in Christchurch, was damaged more significantly. As a temporary replacement for the city, Rugby League Park will be upgraded to seat 17,000 by March 2012 with a possible expanision to 26,000 for major games. As a result, the Crusaders will be based there for the 2012 Super Rugby season and it will also host an All Blacks

All Blacks

The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

 Test match and possibly a Wellington Phoenix match.

External links

• Rugby League Park rleague.com
• Rugby League Park rugbyleagueproject.org
• Rugby League Park wcities.com