Carlaw Park

Carlaw Park was a multi-purpose stadium in Parnell, a central suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It neighboured the Auckland Domain's Northern end. It was primarily used for rugby league and had a peak spectator capacity of around 28,000 in the 1930s, though this fell to around 17,000 by the time the ground was closed in 2002.

Carlaw Park in November 2006, in use as a carpark

History

The stadium's grandstands and terraces were built in 1916, and it became the home of rugby league in Auckland from 1921. It was named after James Carlaw, the chairman of the Auckland Rugby League managing committee who secured the land in 1920 and developed the ground further.[1]

The ground was officially opened on 25 June 1921 and City Rovers defeated Maritime 10–8 on the opening day in front of 7,000 fans.[2] Herb Lunn scored the first try and Eric Grey kicked the first goal on the ground.

The ground hosted the sole test match in the New Zealand leg of the 1951 French rugby league tour of Australasia.

The Auckland Rugby League spent £4,322 on capital expenditure in developing the ground.[2] The ground was purchased for $200,000 in 1974.

The ground hosted 3 Winfield Cup games (one in 1992 the two other games were held in 1993) with the first game between Newcastle and Manly Warringah attracting 17,368 spectators.[3] Strong attendances across these matches led to the inclusion of the Auckland Warriors into the Winfield Cup in 1995.

During its long history it hosted many matches in various Rugby League World Cups. The stadium capacity was officially listed as 17,000 when it closed in 2002 due to health and safety reasons. Between 1924 and 1999 Carlaw Park hosted sixty-six Test matches.[2] The largest Test crowd was an estimated 28,000 during the 1928 England tour. New Zealand won the game, defeating England 17–13. The final rugby league test at the ground came on 22 October 1999 when New Zealand defeated Tonga 74–0 in front of the ground's lowest ever test crowd of 4,528.

Later years

In August 2006 the Auckland Rugby League reached an agreement to lease the property off to be developed as a retirement home. No development has started as of August 2007.[4] However the site has been officially 'handed over' in August 2007 in a ceremony involving Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Carlaw Park was one of the venues under consideration for Stadium New Zealand, a proposed stadium to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup.[5] Complications over the lease of the property, the requirement for additional land to be taken from Auckland Domain, and the proximity of the heavy traffic on Stanley Street led to other options being preferred by the Government.[6] The backers of Carlaw Park hosting the Cup secured NZ$200 million for its possible development,[7] but the government finally chose Eden Park to host the World Cup games.

Carlaw Park is now the site of a Caltex service station, several offices, a Quest Apartments hotel building, and the University of Auckland's largest student accommodation Carlaw Park Student Village.[8][9][10] Since mid-November 2018, Carlaw Park has been connected by a walkway to the Parnell railway station.[11]

Rugby league test matches

List of rugby league test matches played at Carlaw Park.[12]

Test#DateResultAttendance
12 August 1924 New Zealand def.  England 16-822,000
24 August 1928 New Zealand def.  England 17-1328,000
330 July 1932 England def.  New Zealand 24-925,000
420 August 1932 England def.  New Zealand 20-186,500
528 September 1935 New Zealand def.  Australia 22-1420,000
62 October 1935 Australia def.  New Zealand 29-88,000
74 October 1935 Australia def.  New Zealand 31-820,000
88 August 1936 England def.  New Zealand 10-825,000
915 August 1936 England def.  New Zealand 23-1117,000
107 August 1937 Australia def.  New Zealand 12-812,000
1114 August 1937 New Zealand def.  Australia 16-1525,000
1210 August 1946 New Zealand def.  England 13-811,000
138 October 1949 Australia def.  New Zealand 13-1012,361
1412 August 1950 New Zealand def.  Great Britain 20-1320,000
154 August 1951 New Zealand def.  France 16-1519,229
1618 July 1953 Australia def.  New Zealand 18-1616,033
1724 July 1954 Great Britain def.  New Zealand 27-722,097
1814 August 1954 Great Britain def.  New Zealand 12-66,186
196 August 1955 France def.  New Zealand 19-920,500
2013 August 1955 New Zealand def.  France 11-612,000
2126 July 1958 New Zealand def.  Great Britain 15-1025,000
229 August 1958 Great Britain def.  New Zealand 32-1525,000
2323 July 1960 New Zealand def.  France 9-217,914
246 August 1960 New Zealand def.  France 9-314,007
251 July 1961 New Zealand def.  Australia 12-1011,485
268 July 1961 Australia def.  New Zealand 10-812,424
2723 July 1962 New Zealand def.  Great Britain 19-014,976
2810 August 1962 South Africa def.  New Zealand 4-3
2911 August 1962 New Zealand def.  Great Britain 27-816,411
3025 July 1964 New Zealand def.  France 24-1610,148
3115 August 1964 New Zealand def.  France 10-27,279
3219 June 1965 Australia def.  New Zealand 13-813,205
3326 June 1965 New Zealand def.  Australia 7-511,383
346 August 1966 Great Britain def.  New Zealand 25-814,494
3520 August 1966 Great Britain def.  New Zealand 22-1410,657
361 June 1969 Australia def.  New Zealand 20-1013,459
377 June 1969 New Zealand def.  Australia 18-149,848
3811 July 1970 Great Britain def.  New Zealand 19-1515,948
3925 July 1970 Great Britain def.  New Zealand 33-1613,137
4026 June 1971 New Zealand def.  Australia 24-313,917
4127 July 1974 New Zealand def.  Great Britain 13-810,466
4210 August 1974 Great Britain def.  New Zealand 20-011,574
4321 July 1979 Great Britain def.  New Zealand 16-89,000
4411 August 1979 New Zealand def.  Great Britain 18-117,000
451 June 1980 Australia def.  New Zealand 27-612,321
4615 June 1980 Australia def.  New Zealand 15-69,706
477 June 1981 New Zealand def.  France 26-312,200
4821 June 1981 New Zealand def.  France 25-28,100
4912 June 1983 Australia def.  New Zealand 16-418,000
502 October 1983 New Zealand def.  Papua New Guinea 60-207,000
5114 July 1984 New Zealand def.  Great Britain 12-010,238
5228 July 1984 New Zealand def.  Great Britain 32-167,967
5330 June 1985 Australia def.  New Zealand 10-619,132
547 July 1985 New Zealand def.  Australia 18-015,327
556 July 1986 Australia def.  New Zealand 22-814,566
5613 June 1991 New Zealand def.  France 60-67,000
5722 October 1999 New Zealand def.  Tonga 74-04,528

Rugby League World Cup

List of Rugby League World Cup matches played at Carlaw Park.
Results are from the 1968, 1975, 1977 and 1985–1988 World Cups.

WC Game#DateResultAttendance
125 May 1968 France def.  New Zealand 15-1018,000
22 June 1968 France def.  Great Britain 7-215,760
321 June 1975 New Zealand drew with  England 17-1712,000
421 June 1975 New Zealand def.  Wales 13-89,368
527 September 1975 Australia def.  New Zealand 24-818,000
629 May 1977 Australia def.  New Zealand 27-1218,000
75 June 1977 Great Britain def.  France 23-410,000
819 June 1977 New Zealand def.  France 28-208,000
910 July 1988 New Zealand def.  Papua New Guinea 66-148,392

References
  1. Jessup, Peter (29 June 2002). "Carlaw Park chapter closes". New Zealand Herald. New Zealand: APN Holdings NZ Limited. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  2. Coffey, John and Bernie Wood Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009, 2009. ISBN 978-1-86969-366-4, p.p.62-63
  3. "NSWRL 1992 - Round Four". Rugby League project. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  4. "Carlaw Park for Cup final?". New Zealand Herald. 4 February 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-24.
  5. "Carlaw Park pitched as World Cup venue". New Zealand Herald. 5 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-12.
  6. "Stadium decision: Mallard dismisses Carlaw Park proposal". New Zealand Herald. 13 November 2006. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  7. "$200m cash injection for Carlaw Park as World Cup host". New Zealand Herald. 4 February 2007.
  8. Charman, Paul (22 September 2018). "Last piece in the 'Carlaw Park puzzle'". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  9. "Auckland Service Apartments". Quest Apartments Hotels. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  10. "Carlaw Park Student Village". University of Auckland. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  11. "New pathway connection to Parnell Station now open". Our Auckland. Auckland Council. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  12. Carlaw Park rugbyleagueproject.org

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