Redfern Oval is a football ground located in Sydney suburb of Redfern, New South Wales. The South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League Football Club played at Redfern Oval between 1948 and 1987.[1] Rabbitoh supporters often refer to Redfern Oval as "The Holy Land".
In July 1987 Souths played Manly in front of a record crowd of 23,257.[2]
The former National Rugby League ground had a main grandstand on the wing with seats on either side and a hill surrounding the rest of the ground with a few rows of seats near the fence. The total capacity of the ground was around the 20,000 mark, until the redevelopment. The current ground has a lone grandstand with bench style seating, with the structure incorporating the Rabbitohs' training equipment/gym, as well as a cafe and basic luxury hospitality. The seating is covered by a large roof spanning the width of the structure. The stand is wheelchair accessible and also contains hearing loop accessibility. The player's tunnel is accessed by a small staircase which is below field level. Around the rest of the ground (which is now all public park, including the field) is three rows of terraced, hill seating. The side opposite the stand contains basketball courts and a skateboard park behind the terraces.
$19 million was spent by the City of Sydney Council to completely upgrade and renovate Redfern Oval which has allowed the Rabbitohs to return to Redfern in 2009 with state-of-the-art training facilities for players and coaches.
The upgrade offers the Rabbitohs a professional standard playing surface and facilities to allow the oval to be used as their preferred training ground and for a limited number of pre-season and exhibition matches.
South Sydney played the Wests Tigers in a pre-season match on Sunday the 8th February 2009. The seating capacity for this games was only 5,000, so only members from South Sydney and the Tigers were allowed to purchases tickets for the match. The Tigers won the game 30-26 in front of a sold out crowd.
Due to the success of the RTR match, the South Sydney Rabbitohs decided to play another trial match on the 7th February 2010 against the Manly Sea Eagles. The match was advertised at Souths home games as 'RTR 2010 The Tradition Continues'. Once again, the game was for members only. The game took place approximately 40 years after the famous 1970 NSWRL grand final, in which Souths legend John Sattler played most of the game with a shattered jaw. A teaser for the game was uploaded to YouTube by a Souths fan which details the rivalry between Souths and Manly [3]. Sam Burgess made his debut for the Rabbitohs and scored a try as South Sydney won on the day 42-14.
The third annual RTR game was played on Saturday the 5th February 2011 when South Sydney took on the Newtown Jets. The last time these two teams met was back in the 1983 NSWRFL season. The game was marked as Ben Ross' return to rugby league after a two year neck injury. Ross captained the side, as South Sydney won their second straight RTR match, beating the Jets 10-4.
South Sydney announced that the 2012 RTR game will be against the English Super League club, the Warrington Wolves. The game will be played on the 28th January 2012.
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