Wellington Regional Stadium
| Wellington Regional Stadium Westpac Stadium | |
|---|---|
| 'The Stadium' 'The Cake Tin' | |
 | |
| Former names | WestpacTrust Stadium |
| Location | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 41°16′23″S 174°47′9″E / 41.27306°S 174.78583°ECoordinates: 41°16′23″S 174°47′9″E / 41.27306°S 174.78583°E |
| Broke ground | 12 March 1998 |
| Opened | 3 January 2000 |
| Owner | Wellington Regional Stadium Trust |
| Operator | Wellington Regional Stadium Trust |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction cost | NZ$130 million |
| Architect |
Warren and Mahoney Populous (then Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture) |
| Project manager | Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner Ltd |
| Main contractors | Fletcher Construction Ltd |
| Capacity |
36,000 (venue capacity)[1] 34,500 (seating capacity) 37,000 (With temporary seating) |
| Field dimensions |
Length (north–south) 235 metres Width (west–east) 185 metres (stadium dimensions, not the playing surface) |
| Website | http://www.westpacstadium.co.nz/ |
| Tenants | |
|
Hurricanes (Super Rugby) (2000–present) Wellington Lions (ITM Cup) (2000–present) Wellington Firebirds (NZC) (2000–present) Wellington Phoenix (A-League) (2008–present) University of Otago [2] St Kilda Football Club (AFL) (2013-) | |
Wellington Regional Stadium (commercially known as Westpac Stadium) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Due to its shape and silver coloured external walls, it is colloquially known as "The Cake Tin" to locals and other New Zealanders.[3] Fans of football (soccer) team Wellington Phoenix sometimes refer to the stadium as "The Ring of Fire".
The stadium's bowl site size is 48,000 sq m.
The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction[4] and is situated close to major transport facilities (such as Wellington Railway Station) one kilometre north of the CBD. It was built on reclaimed railway land, which was surplus to requirements.
It was built to replace Athletic Park, which was no longer considered adequate for international events due to its location and state of disrepair. The stadium was also built to provide a larger-capacity venue for One Day International cricket matches, due to the Basin Reserve ground losing such matches to larger stadia in other parts of the country.
The stadium also serves as a large-capacity venue for concerts.
Tenants
The stadium is a multi-purpose facility, though used mainly for sporting events. It is the home of the Wellington Lions ITM Cup rugby team, and the primary home of the Super Rugby Hurricanes. The stadium also hosts the NZI International Sevens, one of the events in the annual IRB Sevens World Series for national rugby sevens teams. Westpac Stadium regularly serves as a home venue for All Blacks rugby matches.
Westpac Stadium is also the home venue for A-League football (soccer) team Wellington Phoenix FC, the stadium often referred to as "The Ring of Fire" by Phoenix supporters. It also serves as a major home venue for the New Zealand national football team (the All Whites), notably hosting the home leg of their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Bahrain.
During the summer the stadium generally hosts international and occasionally domestic limited overs cricket, with the home team being the New Zealand Black Caps for the international contests and Wellington Firebirds for the domestic competition.
The stadium has also been used for rugby league matches, including national team fixtures and New Zealand Warriors away fixtures.
Australian Football League games have also been played at the stadium, with Australian rules football exhibition matches being played in 2000 and 2001. In September 2012 the St Kilda Football Club, based in Melbourne, announced plans to host five Australian Football League games at the venue from 2013–15, with the first scheduled for Anzac Day against the Sydney Swans in 2013. This match made it the first venue outside Australia to host AFL matches for premiership points.[5] At the end of 2013 a new five-year deal was announced that will see St Kilda play a match on Anzac Day at the stadium every year until 2018.[6]
Off-field facilities built into the stadium also included the New Zealand Institute of Sport, and a campus for the Wellington School of Cricket, run by the Wellington Cricket Association.
Events
In 2000, The Westpac Stadium hosted the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. This was the first time the event was hosted outside of Edinburgh, Scotland.
In 2002 during an England versus Black Cap cricket match, director Peter Jackson recorded 30,000 fans chanting in Black Speech for the sound of 10,000 chanting Uruk-hai during the Battle of Helm's Deep in the film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
On 4 March 2006 WWE's first ever New Zealand show, WWE Smackdown Road to Wrestlemania 22 Tour was held at the stadium. 23,875 people were in attendance to witness 9 matches including a triple threat match between Kurt Angle, Undertaker and Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Also in 2006 a concert was held by The Rolling Stones which ended the Australasian leg of its A Bigger Bang World Tour,
On 14 October 2007, Australia defeated New Zealand in the Centenary Test rugby league game. The 58–0 defeat set a new record for the largest loss by the New Zealand national rugby league team.
On 1 December 2007, the stadium hosted an exhibition match between Wellington Phoenix FC and Los Angeles Galaxy. LA Galaxy won 4–1 in front of 31,853 spectators, the largest crowd for non-national football (soccer) match in New Zealand history.[7]
On 17 January 2008 the stadium hosted the first leg of The Police Reunion Tour [8] and over Easter the inaugural two-day "Rock2Wgtn" music festival, headlined by Kiss and Ozzy Osbourne. Attendance over the two days was around 50,000.[9]
New Zealand hosted the 2008 FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup. Six pool matches and two playoff matches were played at the Westpac Stadium. Due to FIFA rules disallowing host stadia to be named after non-FIFA sponsors, the stadium was officially known as "Wellington Stadium" during the event.
The stadium hosted the national team's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match on 14 November 2009 against Bahrain. New Zealand won the match 1–0, with a record crowd of 35,194 for a football match in New Zealand.
On 28 January 2010 AC/DC kicked off the Australasian leg of its Black Ice World Tour at the stadium. The concert quickly sold out so a second was scheduled for 30 January.[10] The stadium was also a venue for Bon Jovi's The Circle Tour in 2010.
The stadium hosted eight games during the 2011 Rugby World Cup including two quarter-final matches.
On 25 April 2013 the stadium hosted the first ever Australian Football League (AFL) game played for premiership points outside of Australia. The night game between St Kilda and Sydney was played in front of a crowd of 22,183 on Anzac Day to honour the Anzac bond between the two countries.[11][12] Sydney won the game by 16 points, scoring 11.13 (79) to St Kilda 9.9 (63).[13] At the official pre-match function the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key used the occasion to raise the prospect of a New Zealand based AFL team, saying "Let's get real. We've got to get a New Zealand side in the AFL."[12]
On 11 May 2013 the stadium and Wellington hosted its first National Rugby League fixture since 2004 with the Auckland-based New Zealand Warriors hosting the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at the stadium for 'The Capital Clash'.[14] The Warriors wore their 'Capital Clash' jerseys which incorporated the black and gold colours of Wellington and a design based off a strip worn by Wellington Rugby League teams in the 1970s. The Warriors lost the game late in the match in front of 28,096 fans.[15]
On 20 November 2013, the stadium hosted the second leg of the World Cup qualification inter-confederation play-off, which resulted in New Zealand failing to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[16]
Gallery
-
An ODI cricket match between New Zealand and West Indies in 2009 National Bank series
-
Crowd at a Tri-Nations rugby union match
-
Westpac Stadium entrance
-
Westpac Stadium during a One Day cricket match in January 2005
-
Rock2Wgtn Easter weekend 2008
-
The stadium during the pool match between New Zealand and Canada at the 2011 Rugby World Cup
See also
- Basin Reserve – Wellington's other international cricket ground
References
- ↑ http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=136
- ↑ University of Otago Stadium Centre Wellington
- ↑ Maclean, Chris (3 May 2013). "Westpac Stadium -- Wellington region: Economic fall and rise: 1976–2006". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
- ↑ Fletcher Construction website
- ↑ Landsberger, Sam (12 September 2012). "St Kilda will host Sydney in New Zealand on Anzac Day". Herald Sun. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- ↑ Phelan, Jennifer (5 October 2013). "Saints lock in five-year NZ deal". Retrieved 6 October 2013.
- ↑ Topless Beckham delights female fans at Phoenix party | infonews.co.nz New Zealand's local news community
- ↑ Stadiums events 2008
- ↑ "Rock promoter blames Easter laws for loss". The Dominion Post. 26 March 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
- ↑ Tonkin, Charlotte (28 July 2009). "Wellington gets another AC/DC concert after first sells out". 3 News. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
- ↑ Holmesby, Luke (24 April 2013). "Riewoldt proud to be part of historic occasion". Official website. St Kilda. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Wilson, Caroline (26 April 2013). "We want AFL team: Kiwis". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ↑ Hanlon, Peter (26 April 2013). "Saints go down fighting against stubborn Swans in gritty clash". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ↑ Becht, Richard. "NRL: Vodafone Warriors 16, Bulldogs 24". Official Website. NZWar. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ↑ Gilhooly, Daniel. "Warriors bemoan ref after loss to Bulldogs". Official Website. NRL. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ↑ "International Match Calendar 2013–2018". FIFA.com.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wellington Regional Stadium. |
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