Concord Oval

Concord Oval (also Waratah Stadium) is a rugby stadium in Concord, Australia, in the inner west of Sydney. It is currently used mostly for rugby union matches, and it was used for eight matches during the 1987 Rugby World Cup. It also hosts football matches. The stadium is able to hold 20,000 people and was opened in 1985.

It is the home ground of West Harbour RFC in the Shute Shield rugby union competition, and the Western Sydney Rams in the National Rugby Championship. It is also the training and administration base for the Wests Tigers rugby league club. Football club Inter Lions SC also play games at the ground.

Facilities

The stadium has two opposing grandstands. The eastern stand hosts the tennis box-style seats, television gantry and the change rooms. The stand runs approximately from try-line to try-line. The western stand contains a gym and some boxes. This stand runs approximately from dead-ball line to dead ball line. In front of the western stand are two rows of seats, while a concrete path runs around the field (except not in front of the aforementioned two rows of seats, the path runs behind those seats). At each end there is a grassy hill, and at the southern or Parramatta Road end, there is a wooden, manually operated scoreboard with an analogue clock.

The stadium is bordered by Gipps Street to the north, Parramatta Road to the south, Loftus Street to the west and the Cintra Hockey Centre to the east. Parking is at a premium with small carparks behind the northern hill, eastern stand and in the south-east corner, although Burwood train station is not too far away, and the 439, L39, 464 and 466 bus routes pass close to the stadium.

History

St Luke's Park, which was the home ground of Sydney's Western Suburbs rugby league club in 1910 and 1911 was where Concord Oval is now located.^[1] Wests started playing their matches at Pratten Park in 1912, but after pressure from local residents there the council refused the club permission to use that ground, forcing them to return to St. Luke's Oval from 1915 to 1919.^[2] From 1920 Wests resumed playing at Pratten Park.

The stadium also hosted four first grade rugby league matches, three of them in 1994 as Canterbury's second home ground during that season.

As far as high-profile events go, the stadium currently lies dormant. With the completion of the Sydney Football Stadium, and later Stadium Australia, the New South Wales Waratahs and Australian Wallabies have not played at the stadium in many years. A return is unlikely, especially considering how expansion is almost impossible due to housing to the west, roads to the north and south, and a hockey complex and canal to the east. Other issues are that the stadium does not have floodlights, a video screen, parking or modern spectator amenities.

In the early 2010s the City of Canada Bay Council prepared a masterplan ^[3] to bring these events back to an expanded and rejuvenated Concord Oval. This includes construction and installation of broadcasting equipment such as satellite dishes, antennas, camera platforms and commentary boxes, as well as training quality floodlighting and a new scoreboard. Mention is made in the masterplan of attempting to lure Asian Football Confederation games to the renovated ground, however the masterplan may take up to a decade to complete. For the mean time, most events in the area prefer grounds such as Parramatta Stadium, or the Olympic Park and Moore Park venues.

Rugby World Cup

Concord Oval hosted six matches of the 1987 Rugby World Cup.

Date	Competition	Home team		Away team		Attendance
23 May 1987	1987 Rugby World Cup Pool 1	Australia	19	England	6	17,896
30 May 1987	1987 Rugby World Cup Pool 1	England	60	Japan	7	4,893
3 June 1987	1987 Rugby World Cup Pool 1	England	34	United States	6	8,785
		Australia	42	Japan	23
7 June 1987	1987 Rugby World Cup Quarter-final 2	Australia	33	Ireland	15	14,356
13 June 1987	1987 Rugby World Cup Semi-final 1	Australia	24	France	30	17,768

External links

• Concord Oval at Austadiums

References

• Rleague.com - Concord Oval .