Henson Park, Sydney
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| Henson Park | |
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| King George V Grandstand | |
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| Location | Marrickville, New South Wales |
| Broke ground | 1936 |
| Opened | 1937 |
| Closed | Open |
| Demolished | N/A |
| Owner | Marrickville Council |
| Operator | Marrickville Council |
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| Capacity | |
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Henson Park is a rugby league stadium in Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia.
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Henson Park was opened in 1937. The site was a former brickworks. Its first major event was the 1938 British Empire Games, the forerunner to the Commonwealth Games in which the venue hosted cycling. During the games, crowds regularly exceeded 40,000. The velodrome surrounding the playing field was removed during the late 1970's and replaced by a grass running track used for local school athletics carnivals.
Henson Park has changed little since it was first opened.
- On the western side, there is the King George V Memorial Grandstand, a small stand seating no more than 1000 people.
- From the north west to the south-east side of the ground runs a grass hill.
- From the south east to the west, there is a bitumen bank where cars can park. About 200 cars can fit and it has always been popular to watch matches from your car seat.
- There is also a brick scoreboard with a kiosk in the north-east corner and a media/corporate centre also with a kiosk to the northern side of the King George V Memorial Grandstand.
- Since 1937, the ground has been primarily known as the home of the Newtown Rugby League Football Club ("The Bluebags"), today known as the Newtown Jets. The Jets played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, a forerunner to the National Rugby League, until 1983 when they were dropped from the competition for financial reasons.
- When the Club was re-established as a senior club in 1991 it returned to play at the ground.
- The club now plays both its NSWRL Jim Beam Cup and NSWRL Premier League home games at the ground.
Henson Park is also used occasionally for competition matches in soccer and Australian rules football.
- The highest attendance for Henson Park was recorded during the 1938 British Empire Games in which around 40,000 fans attended the cycling.
- For a Newtown Jets match it is 21,588. For a Rugby League match, the ground record is 30,500 for a Grand Final rematch between St George and Western Suburbs in 1959.