Olympic Park Stadium
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| Olympic Park Stadium | |
|---|---|
| The Graveyard, Olympic Park | |
| Location | Swan Street, Melbourne |
| Opened | 1956 |
| Closed | N/A |
| Demolished | N/A |
| Owner | Melbourne Olympic Park |
| Operator | Melbourne Olympic Park |
| Surface | Grass Athletics Track |
| Construction cost | N/A |
| Architect | Various |
| Tenants | |
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| Capacity | |
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Olympic Park Stadium is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium located in Swan Street in inner Melbourne. It currently is host to Melbourne Storm (NRL), Melbourne Rebels (ARC) and formerly Melbourne Victory home games. It has a capacity of 18,500 spectators with 11,000 seats.[1]
The stadium was built as a training venue for the 1956 Olympic Games.[2] It has a top class athletics track that was refurbished in 1997, and is interestingly the first and only[2] stadium in Australia to be recognised officially by FIFA. The stadium was last redeveloped in 1998. In the past the stadium has held FIFA World Cup qualification matches, NSL Grand Finals and rugby league internationals. The Melbourne Storm's nickname for the stadium is "The Graveyard", due to their excellent record at this stadium.
Melbourne Victory FC have already moved out of the stadium as of 2007, where they have moved to the much larger, 56 000 capacity Telstra Dome. This move is due to the very large crowds the club have been getting at home due to the onfield success of the club. Melbourne Storm will also follow in 2009 and move into the new state-of-the-art, 25,000 seat Melbourne Rectangular Stadium being purposely built adjacent to the Olympic Park Stadium.[1] , as the stadium is poorly suited for rugby league as the dimensions of the pitch is too small. There has been some controversy as to whether Melbourne Victory will actually move there or not due to the stadium still being too small however the construction will still go ahead regardless of whether the Victory join as a tenant or not.[3]
Olympic Park Stadium is also widely viewed as the worst stadium in the NRL.[citation needed]
- ^ a b Austadiums - Melbourne Olympic Park
- ^ a b Melbourne and Olympic Parks - Olympic Park Stadium
- ^ Whinnett, Ellen. "Bracks firm on stadium plan", Herald Sun, January 31, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
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