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Parramatta Stadium
Parramatta Stadium from the air
Location	Parramatta, New South Wales
Broke ground	1985 (Redeveloped 2002/3)
Opened	1986
Closed	Open
Demolished	N/A
Owner	Parramatta Stadium Trust
Operator	Parramatta Stadium Trust
Architect	Civil & Civic
Tenants
Parramatta Eels Western Sydney Rams
Capacity
20,000

Parramatta Stadium is a sports stadium situated in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium is used primarily as the home ground of Australian National Rugby League (NRL) club the Parramatta Eels but has also hosted numerous other sporting and cultural events since its opening in 1986 including the Sydney leg of Michael Jackson's Bad World Tour.

Contents 1 Attendances 2 History 2.1 Cumberland Oval (1847 - 1981) 2.1.1 Cricket 2.1.2 Rugby union 2.2 Rugby league at Cumberland 2.3 Cumberland burns 3 A new stadium 3.1 Building and opening 3.2 Redevelopment (2002 - 2003) 4 Other sports played at Parramatta Stadium 4.1 Baseball 4.2 Football (soccer) 4.3 Rugby union 5 Famous Incidents and Events 6 External links 7 References

• The highest crowd to attend a match at Parramatta Stadium was for the rugby league Test match between Australia and France in 1994. This game attracted a crowd of 27,918.

• The highest crowd to attend a match at Parramatta Stadium after the redevelopment of the hill areas is 21,141 (Parramatta Eels versus Wests Tigers in round 7 of the 2006 NRL season.)

• The average crowd at Parramatta Stadium for Parramatta Eels home games in 2005 was 16,478.

Parramatta Stadium is the second sports ground to occupy the site, the first being Cumberland Oval which was the main sporting venue of the Parramatta District from the mid 19th Century through to the 1980s, hosting horse-racing, cricket, rugby union, athletics and motorsport.

While used since 1847 as a sportsground, the first stand at Cumberland Oval was built in 1850 and others followed at various times up to the final stand was built in 1936. The oval was surrounded by a post and two-rail fence that was constructed in the 1860s by players of the Central Cumberland Cricket Club.

Central Cumberland Cricket Club, formed in 1862, played at Cumberland Oval from 1863, and played famous England XI touring sides during the 1880s and 1890s. Now known as the Parramatta District Cricket Club, Sydney grade cricket is now played at Old Kings' Oval, which stands less than 100m behind Parramatta Stadium.

Rugby union was played at Cumberland Oval from 1879 and, from 1936, Parramatta (now the Parramatta Two Blues) played home matches at the Oval, the team now plays its matches at Granville Rugby Park.

Rugby league was played at Cumberland Oval from as early as 1909 by local clubs such as Parramatta Iona, Endeavours and the Western Districts representative side. When the Parramatta District Rugby League Club (later known as the Parramatta Eels) was admitted into the NSWRL Premiership in 1947 Cumberland Oval became the club's home ground.

The first match was played against Newtown (now Newtown Jets) on 12 April, 1947, before a crowd of 6,000. Cumberland Oval remained the home ground of the Parramatta Eels until 1981, playing their last match there against Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in August before going on to win their maiden NSWRL Premiership that year.

The largest crowd to watch a rugby league match at Cumberland Oval was 22,470 when the Eels took on the South Sydney Rabbitohs on 26 April 1971.

As the Parramatta Eels secured their first-ever Premiership, defeating the Newtown Jets in the 1981 Grand Final, wild scenes erupted in Parramatta with Eels fans celebrating and rallying at Cumberland Oval and, in a frenzy of excitement, burning the Oval's (soon to be demolished) stand to the ground.

The new stadium to be built on the site of Cumberland Oval was approved by the New South Wales Government for development in 1983 and the contract for the construction and design of the Stadium was put up for tender.

• In November 1984 the construction company Civil & Civic won the contract to design and build the stadium.

• In November 1985 the Stadium was complete and the grass was planted.

• On March 5 1986, the Stadium was opened by Queen Elizabeth II, and, on March 16, the first NSWRL Premiership match was played at the ground, with Parramatta defeating the St. George Dragons 36 - 6.

• In December 2002, work began on converting the formerly grassed hill areas (The Brett Kenny Hill and The Peter Sterling Hill) into seated terrace areas (holding 4,500 spectators). This redevelopment reduced the ground's capacity to 20,000, down from the previous capacity of 27,000.

Baseball has also been played at Parramatta Stadium with the Sydney Blues playing home matches there. The Sydney Blues entered the Australian Baseball League in 1992 and played out of Parramata Stadium to much controversy of having such a short home-run fence in left field. The Sydney Blues were later known as the Sydney Storm who also played some games at Parramatta, until the collapse of the Australian Baseball League in 1999.

Parramatta Power, a National Soccer League (NSL) club owned and operated by Parramatta Leagues Club, played home games at the Stadium between 1999 and 2004. With the announcement of the demise of the NSL, and the creation of the A-League, the club was wound-up at the end of the 2003/2004 season. It played in the last-ever NSL Grand Final against Perth Glory which was played at the Stadium. The ground all up hosted 7 NSL Grand Final matches, in 1986 (second leg), 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 2001 and 2004. The stadium will host one of Sydney FC's games in the AFC Champions League 2007 competition.^[1]

A number of NSW Rugby Union club matches were played at Parramatta Stadium between 2001 and 2002. Australia also played a match against Canada in 2002 at the Stadium. Parramatta Stadium has been selected as the home ground for the Western Sydney Rams club side that will participate in the Australian Rugby Championship that will commence in August 2007.^[2]

• In 1995, Parramatta squandered a 14-6 half-time lead against the Brisbane Broncos to lose by such a heavy margin, losing 60-14.
• During a 2005 match against bitter rivals the St George Illawarra Dragons, Parramatta's PJ Marsh tried to smother Trent Barrett's downfield kick, when he clashed with Barrett. Barrett then started throwing punches at Barrett with every on-field player from both teams joining in. Parramatta's Wade McKinnon scored a try in the progress. The try was awarded.
• At the end of a 2004 match between the Dragons, Parramatta fans booed the team as they headed into the sheds. Parramatta lost 37-6.
• At the end of the 2005 match against the Brisbane Broncos, the Eels secured the minor premiership and redeemed themselves after being thrashed 54-14 at Suncorp Stadium in round five.
• At the beginning of a 2005 match against the Cronulla Sharks, then-replacement hooker Ian Henderson was KO'd after trying to catch a short-kick off. Play was delayed for 10 minutes.

• Parramatta Stadium official site

1. ^ "Sydney a team possessed", The Daily Telegraph, 2007-02-20. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
2. ^ Venues Confirmed for NSW National Competition Teams, NSW Rugby Retrieved on 27 February 2007

Coordinates: 33°48′29.29″S, 150°59′58.82″E

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