Traeger Park

Traeger Park (currently known under naming rights as TIO Traeger Park[2]) is a sports complex located in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, and is named after Alfred Hermann Traeger. The park was officially opened by Anne Catherine Smallwood (née Traeger) Alfred's younger daughter. The primary stadium in the complex caters for Australian rules football and cricket and has a capacity of 7200.[3] The complex also has a small baseball stadium.

TIO Traeger Park
Traeger Park
Central Australian Football League match at Traeger Park, Alice Springs
LocationAlice Springs, NT, Australia
Coordinates23.709039°S 133.875083°E / -23.709039; 133.875083
OperatorAlice Springs Town Council
Capacity7,200[1]
Construction
Opened1991
Renovated2006
Tenants
AFL Northern Territory
Northern Territory Cricket
Melbourne Football Club (2014-present)
Adelaide Strikers 2017-2018
Hobart Hurricanes (2019-present)
Traeger Park is located in Northern Territory
Traeger Park
Ground information
Capacity7,200
End names
Traeger Avenue
MacDonnell Ranges
As of 20 December 2019
Source: Cricinfo

Traeger Park is home to the Central Australian Football League, and also hosts the annual Ngurratjuta Easter Lightning Carnival.[4]

Sports

Traeger Park has occasionally staged pre-season matches for the Australian Football League and National Rugby League. In 2004, an AFL Regional Challenge match between Collingwood Football Club and Port Adelaide Football Club attracted a sell-out crowd of 10,000. In 2006, the West Coast Eagles played the Carlton Football Club in an NAB Cup Regional Challenge match. A trial match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Brisbane Broncos was played at the ground during the warm-up to the 2011 NRL season.

Australian rules football

Traeger Park has been hosting AFL preseason games since 2004 with the largest crowd ever at the ground occurring in 2007 between the Adelaide Crows and the West Coast Eagles. The 2011 NEAFL Grand Final was held at the ground as well. The game saw the Northern Territory Thunder defeat the Ainslie Tri-Colours 16.18 (114) to 13.14 (92).

The venue hosted its first ever AFL premiership match on 31 May 2014, with Melbourne shifting its home match against Port Adelaide to the venue.[5] Melbourne has scheduled one match per year at the venue since 2014; the 2021 match was cancelled when travel into Northern Territory was restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]

Cricket

Traeger Park hosted its first first-class match in February 2015, a Sheffield Shield match between Victoria vs Queensland, owing to the unavailability of both states' usual home grounds during the 2015 World Cup.[7] It became a home-away-from-home for Victoria from then until 2017 whenever the Melbourne Cricket Ground was unavailable, due to no other Victorian venues being first-class standard at the time, and Victoria hosted the final of the 2016–17 Sheffield Shield season at the venue in March 2017.[8]

Dating to as early as 1988, the ground has a history of staging warm-up and tour matches for visiting international Test squads; and since 2004 it has hosted matches in the annual Imparja Cup, a limited overs tournament contested by state and territory teams comprising Indigenous Australian cricketers.[9]

The ground hosted its first Big Bash League match on 13 January 2018, with the Adelaide Strikers taking on the Perth Scorchers.[10]

Ground upgrades

The Northern Territory Government announced in 2002 that $4.2 million would be allocated to upgrading Traeger Park over a ten-year period. The floodlights will be upgraded from 300 lux to 800 lux which will allow televised AFL games. Future light towers will provide a lighting level of 1400 lux which will cater for televised international cricket.

A new 750 kva transformer and high voltage cabling reticulation is required to increase power supply to Traeger Park to cater for the new lights and grandstand facility. The grandstand/multi functional facility will replace the existing Ted Hayes Memorial Stand and is expected to consist of players change rooms and amenities, players dining rooms, umpires change room, first aid room, doctor/physio room, grandstand seating, multipurpose function room, kitchen, corporate rooms, press rooms and third umpire room.

Attendance records

Top 10 Sports Attendance Records

No. Date Teams Sport Competition Crowd
19 March 2007Adelaide Crows v. West Coast EaglesAustralian Rules FootballAFL (preseason)11,000
25 March 2004Collingwood Magpies v. Port Adelaide PowerAustralian Rules FootballAFL (preseason)10,000
310 March 2006Carlton Blues v. West Coast EaglesAustralian Rules FootballAFL (preseason)8,500
48 February 2013Indigenous All-Stars v. Richmond TigersAustralian Rules FootballAFL (preseason)8,350[11]
54 March 2005Fremantle Dockers v. Richmond TigersAustralian Rules FootballAFL (preseason)7,500
621 July 2019Melbourne Demons v. West Coast EaglesAustralian Rules FootballAFL7,164
727 May 2018Melbourne Demons v. Adelaide CrowsAustralian Rules FootballAFL6,989
817 July 2022Melbourne Demons v. Port Adelaide PowerAustralian Rules FootballAFL6,312
929 February 2008Carlton Blues v. West Coast EaglesAustralian Rules FootballAFL (preseason)6,000
1031 May 2014Melbourne Demons v. Port Adelaide PowerAustralian Rules FootballAFL5,655

Last updated on 17 July 2022

References
  1. "TIO Trager Park Oval". Austadiums. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  2. Young, Domonique (21 June 2013). "TIO to sponsor Traeger Park Oval" (PDF) (Press release). Alice Springs, NT: Alice Springs Town Council. TIO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  3. "TIO Trager Park Oval". Austadiums. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  4. Edmund, Sam (30 April 2011). "Red heart's stronger pulse". Herald Sun. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  5. "Alice Springs to host Melbourne Demons' clash with Port Adelaide next AFL season". ABC News. 23 October 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  6. Zita, David; Laughton, Max (1 June 2021). "Magpies, AFL must accept SA govt's rules as final hurdle for this weekend's fixture". Fox Sports.
  7. "First-Class Matches played on Traegar Park, Alice Springs (1)". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  8. "Victoria to host final after skittling Queensland for 61". ESPN Cricinfo. 18 March 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  9. "Other matches played on Traegar Park, Alice Springs (137)". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  10. Geppa, Anthony (14 September 2017). "Big Bash League coming to Alice". Nt News.
  11. Edmund, Sam (9 February 2013). "Embarrassing Richmond no match for Indigenous hunger, speed". NEWS.com.au. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
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