Eden Park

The flooding of Eden Park in 1907.

The land where Eden Park stands was originally swampland, fed by lava caverns created by Maungawhau / Mount Eden and Mount Albert over 30,000 years ago. Tāmaki Māori used the swamp to collect food and materials.[11] In 1845, the area was purchased by Cornish farmer John Walters.[11] Eden Park has been a sports ground since 1900.[6] The park began as a cricket ground in 1903, and was due to the vision of one Harry Ryan, a cricket enthusiast who approached landowner John Walters to lease part of his land as a sports field. In the book Eden Park: A History, the authors write, "Certainly the rough paddock strewn with stones, studded with outcrops of rock and streaked with cowpats, falling away to a boggy trough that filled in a downpour and remained flooded throughout the winter, looked better suited to frog-hunting or duck-shooting than cricket, let alone rugby. Ryan knew or at least imagined better."[12] Much early work on the cricket ground was needed, including clearing the stone walls that had been used to divide farmland, and ongoing drainage issues.[11]

Those who saw Ryan's vision as madness most likely felt vindicated when, in 1907, massive downpours of rain saw the ground submerged in water for a week. The same thing happened again later in the year. By 1910, the ongoing maintenance costs led the Eden District Cricket Club to approach the Auckland Cricket Association to take over running the park.[11] By 1912, the land had been transferred from John Walters to the trustees of the cricket association,[11] backed financially by a number of well-known Auckland businessman. The name 'Eden Park' settled into general usage around 1912, soon after it had been taken over by the association.

In 1913 the park was leased to the Auckland Rugby Football Union, becoming both a summer and winter sporting venue, with the union leasing the venue initially for 21 years. The union agreed to pay to build the park's first grandstand, erected in 1913 to hold an audience of 2,500, and later followed by a second members' stand built in 1914.[11] In 1914, the first international cricket match was held, with Auckland hosting Australia. The first rugby match played at the venue was a seven-a-side series on 9 May 1914, and the first representative match was played on 5 September, against Wellington.[11] Drainage issues ceased to be a regular issue for Kingsland and Eden Park in the 1920s, after which the park began to flourish.[11] The first rugby test was held on 27 August 1921, when South Africa beat New Zealand 5–9 before a crowd of 40,000. The Auckland Rugby Football Union officially made Eden Park its home in 1925, and in 1926, a trust was set up to manage Eden Park primarily for the benefit of Auckland Cricket and Auckland Rugby.

In 1930, the ground hosted its inaugural British and Irish Lions matches as part of the 1930 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia. Matches were held against Auckland and New Zealand sides, both won by the home sides with an attendance of 45,000 at the latter. The ground hosted its first match between New Zealand and Australia as part of the 1931 Australia rugby union tour of New Zealand. New Zealand won 20 – 13. In 1933, New Zealand hosted England in the first cricket test match, where Wally Hammond set an individual test batting record of 336 not out.

Eden Park served as the opening ceremony and athletics venue for the 1950 British Empire Games,[11] when the western part of the grounds were first opened.[13] In 1955, New Zealand hosted England in the second test match of their 1954–55 Tour of New Zealand. During the same year, the New Zealand Parliament passed the Eden Park Trust Act,[11] enshrining the governance structure of the park until 2009. By 1956, the West Stand was completed, followed by the South Stand in 1958. New Zealand won its first cricket test match against the West Indies as part of the 1955–56 West Indies Tour of New Zealand. The ground hosted its third rugby international between New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand won 11 – 5 before a record crowd of 63,000. The British and Irish Lions returned for the third time in the 1959 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand with matches against Auckland and New Zealand. The visitors win both, their first test match win at the ground.

During the 1960s and 70s, further large scale events were held at the venue, including 1961 French tour of New Zealand and Australia, the 1963 England tour of New Zealand, the 1969 Wales rugby union tour of Oceania, a welcoming party for the royal family during the 1970 New Zealand Royal Visit Honours, the Australian tour of New Zealand (1973–74), and a gymnastic display held by touring Russian gymnasts including Olga Korbut. During the 1975 Scotland rugby union tour of New Zealand, both teams famously played during a downpour on a completely saturated pitch, before the one-off test had to be cancelled as the drainage system was unable to cope with the flooding.[14]

During the 1981 Springbok Tour, a low-flying Cessna 172 piloted by Marx Jones and Grant Cole disrupted the final test by dropping flour-bombs on the pitch.[15][16]

The 1980s saw a number of record events such as a crowd of 43,000 at the 1981–82 Australia Tour of New Zealand, where Australian batsman Greg Chappell dealing with an on ground streaker with his bat. An indoor cricket facility and stand were built next to the outer oval. At the inaugural Rugby World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 1987, New Zealand defeated France 29 – 9 in the final in front of a crowd of 48,035. In 1988, Eden Park hosted the 1988 Rugby League World Cup Final, with Australia defeating New Zealand 25 – 12 before a New Zealand rugby league record crowd of 47,363. This was the first game of rugby league played at Eden Park since 1919. Eden Park was a venue during the 1992 Cricket World Cup, cohosted with Australia.

In 1996, the new Auckland Blues began playing at the ground, with the inaugural Super 12 final held at the ground, with the Auckland Blues defeating the Sharks 45 – 21 before a crowd of 46,000. The ground hosted Super 12 finals in 1997, 1998 and 2003. The ground hosted its first rugby test between New Zealand and Ireland as part of the 2002 Ireland Tour of New Zealand. In 2003, the playing surface on the main oval was completely overhauled with the introduction of "Motz" turf.

In 2007, the ground was confirmed by the New Zealand Government as the venue for the final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, with redevelopment beginning in 2008. The ground was the subject of a hotly debated dilemma, as to whether the event should be hosted at historic Eden Park or a new city centre stadium.[13] The redeveloped stadium was officially opened by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on 10 October. The first event was a Rugby League Four Nations double header, including matches between England and Papua New Guinea, and Australia and New Zealand.

The 2011 Rugby World Cup commenced on 9 September, with New Zealand defeating Tonga 41 – 10 before a crowd of 60,214. In addition to the opening ceremony and match, five pool games, two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final are held at Eden Park, with a cumulative attendance of more than 600,000. New Zealand defeated France 8 – 7 before a crowd of 61,079.[9] The ground hosted its first game of professional football, with the Wellington Phoenix hosting Adelaide United before a crowd of 20,078.

In 2013 the New Zealand Warriors announced they would be playing three home games at Eden Park in the 2014 NRL season.[17]

The Auckland Council takes over five of the nine spots on the Eden Park Trust Board, giving ratepayers control over the ground.[18][19]

In 2015, it hosted four matches during the 2015 Cricket World Cup, which was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand including the first semi final between New Zealand and South Africa.[10] The stadium hosted its first day night test match during the English cricket tour in 2018.

In 2020, after 117 years, Eden Park sold week-long naming rights to longtime partner, ASB. As part of their commitment to small business in New Zealand, ASB gifted their naming rights to Coopers Catch—a small fish and chip shop from Kaikōura.[1]

In 2021, for the first time since 1975, Eden Park hosted a concert, headlined by the band Six60[20] to a sold-out crowd of about 50,000 atendees. The concert was also one of the biggest concerts in the world at the time, due to COVID-19.

The $256 million redevelopment completed in October 2010 provided a permanent capacity of 50,000 with a further 10,000 temporary seats for the 2011 Rugby World Cup games.[21] This is the largest of any New Zealand sports arena. There are no standing areas. Temporary seating in front of the North Stand and the West Stand (usually only used for international rugby matches) is required for the capacity to be reached. Due to sight-screens and the larger area required for cricket matches, cricket capacity is smaller.

Prior to redevelopment, Eden Park had a crowd capacity of 45,472 for rugby and 42,000 for cricket .[22]

The redevelopment project included a three-tier South stand replacing the old South and West stands, with a capacity of 24,000, and a three-tier East replacing the Terraces. The number of covered seats increased from 23,000 to 38,000. The redeveloped Eden Park has an internal concourse that allows people to circulate around the grounds inside the stadium, and world-class facilities, including food and beverage outlets, toilets and corporate areas, were incorporated. The open plan approach to the design and establishment of a community centre and green space, and the removal of the perimeter fence, mean that the stadium has become more publicly accessible and a part of the neighbourhood.

There were public concerns about the height of the new structure and its shading effect on many nearby houses. Auckland City Council received 470 submissions on the resource consent application, over 300 of which were in favour of the redevelopment. On 26 January 2007, Eden Park received resource consent with 91 conditions imposed. The consent permitted the building of new stands in place of the terraces and south stand, but did not include consent for the NZ$385 million 'full option', which would have included covered seating.[23]

In September 2006 it was announced that instead of Eden Park, the Government and Auckland City Council were assessing the possibility of a new stadium on Auckland's waterfront to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup.[24] This assessment was part of the Government's formal due diligence process on the decision to redevelop Eden Park. The Government had said it would assist with the funding if a new stadium was built. The Government announced in a report in November 2006 that it would favour a new stadium on the Auckland waterfront, which would have meant that the Eden Park redevelopment would not have gone ahead, and that options for its use or redevelopment would have to be developed. After the Auckland City Council and the Auckland Regional Council differed in their support for the new stadium, the Government changed to supporting the redevelopment of Eden Park, subject to suitable resolution of the design, funding and governance issues.[25]

• 
  Eden Park in 2005 prior to redevelopment.
• 
  Cranes during the construction of the new South Stand in 2009.
• 
  Looking south over the redevelopment of the West Stand at Eden Park in 2009.

Note: Date shown in brackets indicates when the record was or last set.

• 
  New Zealand v Australia ODI, 2005, before east stand redevelopment
• 
  Looking at Eden Park's South Stand from the North Stand, during the warm-up for the 2015 Cricket World Cup semifinal, New Zealand vs South Africa
• 
  Blues vs Hurricanes 2020