Yarrow Stadium
| 'The Bull Ring' 'The Fish Bowl' |
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| Full name | Yarrow Stadium |
|---|---|
| Former names | Rugby Park, Stadium Taranaki |
| Location | New Plymouth, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 39°4′13″S 174°3′54″E / 39.07028°S 174.06500°ECoordinates: 39°4′13″S 174°3′54″E / 39.07028°S 174.06500°E |
| Capacity | 45,500 |
| Surface | Grass with sand base |
| Scoreboard | Located at the southern end of the ground |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | January 1931 |
| Built | June 10th 1947 (Renovated July 18th 2002) |
| Opened | August 1972 |
| Construction cost | NZ$15 million |
| Architect | Warren and Mahoney |
| Tenants | |
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Chiefs (Super Rugby) Hurricanes (Super Rugby) (1996-2013) Taranaki Rugby Football Union (ITM Cup) Team Taranaki (Central Premier League) Taranaki Sharks (NZRL) Central Districts Stags (NZC) |
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Yarrow Stadium is situated in the central suburb of Westown in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand, with main vehicle access off Maratahu Street. Named the third best rugby stadium on earth by New Zealand Rugby World magazine in May 2009, Yarrow Stadium (known as Stadium Taranaki for the Rugby World Cup 2011) conforms with the International Rugby Board's "clean stadium" policy.
The primary tenant of this 25,000-capacity stadium is the Taranaki representative team in the country's principal rugby union competition, the Mitre10 Cup. From 2013, the stadium will play host to the Chiefs team as part of a new alliance, after Taranaki cut their ties with the Wellington-based Hurricanes.
The venue was first developed as a rugby ground in 1931, with the first stadium completed in 1947. A major redevelopment saw two new grandstands added and considerable modernisation in 2002, and further enhancements to the venue were completed in 2010, raising the capacity to more than 25,500 for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and other fixtures.
The stadium is a personal legacy of the late Noel Yarrow, a pioneering Taranaki baker and businessman, and active philanthropist. Noel was a passionate rugby supporter, and the major grandstand overlooking the field's western sideline is a tribute to his support.
The Legends Lounge is on the top floor of the TSB Bank Stand and has panoramic views of both playing arenas and the back fields. It is used for business conferences, dinners, sales presentations and meetings, and has a capacity of 300 seated and 650 standing.
Features
In the past Yarrow Stadium has hosted Relay for Life, Multi-ethnic Extravaganza and Searchlight Tattoo. Yarrow's has also hosted a number of cricket matches including the Central Districts when they clashed with Sri Lanka. Cricket is usually played at Pukekura Park, because of the incorrect size of Yarrow Stadium's number 1 field. However Yarrow Stadium hosted many matches in the New Zealand domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in the 2015/16 summer the first time in 14 years using a drop in pitch.
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Wikipedia