Rugby League Park

For the demolished stadium in Christchurch formerly commercially known as AMI Stadium, see Lancaster Park.

For the playing field on which rugby league is played, see Rugby league playing field.

Apollo Projects Stadium is a sports stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand.^[2] It was formerly called Orangetheory Stadium, AMI Stadium, and before that, the Addington Showgrounds.^[3]

Apollo Projects Stadium

Aerial view of Rugby League Park in July 2012
Former names	Rugby League Park, AMI Stadium, Christchurch Stadium
Location	95 Jack Hinton Drive, Addington, Christchurch, New Zealand
Coordinates	43°32′37″S 172°36′15″E / 43.5437°S 172.6041°E / -43.5437; 172.6041
Owner	Canterbury Rugby League
Capacity	17,104 (Sport mode)
Construction
Expanded	24 March 2012
Architect	Populous
Tenants
Canterbury Bulls, South Island, Crusaders^[1]

History

The park is part of a complex with Wolfbrook Arena and Addington Raceway and has hosted international rugby league matches since the 1950s, including World Cup matches in 1975, 1977, 1988, 1990 and 1991.

The ground was bought by Canterbury Rugby League from the Christchurch City Council in the 1990s.

It was at this ground that the Kiwis won the 1988 Great Britain Lions tour's sole test in New Zealand to qualify for the 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup final.

Apollo Projects Stadium

Rugby League Park sustained significant damage during the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and was closed until 24 March 2012.^[4] After the earthquake the stands had to be demolished.

The 2011 earthquake damaged AMI Stadium at Lancaster Park, the main sporting ground in Christchurch, beyond repair. As a temporary replacement for the city, Rugby League Park was upgraded and renamed AMI Stadium to seat 18,000 by March 2012 with a possible expansion to 26,000 for major games. As a result, the Crusaders are based there indefinitely, and the stadium has also hosted All Blacks test matches as well as a Wellington Phoenix pre-season match in September 2012.^[1][5][6] On 9 November 2013 it held a round 5 A-League match between Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory in which the teams drew 1-1. On 14 May 2016, the ground played host to an NRL match between the Penrith Panthers and the New Zealand Warriors with the former being the home team.^[7] Another NRL game took place on 9 June 2018 with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles replacing Penrith as the home team against the Warriors.^[8] The Sea Eagles played another game at the stadium in 2019 but decided to not play in Christchurch in the 2020 season.

On 6 July 2018, the stadium was officially renamed to the Wyatt Crockett Stadium, becoming de-branded from AMI Stadium. This was to commemorate the Crusaders player Wyatt Crockett reaching the milestone of playing 200 Super Rugby matches.

On 6 April 2019, it was announced that the stadium would soon be known as Orangetheory Stadium.^[9] The new name went into effect in June 2019.

In June 2023 it was announced that in August 2023 the stadium would be renamed to Apollo Projects Stadium, sponsored by Apollo Projects, a design and construction company.^[10]

In 2023, the New Zealand Warriors announced a three year deal to play one home game a year in Christchurch from the 2024 NRL season onwards with Rugby League Park hosting the matches in 2024 and 2025 before Te Kaha opens its doors in 2026.^[11] The Warriors defeated the Canberra Raiders 18-10 in the first of the fixtures on 22 March 2024.

International rugby league matches

A list of rugby league test matches played at the Addington Showgrounds / Rugby League Park.^[12]

Test#	Date	Result	Attendance	Notes
1	29 July 1950	New Zealand def.   Great Britain 16–10	10,000	1950 New Zealand vs Great Britain series
2	27 June 1953	New Zealand def.   Australia 25–5	5,509	1953 Trans-Tasman Test series
3	1 August 1964	New Zealand def.   France 18–8	4,935	1964 New Zealand vs France series
4	19 July 1970	Great Britain def.   New Zealand 23–9	8,600	1970 New Zealand vs Great Britain series
5	4 August 1974	Great Britain def.   New Zealand 17–8	6,316	1974 New Zealand vs Great Britain series
6	15 June 1975	New Zealand def.   France 27–0	2,500	1975 Rugby League World Cup
7	12 June 1977	Great Britain def.   New Zealand 30–12	7,000	1977 Rugby League World Cup
8	5 August 1979	Great Britain def.   New Zealand 22–7	8,500	1979 New Zealand vs Great Britain series
9	22 July 1984	New Zealand def.   Great Britain 28–12	9,824	1984 New Zealand vs Great Britain series
10	17 July 1988	New Zealand def.   Great Britain 12–10	8,525	1988 Great Britain Lions tour
11	23 June 1991	New Zealand def.   France 32–10	2,000	1991 New Zealand vs France series
12	4 November 2017	New Zealand def.   Scotland 74–6	12,130	2017 Rugby League World Cup Group B
13	18 November 2017	Tonga def.   Lebanon 24–22	8,309	2017 Rugby League World Cup Quarter finals
14	9 November 2019	Fiji def.   Papua New Guinea 22–20	8,875	2019 Oceania Cup
15	9 November 2019	New Zealand def.   Great Britain 23–8	8,875	2019 Great Britain tour of Oceania

References

1. Gorman, Paul (8 September 2011). "League park Crusaders' new home". The Press. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
2. "Christchurch Stadium". Vbase. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
3. "Crusaders veteran Wyatt Crockett earns stadium name change". Stuff. 4 July 2018.
4. Kickoff delayed but winter codes expect to play 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine The Star, 4 March 2011
5. New rugby stadium for Christchurch New Zealand Herald, 8 November 2011
6. Phoenix to play pre-season tournament in India stuff.co.nz, 7 August 2012
7. "NRL: Panthers v Warriors | Austadiums". www.austadiums.com. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
8. "NRL: Sea Eagles v Warriors | Austadiums". austadiums.com. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
9. "Christchurch Stadium soon to be known as Orangetheory Stadium". Stuff. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
10. "New naming partnership for stadium". Newsline. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
11. "Warriors' three-year deal to take home games to Christchurch". warriors.kiwi. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
12. Rugby League Park @ Rugby League Project

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Addington Rugby Stadium.

• Orangetheory Stadium page at Vbase
• Christchurch Stadium broken med.govt.nz
• rleague.com
• Rugby League Park rugbyleagueproject.org