Carisbrook (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Carisbrook Stadium) was a major sporting venue in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand. The city's main domestic and international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

venue, it was also used for other sports such as

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competiti ...

. In 1922, Carisbrook hosted the very first international

match between

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and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. The hosts won 3-1. Carisbrook also hosted a

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

concert and frequently hosted pre-game concerts before rugby matches in the 1990s. In 2011 Carisbrook was closed, and was replaced as a rugby ground by

Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza The Forsyth Barr Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand. At various stages of development it was also known as Dunedin Stadium or Awatea Street Stadium, or its non-commercial official name during the 2011 Rugby World Cup a ...

in North Dunedin, and as a cricket ground by University Oval in Logan Park.

History

Located at the foot of The Glen, a steep valley, the ground was flanked by the

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and the

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, two miles southwest of Dunedin city centre in the suburb of Caversham. State Highway 1 also ran close to the northern perimeter of the ground. Carisbrook was named after the estate of early colonial settler James Macandrew (itself named after Carisbrooke Castle on the

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). Developed during the 1870s, it was first used for international cricket in 1883, when Otago hosted a team from

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, and for

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

from 1955. It hosted rugby union internationals from 1908. Floodlit since the 1990s, it could cater for both day and night fixtures. Known locally simply as "The Brook", it was branded with the name "The House of Pain", due to its reputation as a difficult venue for visiting rugby teams.New Zealand farewell the House of Pain in style
Sydney Morning Herald The stadium was home to both the Highlanders in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

and

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

in the

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Global School, an English medium co-educational day school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Tek ...

through each side's respective 2011 season. It also hosted 38

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

test matches. It is also the former home of Otago cricket, which moved to the University Oval at Logan Park in the north of the city after its redevelopment in the early 2000s. Between 1884 and 2008 Carisbrook hosted 252

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

matches, including, between 1955 and 1998, 10

matches. It was also the home ground of Otago United in the

New Zealand Football Championship The New Zealand Football Championship ( mi, Te Whakataetae Whutupaoro a Aotearoa) was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a ...

, which moved to the lower-capacity

Sunnyvale Park Sunnyvale Park is a multi-use sports venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is located immediately to the west of Abbotsford in Sunnyvale, near Green Island, and is bounded by Main South Road, Dunedin Southern Motorway and Abbot's Creek, a tributa ...

for the 2008–09 season.

Stands

The ground's final regular capacity was around 30,000, but it hosted crowds as high as 42,000 with temporary seating. Until 1998 the sides of the Caversham bypass motorway allowed a free view of the ground and was known as the "Scotsman's Grandstand". Occasionally trains would slow to a crawl or stop on the track above the stadium, allowing passengers to watch. In 1998 a new stand and corporate boxes were built that blocked the view. Partly due to Dunedin's relatively large number of tertiary students (20,000 of the city's 120,000 population), Carisbrook had a unique atmosphere. This was enhanced by the terraces, an uncovered concrete embankment at the eastern end of the ground.

Retirement and recycling

On 9 August 2006, a proposal was announced that would see Carisbrook retired and a 30,000 capacity covered stadium built in Dunedin North, close to other major sporting facilities such as Logan Park and the University Oval. Construction and ownership of the new $NZ 198 million stadium, officially named the

, would be overseen by the Carisbrook Stadium Trust. Until the new stadium was completed, all international and

games were still held at Carisbrook. The last international game was expected to be the

versus

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

Tri Nations match on 12 July 2008. However, the All Blacks returned to Carisbrook to play

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 13 June 2009 and finally

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

on 19 June 2010. This game meant that the All Blacks had played every major test-playing nation at Carisbrook. A later test match, destined to be the last at the ground, was scheduled between New Zealand and Fiji as a fundraiser for the Christchurch earthquake appeal on 22 July 2011. On 11 May 2011 the

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decided that Carisbrook would be sold after the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

. Demolition work was begun at the start of 2012, with the floodlight towers being dismantled and sent up to

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for use by the new temporary Christchurch Rugby Stadium at Addington Showgrounds, to allow that city a first-class ground while AMI Stadium awaits rebuilding. Originally the floodlights were to be reused at the University Oval for day/night cricket matches. The corporate box stand, which was only 14 years old, was always designed to be dismantled for use elsewhere, and there are proposals to move parts of the structure to University Oval and some to Queenstown's Stadium. The turnstile building on Neville Street is a category I historic building and would be protected during any potential developments on the site. Carisbrook was sold to the Dunedin City Council in 2009 for $7,000,000. It was sold on in 2013 for $4,700,000.

Historic events

*1884 2 February – First major cricket match at Carisbrook, Otago v Tasmania *1886 22 November – First international cricket match at Carisbrook, Otago v Australia *1908 30 May – First Otago Rugby defeat of international side, Anglo-Welsh *1908 30 June – First Rugby Test at Carisbrook (NZ v Anglo-Welsh) *1922 17 June –

's first full international football (soccer) match, a 3–1 win to

over

*1924 9 August – First Rugby League Test at Carisbrook (NZ v England Lions) *1930 21 June – First All Black defeat at Carisbrook (by Great Britain) *1936 1 August – First

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challen ...

match at Carisbrook *1955 11 March – First cricket Test at Carisbrook, New Zealand v England *1987 May–June –

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb ...

games (Italy 18, Fiji 15; Ireland 46, Canada 19) 1991 September 21st Otago wins NPC Final against Auckland - *1992 12 March –

Cricket World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), ...

(New Zealand vs India) *1992 27 September – First extra time in a rugby match in New Zealand (Otago 26, North Harbour 23) *1993 July – Rugby, New Zealand v Australia, largest attendance at the ground, 42 000. *1996 3 March – First

Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

match at Carisbrook (Otago Highlanders 57, Queensland 17) *1998 25 October – National Provincial Championship Division 1 Final (Otago vs Waikato) *1998 18 December – Last cricket Test at Carisbrook, New Zealand v India *1999 29 May – 1999 Super 12 Final (Highlanders vs Crusaders) *1999 12–21 November – Group stage matches and one quarter-final of the FIFA Under-17 Soccer World Championship *2001 11 August – First win by Australia over the All Blacks (23–15) at the venue *2005 27 August – The last International Rugby match (All Blacks 31, South Africa 27) before the

NZRFU New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to ...

deemed Carisbrook to no longer be a suitable venue for International Rugby *2008 12 July – After a 3-year absence of International Rugby at Carisbrook a Tri Nations match between All Blacks and South Africa was played. At the same time this was South Africa's first win at Carisbrook after beating the All Blacks 30–28. *2010 19 June – The last official rugby Test against a "Tier 1" nation was played at the ground (All Blacks vs Wales), with the All Blacks winning 42–9. *2011 3 June – The final Highlanders match at Carisbrook saw the Western Force defeat the Highlanders 21–14. *2011 22 July – The All Blacks defeated Fiji 60–14 in the final Test match, which served as a fundraiser for Christchurch earthquake relief. *2012 January – Dismantlement begins with floodlight towers being sent to

References

External links