Penrith Stadium (known commercially as BlueBet Stadium) is a

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 11 ...

and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

stadium located in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia. The 22,500 capacity venue is the home ground for the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrit ...

who play in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

(NRL). The all-time attendance record for the venue is 22,582 in a match between the Panthers and their

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

rivals

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

on 17 July 2010. The stadium is set to be demolished after the 2023 season with a new stadium built on the neighbouring site currently occupied by the Penrith Paceway.

History

Panthers Stadium has been used by the

since their entry into the

competition in 1967. Initially, the Stadium only had one main grandstand, the Western grandstand while the ground itself was oval in shape. In the 1980s, the stadium was redeveloped into a rectangle arena more suitable for rugby league and other sports such as association football (soccer) and rugby union. This redevelopment also saw the construction of the Eastern Grandstand. In 2006, a joint Federal and State Government funding project saw $30 million worth of investments come to the Stadium. In the subsequent developments, the Western Grandstand was extended and revamped. Following the completion of the project, the Stadium now holds 8,000 seats in the Grandstand. Two of

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final ...

matches were played at CUA Stadium: their

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...

game against

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

and their 9th place

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

match against former twice World Cup Finalists

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. At the end of 2010, the Federal and State Governments provided funding to redevelop the scoreboard end of the stadium. Initial plans were to build a double-sided grandstand between Penrith Stadium and Howell Oval. However, it was found that a main sewer line ran between the stadium and Howell Oval. Relocation of the line would have cost nearly double what the initial funding would cover. Subsequently, a stand is currently being constructed at Howell Oval, and the facilities at the Scoreboard end of the stadium were redeveloped. A new video screen was purchased from

Subiaco Oval Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood. Subiaco Oval was the high ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

in 2018 and was installed prior to the start of the 2019 NRL season at the Family Hill end. On June 17, 2021, multiple news sources reported that the

New South Wales government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governme ...

was considering funding a major redevelopment of the stadium. The proposal would entail the demolition of the facility and the construction of a 25,000 to 30,000 seat stadium on the site. The stadium was reported to cost 200 to 300 million dollars and would be built with the funds originally allocated for the redevelopment of Accor Stadium which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the 9th of December, 2021, premier of NSW, Dominic Perrottet and Stuart Ayres, minister for Tourism and Western Sydney, alongside

players

Nathan Cleary Nathan Cleary (born 14 November 1997) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a the Penrith Panthers in the NRL and Australia at international level. He won both the 2021 and the 2022 NRL Grand Finals with the Panth ...

and

Brian To'o Brian To'o (born 18 August 1998) is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a er for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL. He won both the 2021 and the 2022 NRL Grand Finals with the Panthers. He has represented the NSW Blues in ...

officially announced the new stadium. Under the original plan, the current stadium would close its doors and be demolished at the end of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season is the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest s ...

and will reopen in 2025. However, in July, 2022, the NSW government entered talks with the Penrith Paceway, a major horse racing facility, to buy the land it sits on to build a brand new stadium. The new plan would allow the

Panthers Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. ***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...

to play at the existing site until the new stadium is built. The plan is to then demolish the current ground.

Naming rights

Penrith Stadium was sponsored by

Credit Union Australia Great Southern Bank (formerly Credit Union Australia or CUA) is a customer-owned bank based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. As of 2013, it is the largest customer-owned financial institution in Australia. It offers banking and insurance ser ...

, who previously held the naming rights, from early 2006 until 31 October 2010. The stadium's name was sometimes shortened to CUA Stadium. On 22 January 2011, it was announced that sport betting agency Centrebet had acquired the rights to the sponsorship name of the stadium until 2016. Under their sponsorship rights the stadium was also known as the "Centrebet Stadium Penrith". On 21 June 2011, it was announced that, for the Women in League round of the NRL, Centrebet had agreed to forego the naming rights for one week, during which time the stadium would officially be known as "

McGrath Foundation The McGrath Foundation is a breast cancer support and education charity in Australia, which raises money to place McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities across Australia and increase breast health awareness. The charity was founded by Aust ...

Stadium". On 28 January 2014, it was announced that sport betting agency

Sportingbet Sportingbet is a British online gambling operator, owned by GVC Holdings plc. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index prior to its acquisition by GVC. History The company was found ...

acquired the rights to the sponsorship name of the stadium, changing the stadium's name to Sportingbet Stadium Penrith. On 12 February 2015, Pepper Group had replaced

as the naming rights sponsor, renaming the stadium to Pepper Stadium. At the end of 2017, Pepper Group ended their sponsorship of the ground and the stadium was renamed Panthers Stadium. On 22 March 2021, BlueBet was announced as the stadium's naming rights partner, signing a two-year deal.

Tenants

In the

competition, the

club have played at this stadium, as their home ground, ever since making their first grade appearance in 1967. In the National Soccer League, the Penrith City SC club played here in 1984–1985. The stadium hosted a

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

pre-season friendly against

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

on 22 September 2013, and was host to a competitive A-League Premiership match against the

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

on 8 February 2015. The Wanderers also played an

FFA Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Austral ...

match against

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

at the venue on 11 August 2015. On 16 September 2017 the venue hosted an international women's friendly football game when the Matildas defeated Brazil 2–1 in front of a crowd of 15,089.

Rugby league test matches

List of rugby league test and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

matches played at Penrith Stadium.Penrith Stadium results @ Rugby League Project
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International Soccer matches

List of International Football matches played at Penrith Stadium.

Gallery

Image:CUA Stadium.JPG, Penrith Stadium from halfway Image:CUA Stadium 2.JPG, Family Hill End of the Stadium Image:CUA Stadium 3.JPG, Scoreboard End of the Stadium Image:The_Family_Hill_at_Penrith_Stadium_in_2021.jpg, The Family Hill End of the Stadium in 2021 with the video screen purchased from Subiaco Oval visible Image:The_main_grandstand_at_Penrith_Stadium_in_2021.jpg, The main grandstand at the Stadium prior to

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

in 2021

References

External links

* {{A-League Women stadiums Rugby league stadiums in Australia Rugby League World Cup stadiums Soccer venues in Sydney Sports venues in Sydney Penrith Panthers Legends Football League venues 1967 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1967 A-League Women stadiums Penrith, New South Wales