Alpine Energy Stadium, originally called Fraser Park, is a sports stadium in

Timaru Timaru (; ) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to peo ...

, New Zealand. It is currently used mostly for

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

matches. The stadium is able to hold 12,000 people or 12,500 with temporary seating.

History

The South Canterbury Amateur Athletic Club purchased land on Otipua Road in 1871 and developed it for athletics. In 1876 it became the home of South Canterbury rugby. It also staged cricket and trotting events. Originally called the South Canterbury Amateur Athletic Club Grounds, it was renamed Fraser Park in 1926, and Alpine Energy Stadium in 1995. That same year, overhead floodlights were installed for night games at the park.

Tenants

The stadium is the home ground of the South Canterbury Rugby Team, who play in the

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship is an annual Round-robin tournament, round-robin rugby union competition in men's domestic Rugby union in New Zealand, New Zealand rugby. First played in 2006, it is the third highest level of List of rugby union comp ...

Stadium

The stadium had two main stands until April 2016 the east stand was closed permanently due to damage. Otherwise, the stadium is surrounded by embankment.

Temporary site for games from Christchurch

In the wake of the February

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

, the Christchurch

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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

team, the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

, moved two

Super 15 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

seasonal games (versus the

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine * Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding *Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

and the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

) to Alpine Energy Stadium.

References

Rugby union stadiums in New Zealand Sport in Timaru Multi-purpose stadiums in New Zealand Sports venues in the Canterbury Region Crusaders (rugby union) {{NewZealand-sports-venue-stub