Newcastle Number 1 Sports Ground is a multi-use

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

located in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

, and has a nominated capacity of approximately 10,000. It neighbours Newcastle Number 2 Sports Ground.

Cricket

It is currently used mostly for

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

matches, located within

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

. The ground first hosted

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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

in 1981 when

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

played

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Ground was for many years a stopover on the tour itinerary for many visiting teams as they faced the Northern New South Wales XI. In 1981/82 the ground was allocated a Sheffield Shield match when the SCG was unavailable, and healthy crowds saw No.1 then become host to at least one first-class fixture per year. Newcastle District Cricket Association also use the Sports Ground for 1st grade matches. It is used primarily for the grand final held every March. In March 2009, Belmont DCC defeated Toronto Workers Kookaburras at the ground to win the premiership. As of 2014, 20 First-class matches had been played at the ground, the last in 2009. The ground will play host to a match between New South Wales Blues against Western Australia Warriors in

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

played from February 25 to 28. The ground will receive a multi million-dollar upgrade in September 2020. The upgrade will consist of new concrete seating to be added to increase the seating capacity of the ground from 400 to 790 along the Parry St side of the ground, new lighting, drainage, a new fence and sightscreens, resurfacing and a new cricket square with the size of the playing field increased to cater for pre-season

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

games. This will mean that the Newcastle City AFC will have to play at another venue, potentially Hawkins Oval, until No.1 reopens. The venue could potentially host an AFL Women's fixture in 2022.

Other uses

No. 1 Sports Ground is currently used for

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

, cricket and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

and has been used for athletics, rugby union and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

at various times. It also hosts the local rugby league and

grand finals each year, and is currently used as a home ground by the Newcastle City Australian rules football and cricket clubs.

International soccer matches

The stadium has also been used for three international friendly matches across three different decades all of which featured the

Australia men's national soccer team The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's Association football, soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Austral ...

. The first match was against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on 17 September 1938 which ended in a 4–1 victory for India.

Concerts

From 2018 onwards, concerts associated with the

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...

motor racing event, the

Newcastle 500 The Newcastle 500 was an annual motor racing event for Supercars Championship, Supercars, held at the Newcastle Street Circuit in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia in 2017 Newcastle 500, 2017, 2018 Newcastle 500, 2018, 2019 Newcastle 500, 2 ...

, have been held at the venue. A

Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977, becoming best known internationally for their song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 ...

concert took place on 24 November 2018 as part of their "Walk Between Worlds Tour", but a

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

concert scheduled for 23 November 2019 as part of their One Last Kiss: End of the Road World Tour was cancelled along with the rest of the Australian/New Zealand tour dates.

Attendance records

Top 5 Sports Attendance Records ^{''Last updated on 13 July 2014''}

References

External links

*
cricinfo

Starting in the 2009 season, the no 1 Sports ground is also hosting Football (Soccer), as home ground to the inner city's top football club, Cooks Hill United who compete in the ID2 regional competition. {{Hunter Region places and items of interest Cricket grounds in New South Wales Sport in Newcastle, New South Wales