Pratten Park is a sporting venue in the suburb of Ashfield in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. It was officially opened on 12 September 1912 by the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, Governor-General of Australia at the national level, the governor ...

, Frederic Thesiger. Pratten Park was named after

Herbert Pratten Herbert Edward Pratten (7 May 1865 – 7 May 1928) was an Australian politician. He served as Minister for Health (Australia), Minister for Health (1924–1925) and Minister for Trade (Australia), Minister for Trade and Customs (1924–1928) in ...

, an alderman and then mayor of Ashfield. The park is best known as the original home of the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) is an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as the club is commonly ...

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 ...

team, who played there from 1912 to 1966 and then sporadically from 1971 to 1973 and in 1977 and 1985. The final first grade rugby league match played at the park was on 18 August 1985, where Wests played Penrith, who won the match 42–16. In total, 353 first grade games were played at Pratten Park. The ground has also been used for lower league NSW Soccer matches. Its highest attendance for a rugby league match was 12,407 in a 1964 New South Wales Rugby Football League season game between Western Suburbs and

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

, and 13,556 for a soccer game in 1984 between

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states o ...

and

APIA Leichhardt FC APIA Leichhardt Football Club, also known simply as APIA (Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana), is a semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Leichhardt, New South Wales, Leichhardt in Sydney, Australia. The club was forme ...

. The ground is still home to the

Western Suburbs District Cricket Club Western Suburbs District Cricket Club is a cricket club based in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They are also known as the Western Suburbs and play in the Sydney Grade Cricket competition. They were founded in 1895 a ...

Facilities

Pratten Park has very basic facilities. There is a small grandstand in the north-western corner with the rest of the ground surrounded by grass hills. Over a number of years, the grandstand fell into disrepair and was eventually closed, but restoration work saw it re-opened in late 2007.

Sources

* * www.westsmagpies.com.au

References

Sports venues in Sydney Rugby league stadiums in Australia Western Suburbs Magpies 1912 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1912 Cricket grounds in New South Wales {{NewSouthWales-struct-stub