The Sydney Sports Ground No. 1 was a

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 ...

and

dirt track racing Dirt track racing is a form of motorsport held on clay or dirt surfaced banked oval racetracks. Dirt track racing started in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 1930s using both automobiles and motorc ...

venue 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 ...

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 ...

. The ground was located where the car park of the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) currently sits. The ground had two main grandstands and was surrounded by a grass covered hill, giving it a capacity of more than 35,000. It was demolished along with the smaller No.2 Ground in 1986 to allow the building of the SFS, which opened in 1988. During its lifespan the sports ground hosted

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 ...

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 ...

soccer 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 ...

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

, and

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

car racing. The Sports Ground was the home ground of

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.It was registered on 21 ...

team, the

Eastern Suburbs Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

, the club playing 500 games at the ground from 1911 until 1986, with a 283-199-18 W-L-D record.

History

Sport

The ground's primary use was as the home venue for Eastern Suburbs, who began playing at the ground in Round 2 of the 1911 NSWRFL season with a 22–9 win over

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

on 6 May in front of 5,000 fans. The Roosters played their last game at the Sports Ground on 29 June 1986, defeating North Sydney 21–14 in front of only 8,175 fans. The

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

club also used it as a home ground intermittently from 1911 to 1947 before relocating to Redfern Oval. South Sydney played a total of 280 home matches at the venue between 1911-1985. The Roosters recorded their biggest ever win at the Sydney Sports Ground on 18 May 1935, when they defeated Canterbury-Bankstown 87–7 in a Round 6 clash of the 1935 season. Easts ran in 19 tries to one with

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

test centre Dave Brown, the " Bradman of rugby league", scoring 45 points from 5 tries and 15 goals. Easts would win their 5th premiership in 1935 while Brown would go on to be the season's leading try scorer with 38 (still the league record for tries in a season as of

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

) and leading point scorer with 244 points (38 tries, 62 goals). The Sydney Sports Ground also hosted the 1951 NSWRL Grand Final with South Sydney easily accounting for Manly-Warringah playing in their first ever grand final by a score of 42–14 in front of 28,505 fans, the smallest grand final crowd since

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

. The Sports Ground was used as the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

was in use on that day.

Soccer 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 ...

and rugby league were among the sports held at the ground, but soccer teams also used the ground for major matches. It was also an important open-air boxing venue between the 1930s and 1960s. The champion Australian boxers Jack Carroll, Ron Richards and Jimmy Carruthers has memorable victories there. The Sydney Sports Ground was one of the venues used in the

1938 British Empire Games The 1938 British Empire Games were the third British Empire Games, the event that evolved to become the Commonwealth Games. Held in Sydney, Australia from 5–12 February 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary (150 yea ...

. The ground also hosted six matches the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship with a highest attendance of 28,932 for the double header with

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

defeating

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1-0 and host nation

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

holding

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to a 1-1 draw. The average attendance at the Sports Ground for the tournament was 17,270. For many years the ground also hosted minor

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 ...

representative matches and the annual Sydney rugby premiership grand final. Among some of the most memorable of these games were wins by the Sydney team over more fancied visitors such as

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and a 13-all draw with the New Zealand All Blacks. Sydney's 18–16 win over Wales in 1978 featured one of the most famous field goals ever kicked in Australia when winger

Laurie Monaghan Laurence Edward Monaghan (born 19 May 1951) is an Australian former 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 ...

's long range effort sailed over the crossbar in the dying minutes to seal a legendary victory. To raise money for Boys' Town - a Catholic home for troubled youths at Engadine, south of Sydney - the bookmaker George Nathan each Sunday organised a fund-raising carnival, with trotting, cycling and midget-car racing that packed the Sydney Sports Ground.

Speedway

From 1907 the Sydney Sports Ground was used as a

Motorcycle racing The motorcycle sport of racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and ...

track. The track that was later to become the dirt speedway was then concrete. The concrete was removed in the 1920s and replaced by a ¼ Mile, dirt track, and starting on 30 October 1937 the Sports Ground was a

Dirt track racing Dirt track racing is a form of motorsport held on clay or dirt surfaced banked oval racetracks. Dirt track racing started in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 1930s using both automobiles and motorc ...

Speedway venue hosting Solos, Sidecars and Speedcars. The Sydney Sports Ground Speedway was officially opened in 1937 by Mr E. A. Buttershaw, NSW Minister for Lands. The ground held the first ever Australian Speedcar Grand Prix on 12 March 1938 and was won by Sydney driver Les Dillon who was killed at the track only two months later becoming the speedway's first fatality. Between 1938 and 1953, eight Solo riders and four Speedcar drivers died as a result of accidents on the dirt track. The Sports Ground held its last speedway meeting on 25 March 1955.

's Speedway Star of the 1930s through to the early 1950s Jack Parker, stated that the Sports Ground track was "The best Speedway track in the World" after one of his visits to Australia to captain

in numerous test matches at the ground against the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...

who often had among their ranks Speedway World Champions

Lionel Van Praag Lionel Maurice Van Praag, George Medal, GM (17 December 1908 – 15 May 1987) was an Australian motorcycle speedway champion, who won the inaugural Speedway World Championship in London on 10 September 1936. Van Praag's victory saw him establis ...

Bluey Wilkinson Arthur George "Bluey" Wilkinson (27 August 1911 – 27 July 1940) was an Australian speedway rider. Wilkinson was Speedway World Champion in 1938 after narrowly missing out on winning the inaugural Championship in 1936. Early life Born in ...

, and later Jack Young. During its 18 years of operation, the Sports Ground Speedway also played host on occasion to the Australian Solo Championship, Australian Sidecar Championship, Australian Speedcar Championship, NSW Solo Championship, NSW Sidecar Championship and the NSW Speedcar Championship. On 19 June 2004 a plaque was unveiled on the site of the former Sports Ground. It reads:

Fatalities

In an era when death was an accepted risk of the sport, 12 competitors lost their lives while racing at the Sydney Sports Ground. In the most tragic accident, close friends off the track Norm Clay and Ray Duggan both died after crashing together in a Solo race there on 21 January 1950. The 12 Speedway competitors who lost their lives at the Sports Ground are *Les Dillon - Speedcar (22 May 1938) *Claude Miller - Speedcar (25 April 1939) *Len Behrmann -

Solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

(1945) *Jack Daly - Speedcar (5 January 1946) *Bob Hibbert - Solo (10 May 1946) *Norm Gillespie - Solo (2 April 1948) *Jack Sharpe (John Sharpe Gibson) - Solo (22 October 1948) *Norm Clay - Solo (21 January 1950) * Ray Duggan - Solo (21 January 1950) * Ken Le Breton - Solo (5 January 1951) *Bill Annabel - Speedcar (23 October 1953) *Noel Watson - Solo (6 November 1953)

Track records in 1952

(1 lap rolling start): 0:16.2 - Lionel Levy () *Solo (1 lap clutch start): 0:18.2 - Lionel Levy () *Sidecar (2 laps flying start): 37- 1/5 secs - Jack Carruthers () *Sidecar (2 laps clutch start): 39- 1/5 secs - Jim Davies () * Speedcar (1 lap rolling start): 16- 4/5 secs - Frank Brewer (/) *Speedcar (2 laps rolling start): 33- 3/5 secs - Ray Revell () *Speedcar (50 laps rolling start): 16:49.0 - Beale Simmons ()

References

External links

The Sydney Sportground SpeedwayBoxing contests at the ground
*http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page10876209?zoomLevel=5 {{Motorcycle speedway tracks Sydney Roosters Sports venues in Sydney Defunct rugby league venues in Australia Defunct speedway venues in Australia South Sydney Rabbitohs Balmain Tigers Sports venues completed in 1911 Sports venues demolished in 1987 1911 establishments in Australia Demolished buildings and structures in Sydney 1987 disestablishments in Australia Defunct soccer venues in Australia Defunct rugby union stadiums in Australia Demolished sports venues