Carisbrook

This article is about the sports venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. For the village on the Isle of Wight, see Carisbrooke. For the castle, see Carisbrooke Castle. For the town in Victoria, Australia, see Carisbrook, Victoria.
Carisbrook
"The House of Pain"
Location Dunedin, New Zealand
Coordinates 45°53′37″S 170°29′26″E / 45.89361°S 170.49056°E / -45.89361; 170.49056Coordinates: 45°53′37″S 170°29′26″E / 45.89361°S 170.49056°E / -45.89361; 170.49056
Owner Carisbrook Ground Company
Operator Carisbrook Ground Company
Capacity 29,000 [1]
Surface Grass
Construction
Broke ground 1881
Opened 1883
Closed 2011
Demolished Starting 2013
Tenants
Otago Rugby Football Union
Highlanders (Super 14) (1996–2011)
Ground information
End names
Railway End
Hillside End
International information
First Test 11–16 March 1955:
 New Zealand v  England
Last Test 18–22 December 1998:
 New Zealand v  India
First ODI 30 March 1974:
 New Zealand v  Australia
Last ODI 25 February 2004:
 New Zealand v  South Africa
As of 8 January 2016
Source: ESPNcricinfo

Carisbrook (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Carisbrook Stadium) was a major sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The city's main domestic and international rugby union venue, it was also used for other sports such as cricket, football, rugby league and motocross. Carisbrook also hosted a Joe Cocker concert and frequently hosted pre-game concerts before rugby matches in the 1990s. In 2011 Carisbrook was closed, and was replaced by Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza in North Dunedin.

Floodlit since the 1990s, it could cater for both day and night fixtures. Known locally simply as "The Brook", it has been branded with the name "The House of Pain", due to its reputation as a difficult venue for visiting teams.[2]

Located at the foot of The Glen, a steep valley, the ground was flanked by the South Island Main Trunk Railway and the Hillside Railway Workshops, two miles southwest of Dunedin city centre in the suburb of Caversham. State Highway 1 also ran close to the northern perimeter of the ground.

Carisbrook was named after the estate of early colonial settler James Macandrew (itself named after a castle on the Isle of Wight). Developed during the 1870s, it was first used for international cricket in 1883, when Otago hosted a team from Tasmania. It hosted rugby union internationals since 1908 and full cricket internationals since 1955.

The stadium was home to both the Highlanders in Super Rugby and Otago in the ITM Cup through each side's respective 2011 season. It is also the former home of Otago cricket, which moved to the University Oval at Logan Park in the north of the city after the redevelopment in the early 2000s, and also of Otago United Football team in the New Zealand Football Championship, which moved to the lower-capacity Sunnyvale Park for the 2008–09 season.

Stands

The ground's final regular capacity was around 30,000, but has hosted crowds as high as 42,000 in the past with temporary seating.[3] Until 1998 the sides of the Caversham bypass motorway allowed a free view of the ground and was known as the "Scotsman's Grandstand". Occasionally trains would slow to a crawl or stop on the track above the stadium to allowing passengers to watch an entire event. In 1998 a new stand and corporate boxes were built that blocked the view.[4] Partly due to Dunedin's relatively large number of tertiary students (20,000 of the city's 120,000 population), Carisbrook has a unique atmosphere.[5] This is enhanced by the terraces, an uncovered concrete embankment at the eastern end of the ground.[6]

Retirement and Recycled

On 9 August 2006, a proposal was announced that would see Carisbrook retired and a 30,000 capacity covered stadium built in Dunedin North, close to other major sporting facilities such as Logan Park and the University Oval.[7] Construction and ownership of the new $NZ 198 million stadium,[8] officially named the Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza, would be overseen by the Carisbrook Stadium Trust.[9] Until the new stadium was completed, all international and Super Rugby games were still held at Carisbrook.

The last international game was expected to be the All Blacks versus South Africa Tri Nations match on 12 July 2008. However, the All Blacks returned to Carisbrook to play France on 13 June 2009[10] and finally Wales on 19 June 2010.[2] This game meant that the All Blacks had played every major test-playing nation at Carisbrook. A later test match, destined to be the last at the ground, was scheduled between New Zealand and Fiji as a fundraiser for the Christchurch earthquake appeal on 22 July 2011.

On 11 May 2011 the Dunedin City Council decided that Carisbrook would be sold after the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Demolition work was begun at the start of 2012, with the floodlight towers being dismantled and sent up to Christchurch for use by the new temporary Christchurch Rugby Stadium at Addington Showgrounds, to allow that city a first-class ground while AMI Stadium awaits rebuilding. Originally the floodlights were to be reused at the University Oval for day/night cricket matches. The corporate box stand, which was only 14 years old, was always designed to be dismantled for use elsewhere, and there are proposals to move parts of the structure to University Oval and some to Queenstown's Stadium. The turnstile building on Neville Street is a category I historic building and would be protected during any potential developments on the site.[11]

Carisbrook was sold to the Dunedin City Council in 2009 for $7,000,000. It was sold on in 2013 for $4,700,000.[12]

This result appeared to support objections made at the time of purchase, of a decision not based on sound advice, and possibly blurred with non-commercial or personal considerations. Many rate-payers continue to be angry about this and the huge expense passed to ratepayers over the development of the Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza in North Dunedin.

Historic Events

See also

References

  1. ↑ www.orfu.co.nz Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. 1 2 New Zealand farewell the House of Pain in style Sydney Morning Herald
  3. ↑ Edwards, Brent (25 October 2009). "Rugby: Otago down on their knees". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  4. ↑ Goodbye Carisbrook. | News Article | klikFC Archived 2 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ "Carisbrook - the Highlanders". Stuff.co.nz. 12 February 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  6. ↑ Houlihan, Mike (18 June 2010). "Over and out from Carisbrook". The Press. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  7. ↑ "Rugby: Dunedin stadium on schedule". The New Zealand Herald. 12 January 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  8. ↑ Ihaka, James (26 April 2011). "$500m Rugby World Cup deficit". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  9. ↑ "New stadium approved for Dunedin". The New Zealand Herald. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  10. ↑ Otago Daily Times article
  11. ↑ Loughrey, David (12 May 2011). "Council decides to sell Carisbrook". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  12. ↑ "Carisbrook $3.4 million loss confirmed".
  13. ↑ Hilton, T. (1991) An association with soccer. Auckland: The New Zealand Football Association. ISBN 0-473-01291-X. p.144
  14. ↑ "Carisbrook". ESPN Cricinfo. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  15. ↑ Gilhooly, Daniel (10 July 2008). "Historic southern test packs 'em in". nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
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