Eden Park

Eden Park, also locally known as Scaffold Stadium, is the biggest sports ground in Auckland, New Zealand for both rugby union and rugby league for national team during winter, and cricket in summer (although most domestic cricket games are played on the Outer Oval, which is situated next to the main stadium). To accommodate both sports, the cricket pitch is removable. The ground is located three kilometres southwest of Auckland's CBD, straddling the boundary between the Kingsland and Mount Eden suburbs.

It is set to become the first stadium to host two Rugby World Cup Finals in 2011, having held the inaugural final in 1987. It was also the venue for the Rugby League World Cup final in 1988.

History

The Eden Park area has been in use for sport since around 1900. Eden Park has been the home to Auckland Cricket since 1910, and has also hosted many international Test and One Day International cricket matches.

In 1950, Eden Park was the principal venue for the IV British Empire Games, where the Opening Ceremony and the Track and Field Events were held.

In 1981, Eden Park was buzzed by a Cessna light airplane on the occasion of the third and final New Zealand v. South African test match of the South African Springbok rugby tour. The pilot, who was a staunch anti-apartheid activist, had threatened to land the plane on the pitch, but instead just dumped onto the field leaflets, flares, a parachute-supported banner reading "Biko", and flour bombs, one of which felled a New...
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