Kensington Oval, Adelaide

The Kensington Oval is located on 344 The Parade, Kensington, South Australia. Now used primarily for cricket in South Australia, the venue was once Adelaide's premier athletics facility and known as Olympic Sports Field.

Early history

Kensington Oval was officially opened on Saturday, 10 July, 1875.

The ground was originally used for a range of sports including Australian Rules Football. The Kensington Football Club and the Norwood Football Club played at the oval between 1875 and 1897.

As the home ground of the Kensington Districts Cricket Club, Sir Donald Bradman played there often in the 1930s.

Olympic Sports Field

From 1963, the ground was converted into an athletics stadium, featuring a rubber-bitumen track. In 1975, the track was upgraded to tartan track.

As Olympic Sports Field, the ground was home to Athletics South Australia's interclub athletics competition from October to March and the South Australian Championships. A number of Australian Championships; in 1967, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1981, 1986 and 1992, were also held at the venue.

The ground was also home to the Adelaide City soccer club and, in 1977, a game against Sydney Marconi saw a record crowd of 13,132.

Redevelopment as Kensington Oval

In the 1990s, a new home for South Australian athletics, Santos Stadium, was built and...
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