EnergyAustralia Stadium
Encyclopedia
Newcastle International Sports Centre (sponsor name
: Ausgrid Stadium) is a multi-purpose sports stadium
located in Newcastle, New South Wales
, Australia
. It is the home ground of the Newcastle Knights
(National Rugby League
) and the Newcastle United Jets
(A-League
) teams. It is owned by the New South Wales government and administered by the Hunter Region Sporting Venues Authority. Due to past sponsorship deals, the ground has been previously known as Marathon Stadium and EnergyAustralia Stadium.
The Knights secured a lease on the stadium in 1986, and converted it from an oval to a rectangle layout. In 1992, local tyre outlet Marathon Tyres became the naming rights sponsor for the stadium, and it was renamed Marathon Stadium. Towards the end of 2001, energy supplier EnergyAustralia
took over naming rights, and thus the stadium became EnergyAustralia Stadium. In February 2011 it was announced that the stadium would be renamed to "Ausgrid Stadium" after EnergyAustralia was renamed "Ausgrid".
Before redevelopment, the stadium had a capacity of 28,000, including 5,000 in the main grandstand. The ground attendance record is 32,642, which was set when the Knights took on the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
in July 1995. Despite a lack of incidents, police subsequently asked for the allowed capacity to be lowered for reasons of safety.
Following the retirement of former Knights captain Andrew Johns
, the new eastern grandstand was renamed The Andrew Johns
Stand in honour of Johns in front of a packed crowd before the Knights vs Brisbane Broncos
NRL match on Sunday 22 April 2007.
The name (Newcastle International Sports Centre) is used primarily by those who wish to mention stadiums by original names, such as non-commercial organisations like the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
, and those with other corporate interests such as FIFA
or the Asian Football Confederation
.
In October 2011 it hosted a rugby league
one-off test match between Australia and New Zealand. This event set a new ground attendance record of 32, 890.
Factors that brought on the redevelopment included:
The first stage of the redevelopment was completed in early 2004. This consisted of;
The second stage of construction began in 2004 and was completed in 2005. This consisted of:
Morris Iemma
promised $
30 million towards an upgrade of the stadium, conditional on the Federal Government
matching the funds.
On 1 April 2008 the federal government confirmed $10m towards the development of the Western Grandstand. This is in addition to the $30m commitment from the state government. This is a critical step for the stadium's development for the upgrade to be in by 2011. The A$
40 million will contribute to an expansion of the stadium's capacity to eventually hold over 40,000 as well as general improvements in the stadiums facilities.
From 2008-10 the stadium is being upgraded again to around 33 000 seats, with a hope for the stadium to be involved in the 2015 Asian Cup
and 2018 World Cup should Australia be the host of those tournaments. As part of the announcement, Morris Iemma stated that the capacity of 33,000 can be increased to the 40,000 necessary for World Cup Hosting, through temporary seating. The total cost of the upgrade is $60 million, with $50 million from the state government and $10 million from the Federal Government.
Although construction will take place during both the Newcastle Knights
and Newcastle Jets seasons, developers have stated that there will be minimal affect on attendances due to the staged approach.
The stadium development is being carried out over four stages.
Naming rights
In the private sector, naming rights are a financial transaction whereby a corporation or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, typically for a defined period of time. For properties like a multi-purpose arena, performing arts venue or an athletic field, the term ranges from three...
: Ausgrid Stadium) is a multi-purpose sports stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
located in Newcastle, New South Wales
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It is the home ground of the Newcastle Knights
Newcastle Knights
The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...
(National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
) and the Newcastle United Jets
Newcastle United Jets
Newcastle United Jets Football Club is a professional football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The club competes in the A-League and plays its home games at Ausgrid Stadium . The Jets have won one A-League championship, defeating arch rivals the 1–0 in the 2007–08 Grand Final...
(A-League
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
) teams. It is owned by the New South Wales government and administered by the Hunter Region Sporting Venues Authority. Due to past sponsorship deals, the ground has been previously known as Marathon Stadium and EnergyAustralia Stadium.
History
Work began on the stadium on 1 December 1967, and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 10 April 1970. It was originally known as the International Sports Centre, and is still part of the ISC complex to this day.The Knights secured a lease on the stadium in 1986, and converted it from an oval to a rectangle layout. In 1992, local tyre outlet Marathon Tyres became the naming rights sponsor for the stadium, and it was renamed Marathon Stadium. Towards the end of 2001, energy supplier EnergyAustralia
EnergyAustralia
EnergyAustralia is a large Australian electricity and natural gas supplier and retailer. A subsidiary of TRUenergy, it primarily supplies the Sydney, Newcastle and Central Coast areas of New South Wales and has, since market deregulation, increased its focus on retail supply opportunities in...
took over naming rights, and thus the stadium became EnergyAustralia Stadium. In February 2011 it was announced that the stadium would be renamed to "Ausgrid Stadium" after EnergyAustralia was renamed "Ausgrid".
Before redevelopment, the stadium had a capacity of 28,000, including 5,000 in the main grandstand. The ground attendance record is 32,642, which was set when the Knights took on the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
in July 1995. Despite a lack of incidents, police subsequently asked for the allowed capacity to be lowered for reasons of safety.
Following the retirement of former Knights captain Andrew Johns
Andrew Johns
Andrew Gary "Joey" Johns is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s who is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. He was heralded as the world's best halfback for a number of years...
, the new eastern grandstand was renamed The Andrew Johns
Andrew Johns
Andrew Gary "Joey" Johns is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s who is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. He was heralded as the world's best halfback for a number of years...
Stand in honour of Johns in front of a packed crowd before the Knights vs Brisbane Broncos
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two...
NRL match on Sunday 22 April 2007.
The name (Newcastle International Sports Centre) is used primarily by those who wish to mention stadiums by original names, such as non-commercial organisations like the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, and those with other corporate interests such as FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
or the Asian Football Confederation
Asian Football Confederation
The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football in Asia. It has 46 member countries, mostly located on the Asian continent. However, due to the disputed boundary of Europe and Asia, nations such as Russia and Turkey which are located mostly in geographic Asia are...
.
In October 2011 it hosted a rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
one-off test match between Australia and New Zealand. This event set a new ground attendance record of 32, 890.
2003-05
The stadium underwent redevelopment during the years 2003-2005, funded mostly by local and state government grants.Factors that brought on the redevelopment included:
- non-compliance of National Rugby LeagueNational Rugby LeagueThe National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
(NRL) stadium criteria, especially the dressing rooms; - failure to attract major sporting events to the area, specifically the 2003 Rugby World Cup2003 Rugby World CupThe 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...
; - inadequate and ageing spectator and corporate facilities;
- covered seating capacitySeating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
well below best practice and NRL standards; - minimal areas within the grandstand to increase members' patronage both during a sporting event and on non-match-days;
- poor facilities for media officials;
- unsatisfactory temporary spectator facilities to the north and south of the western stand;
- the perceived need for the incumbent StateGovernment of New South WalesThe form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...
LaborAustralian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government to contribute to the public infrastructurePublic worksPublic works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
in a regionHunter ValleyThe Hunter Region, more commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney with an approximate population of 645,395 people. Most of the population of the Hunter Region lives within of the coast, with 55% of the entire...
of safe seatSafe seatA safe seat is a seat in a legislative body which is regarded as fully secured, either by a certain political party, the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both...
s.
The first stage of the redevelopment was completed in early 2004. This consisted of;
- The construction of the lower level of the Eastern Stand (brought into operation for the 2004 NRL season and Anzac Test between Australia and New Zealand). This level holds 7,700 people.
- The relocation of corporate boxes and seating to the North and South stands.
The second stage of construction began in 2004 and was completed in 2005. This consisted of:
- The construction of the Eastern Stand's second level of seating and corporate boxes;
- a new video screen; and
- remedial work for the Western Grandstand, including updating the media facilities.
2008-11
During the 2007 NSW Election campaign, the PremierPremiers of New South Wales
The Premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature...
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma , is a former Australian politician and 40th Premier of New South Wales, succeeding Bob Carr after he resigned on 3 August 2005. Iemma led the Australian Labor Party to victory in the 2007 election before resigning as Premier on 5 September 2008, and as a Member of Parliament on 19...
promised $
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
30 million towards an upgrade of the stadium, conditional on the Federal Government
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
matching the funds.
On 1 April 2008 the federal government confirmed $10m towards the development of the Western Grandstand. This is in addition to the $30m commitment from the state government. This is a critical step for the stadium's development for the upgrade to be in by 2011. The A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
40 million will contribute to an expansion of the stadium's capacity to eventually hold over 40,000 as well as general improvements in the stadiums facilities.
From 2008-10 the stadium is being upgraded again to around 33 000 seats, with a hope for the stadium to be involved in the 2015 Asian Cup
AFC Asian Cup
The AFC Asian Cup is an international association football tournament run by the Asian Football Confederation . It is the second oldest continental football championship in the world after Copa América. The winning team becomes the champion of Asia and automatically qualifies for the FIFA...
and 2018 World Cup should Australia be the host of those tournaments. As part of the announcement, Morris Iemma stated that the capacity of 33,000 can be increased to the 40,000 necessary for World Cup Hosting, through temporary seating. The total cost of the upgrade is $60 million, with $50 million from the state government and $10 million from the Federal Government.
Although construction will take place during both the Newcastle Knights
Newcastle Knights
The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...
and Newcastle Jets seasons, developers have stated that there will be minimal affect on attendances due to the staged approach.
The stadium development is being carried out over four stages.
- Stage 1 (now completed) included dressing, warm up and medical rooms, with showers, toilets, ice baths and 855-seats of the spectator concourse in the stadium's south-west.
- Stage 2 (now completed) replicates Stage 1 on the northern side of the Western Grandstand and also included the main western stand's lower concourse.
- Stage 3 (now completed) demolished the old western Grandstand and is replacing it with one similar to the eastern stand.
- Stage 4 (undertaking preparation) will involve building the northern and southern ends of the ground, replacing the grass hills with seated areas.