Western Springs Stadium

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Western Springs Stadium" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Western Springs Stadium is a stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. Built within a natural amphitheatre, it is primarily used for rugby union matches during the winter and for speedway during the summer. It is also occasionally used for large concerts and festivals.

Western Springs Stadium has a crowd capacity of 20,000 for sports and 49,000 for concerts.^{[citation needed]} It is located four kilometres west of the city centre in the suburb of Western Springs.

History

Western Springs Stadium was built on land purchased from the Motion family by Auckland City Council in 1875 in order to build the Western Springs reservoir and pump station.

In 1929, the stadium built by Relief Labour was opened to serve cycling, athletics and football sports. The cycling track was over 500 yards in circumference as the European tracks were then. The cinder all weather Athletic 440-yard running track was the first of its type in NZ and it with the overall stadium would have easily compared to the famous

The 1950s saw promoters "take over" with the blessing of the Auckland City Council pleased to receive a monetary return. The early promoters combined Cycling, Motorcycle Speedway and Speedway Cars who all raced together on the same programme with a large following. The war intervened and in 1944 Speedway became a huge entertainment and the formula of Cycling, Speedway Bikes and Midgets reached international heights.

Speedway previously had competed on Epsom Showgrounds, Blanford Park on the old cycling track around the soccer field (now under the Grafton Gully motorway) and Olympic Park (Saraway Park) in Newmarket.

Because cycling was forced out, the cycling track was never able to be used again, so it was removed to widen the new speedway midget race track; at the same time, smaller cycling velodrome track sizes became the International requirement.

The 1960s saw a brief return of what the stadium concept originally was; this was assisted by the Speedway promoter who laid the athletic track. On the success of Peter Snells' Olympic victories an International Athletic and Cycling event was held with the largest crowd recorded for the stadium. It was larger than the 1950 British Empire Games cycling events and Closing Ceremony.

In February 2007, the

Speedway

Western Springs Stadium has been used for speedway since 30 November 1929^[2] when motorcycling (broad siding) was introduced. Midget Car racing started in December 1937 with an International race including New Zealand pioneers Ron Roycroft and Geo Smith. The first full speedway season started in January 1938. With the war years, there was a break until 1944 when speedway with cycling, motor cycling and midget cars became the major entertainment event during the summer months in Auckland.

The site has hosted many significant events, including qualifying rounds of the Speedway World Championship^[3][4] and the New Zealand Solo Championship on 15 occasions from in 1931 to 1989.^[5]

On 31 March 2012, Western Springs Stadium played host to the opening round of the

In 2024, the venue celebrated its 95th year of speedway but due to noise complaints and legal action from a local residents group, speedway events have been limited to 12 per season.[2]

Rugby

Between late March and early October, the stadium is used by the Ponsonby RFC for training and games.

Concerts

Two concerts held at the stadium were the largest concerts ever in New Zealand at the time. On 26 November 1983, one of the final dates of David Bowie's Serious Moonlight Tour was attended by either 74,480 fans (according to bootleg recordings) or by 83,000 (according to the promoter years later).^[8] On 14 March 1987, over 80,000 fans saw the concert by ZZ Top.

Other artists who have performed at the venue range from Six60 (2019, 2020),

In January 2014, Western Springs was the venue for the Big Day Out, with a reported 40,000+ in attendance.^[9] It was the festival's first return to Auckland since Mount Smart Stadium in 2012 but the final time the Big Day Out was held in Auckland.^[10][11]

On 15 February 2014, rapper Eminem performed at the venue for an estimated 55,000 fans. It was his first in the country and is the first to be headlined by a rap act in the venue's history.

References