Yarrow Stadium

Yarrow Stadium
The Bull Ring, The Fish Bowl
Former names	Rugby Park
Location	New Plymouth, New Zealand
Coordinates	39°4′13″S 174°3′54″E
Broke ground	January 2002
Built	2002
Opened	September 2002
Surface	Grass with sand base
Scoreboard	Located at the southern end of the ground
Construction cost	NZ$15 million
Architect	Warren & Mahoney
Capacity	30,000
Tenants
Taranaki Rugby Union Team Taranaki Taranaki Sharks

Yarrow Stadium is situated in the central suburb of Westown in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand, with main vehicle access off Maratahu St. During the 2011 Rugby World Cup the ground was titled "Stadium Taranaki" to conform with the IRB's "clean stadium" policy.

The primary tenant of this 25,000-capacity stadium is the Taranaki representative team in the country's principal rugby union competition, the ITM Cup. The stadium also occasionally hosts matches of the Hurricanes Super Rugby team in the same sport, although that team's primary home is in Wellington.

Venue Description

• Yarrow Stadium has four sports fields, the Legends Lounge, concourse and a variety of function rooms.

• The turf on the main field is laid over irrigation lines and drains on a sand profile.

• The main field has two grandstands providing undercover seating, terraced and embankment uncovered seating and standing areas.

• The stadium also has a full sound system, fully electronic scoreboard and floodlights.

• Fields one, two and three have training level floodlighting. Field two is behind the Eastern Stand (TSB STAND), field three and four are behind the scoreboard on the Southern end of the ground.

• Car parks are situated behind the TSB Bank (eastern side) stand and a parking area for Broadcasting units behind the Noel and Melva Yarrow Stand (western side).

• It was announced in 2009, that Yarrow Stadium will have a $1.5 million upgrade for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. An extra two thousand or so seats have been added on the end embankments and media facilities have been improved.

Legends Lounge

The Legends Lounge is on the top floor of the TSB Bank Stand and has panoramic views of both playing arenas and the back fields. It is used for business conferences, dinners, sales presentations and meetings, and has a capacity of three-hundred seated and 650 standing.

Features

• Internal speaker system.
• Power.
• Data points.
• Portable stage.
• Staircase and lift access is at each end of the lounge with direct access to the seating deck.
• Two kitchens, bar and toilet facilities are located at each end of the lounge so that the area can be partitioned for smaller functions.

Players/Media Area

• Two main change rooms, each with a connecting warm up room, are located at ground level of the TSB Bank Stand. Five subsidiary changing rooms are located at ground level of the TSB Bank Stand for other teams and referees.

• A medical room, drug testing room, media interview room and match day office are all located adjacent to the main changing room at the ground level of the TSB Bank Stand. Also located at Yarrow Stadium is the HQ of the Taranaki Rugby Football Union (TRFU), their officers and a gym is located in the Northern end of the TSB Bank Stand

• Media: There is media facilities on the Western grandstand. "Noel and Melva Yarrow Stand". There is a lounge were the TV cameras (usually 2 or 3) are situated for rugby union/league and 4 media boxes for radio commentary, TV commentary, Television Match Officials (TMO) or Third Umpire and another media box for additional commentary. Apart of the upgrade other media facilities have been built for international media.

• A big screen is brought in by the TSB Community Trust and usually situated on the southern embankments, near the scoreboard.

Events

In the past, Yarrow Stadium has hosted:

• New Zealand vs NZ Maori (Rugby League)
• New Zealand vs Samoa (First rugby international at Yarrow Stadium, 2008)
• New Zealand vs Ireland (2010)
• 3 internationals during 2011 Rugby World Cup (detailed below)
• Hurricanes rugby games
• Taranaki versus British and Irish Lions rugby match
• Taranaki rugby games in both the ITM Cup and its predecessor, the National Provincial Championship
• New Zealand Maori vs England (rugby)
• New Zealand Maori vs Scotland (rugby)
• Japan vs Tonga Pacific 6 Nations Cup 2006 (Rugby)
• New Zealand Jnr All Blacks Pacific 6 Nations Cup 2006 (Rugby)
• Central Districts vs Sri Lanka (cricket)
• New Zealand Warriors vs Parramatta Eels (rugby league)
• Multi-ethnic Extravaganza
• Searchlight Tattoo
• Relay for Life.

Major rugby is played on the number 1 field. Other fixtures are on the 3 outside fields. Cricket is usually played at Pukekura Park, because of the incorrect size of Yarrow Stadium's number 1 field.

The ground played host to three games during the pool play stage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup:

• Ireland vs USA (11 September, final score 26-10)
• USA vs Russia (15 September, final score 13-6)
• Wales vs Namibia (26 September, final score 81-7)

External links

• Yarrow Stadium at Austadiums
• New Plymouth District Article
• World Rugby Article