Sydney Football Stadium (1988)

Aussie Stadium

SFS
File:DSCN2674.JPG
Former names	Sydney Football Stadium
Location	Moore Park, Sydney
Owner	Sydney Cricket Ground Trust
Operator	Sydney Cricket Ground Trust
Capacity	41,159
Surface	Grass
Construction
Broke ground	1986
Opened	1988
Closed	N/A
Demolished	N/A
Construction cost	$AU68 million
Architect	Philip Cox, Richardson and Taylor
Tenants
Sydney Roosters (NRL) New South Wales Waratahs (Super 14) Sydney FC (A-League)

The Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) (33°53′21″S 151°13′31″E) was built in 1988 to be the premium "rectangular field" in Sydney, Australia. Its primary use was for rugby league football, but football (soccer) and rugby union also used the ground for major matches, and later for domestic competition.

Prior to its construction, major events were usually held at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), which being an Oval field was not ideal for the sports.

The SFS was built in Moore Park, adjacent to the SCG, on the grounds of the former Sydney Sportsground and is owned by the SCG Trust. Its seating capacity is 41,159, although the venue's official record attendance for a sporting event stands at 43,967, for the 1993 FIFA World Cup Qualifier when Australia played Argentina.

In 2002 the SFS was renamed Aussie Stadium - in a 5 Year + 5 Year naming rights deal with the business Aussie Home Loans.

Aussie Stadium is home to several professional teams:

• Sydney Roosters NRL rugby league
• New South Wales Waratahs Super 14 rugby union
• Sydney FC A-League football (soccer)

Aussie Stadium usually hosts both NRL semi finals and one preliminary final, and also held the annual pre-season Charity Shield rugby league match between South Sydney and St George Illawarra for a number of years.

Most major representative rugby football matches in Sydney that were once played at the SFS, such as State of Origin rugby league and rugby union Internationals, have been played at Telstra Stadium (Stadium Australia) since it was finished in 1999 for the 2000 Olympic Games. This much larger new stadium took a lot of the major events away from the SFS, leaving it as a second-tier venue although it is far from a white elephant.

Aussie Stadium has been the venue of some of Australian sport's greatest matches and moments such as the 1989 Rugby League Grand Final which was won by the Canberra Raiders over the Balmain Tigers 19-14, the 1991 Rugby League Grand Final won by Penrith over Canberra 19-12 in which Royce Simmons scored 2 tries in his final match, the 1997 ARL Grand Final between Newcastle and Manly which the Knights won 22-16 and two standout State Of Origin matches in which QLD triumphed over NSW with last-minute victories in 1994 and 1998 and Michael O'Connor's sideline conversion for a NSW win in Game 2, 1991. The ground also hosted many memorable semi-finals and Monday Night Football in 1996.

Rugby union provided a moment of magic thanks to George Gregan's last second match-winning tackle on NZ's Jeff Wilson in which Australia regained the Bledisloe Cup in 1994.

Argentinian superstar footballer Diego Maradona played here for the 1993 World Cup qualifier against Australia in which the match was drawn 1-1.

Aussie Stadium hosted the boxing fight between Danny Green and Anthony Mundine on 17 May 2006.

The inaugral A-League Grand Final was held here on March 5 2006, and the stadium will also host two of the Australian national team's Asian Cup qualifier games, against Bahrain and Kuwait.

The stadium will host the match between Australia and Great Britain in the 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations on 4 November, as well as the Grand Final on 25 November.

Aussie Stadium is currently under renovations to expand capacity to 45,500.

File:Panorama-AussieStadium-Oct2005.jpg

Sydney FC and Adelaide United FC players warming up before an A-League game at Aussie Stadium.

External link

• Sydney Cricket Ground Trust - Official site.