Newtown Park
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| Location | Newtown, Wellington, New Zealand |
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| Coordinates | 41°19′13″S 174°46′57″E / 41.32028°S 174.78250°E |
| Owner | Wellington City Council |
| Operator | Wellington City Council |
| Capacity | 5000 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Renovated | 2008 |
| Tenants | |
| Kiwi Amateur Athletic Club Team Wellington Wellington Olympic AFC Wellington Phoenix FC Wellington United | |
Newtown Park is a multi-purpose stadium in Wellington, New Zealand. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer) matches and athletic events. The main pitch has a 400-metre, all-weather rubberized athletics track around it, as well as the spectator stands and the corporate loungue. A second, rectangular pitch (Newtown Park 2) is attached south of the main facility.
Football at Newtown Park
Newtown Park and its clubrooms are, during the winter football season, operated by Wellington United. However, Wellington United currently have a groundshare agreements with Wellington Olympic AFC, allowing Olympic to also host fixtures at Newtown Park.. Newtown Park is also the primary home stadium for Team Wellington of the New Zealand Football Championship, a franchise team of which both United and Olympic are members.
Team Wellington, the regional representative of the national New Zealand Football Championship, also use Newtown Park as their primary stadium. In the case of clashes with athletics events, Team Wellington play matches at Porirua Park. Both Wellington United and Olympic are members of the franchise currently operating as Team Wellington.
The second pitch was redeveloped in 2008, and is currently used by A-League franchise Wellington Phoenix for training and minor exhibition matches.
Other Football Events Hosted
- 1925, 1927, 1989 and 2012 finals of the Chatham Cup.
- 2007 Women's National League Final.
- 2008 Sichuan earthquake relief match - exhibition between Wellington Phoenix United[1] and Christchurch Chinese Community.[2]
- 2008 Pre-Olympic Exhibition match - New Zealand Under-23 vs Chile Under-23
Athletics at Newtown Park
Newtown Park is the primary athletics stadium for the Wellington region, and during the summer football season is operated by the Kiwi Amateur Athletic Club. It is host to the McEvedy Shield competition, an annual athletics series between four Wellington boys schools. It is also used by many other schools as a place to stage in-house events.
Other Events at Newtown Park
Newtown Park also serves as a community events centre for the surrounding area, hosting cultural events such as Carols by Candlelight.
The #1 pitch was re-developed in 2011 to function as a training venue for teams competing in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. During the tournament, football events were relocated to other venues.
References
- ^ Not to be confused with Wellington Phoenix FC - Wellington Phoenix United was a team composed of some Phoenix FC players and prominent members of the Wellington football community
- ^ http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/77488,gao-sparks-phoenix-fundraiser.aspx