Adelaide Oval
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Adelaide Oval is an oval in Adelaide, South Australia. It is located between the central business district and North Adelaide and has a history which dates back to the 1870s. It is considered to be one of the most picturesque Test cricket grounds in Australia, if not the world [1]. The oval is managed by the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA).
It currently holds 30,000 spectators, but a record attendance of 62,543 people was recorded for the 1965 SANFL Grand Final between Port Adelaide and Sturt.
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[edit] Major sporting events
Adelaide Oval hosts the following major sporting events:
- International cricket — Test and One-day International. There are normally two or three one-day games on the Australia Day weekend in January (replacing a traditional Australia Day test). The test is now normally in December and is Australia against the international touring team of the time.
- Domestic cricket — Adelaide Oval is the home ground of the Southern Redbacks, the South Australian state cricket team. They play in three competitions: Ford Ranger Cup, Pura Cup and occasional domestic twenty20.
- Australian rules football — Adelaide Oval hosts SANFL matches. Australian Football League matches are played at AAMI Stadium.
- Rugby sevens — Starting in 2007, Adelaide Oval will host the new Australia Sevens event in the IRB Sevens World Series.
Adelaide Oval was also home base for most of the Adelaide Rams rugby league team's short history. 16 sports have been played at one time or another at the oval: archery, athletics, baseball, cycling, American football, highland games, hockey, lacrosse, lawn tennis, rugby league, rugby union, quoits and soccer
[edit] History
- Established in 1871 after the formation of SACA.
- December 1884 - first test match
- 1900 Picket fence put up surrounding the oval (then with a cycling track).
- Lights were constructed at the grounds in 1997, allowing sport to be held at night. This was the subject of a lengthy dispute with the Adelaide City Council, due to environmental issues relating to the parklands area. Initial plans to build retractable light towers were scrapped after one collapsed.
[edit] Oval Layout
The oval is laid out as follows, around the center of the oval. Infront of the stands there is plastic seating all the way around the oval.
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| The Hill: Created in 1898 with earth from the banks of the River Torrens |
The scoreboard: first used in 1911 and is a famous piece of the ground, with original Edwardian architecture. also with a Video Replay Screen and the bar - making this part of the hill the noisiest in the ground. |
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| West | There are three stands from around the start of the 20th century:
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(surrounded by picket fence and advertising billboards) |
Two grandstands, named the Chappell Stands, after the famous South Australian cricketing brothers and national captains Ian Chappell, and Greg Chappell, were completed in 2003. | East |
| The Sir Donald Bradman stand: built in 1990 to replace the John Creswell stand, now provides up to date facilities for spectators. | Several open air corporate boxes | |||
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The scoreboard and the western stands are listed on the City of Adelaide Heritage Register, helping to maintain the charm of the ground.
[edit] Concerts
Adelaide Oval has hosted major concerts during its time, with some of the most famous acts to include Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits, Madonna and Michael Jackson.
[edit] References
| Current Test cricket grounds in Australia |
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| Adelaide Oval | Bellerive Oval | Bundaberg Rum Stadium | The Gabba Marrara Oval | Melbourne Cricket Ground | Sydney Cricket Ground | WACA Ground |
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