NRL ANZAC DAY CLASH HERALDS END OF AN ERA FOR RUGBY LEAGUE PARK

Tonight’s NRL Anzac Day showdown between the Warriors and Newcastle Knights at Apollo Projects Stadium shapes as the code’s likely farewell at the ground better known down the years as Addington Show Grounds or Rugby League Park.

The 2018 men’s and women’s grand final double-header provided an unforgettable farewell to the spiritual home of rugby league in the region from a club football perspective ahead of Canterbury Rugby League’s permanent move to its new base at Nga Punā Wai, which has doubled as the Canterbury Bulls men’s and women’s teams’ primary venue since.

But as well as remaining the Crusaders’ and Canterbury provincial rugby union’s home ground, as well as a regular venue for All Blacks Tests, since 2012 in the wake of the earthquakes, Rugby League Park has continued to host NRL matches and rugby league Tests since.

The impending opening of Te Kaha Stadium in the central city in 2026 inevitably signals the end of top-level football in Addington.

The first-ever rugby league match played in Christchurch – Wellington’s 5-4 win over Canterbury on September 7, 1912 – was held at what was then known as the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s Show Grounds. A week later NSW defeated Canterbury 28-15 at the venue in a historic international fixture.

Club matches were played there for the first time the following season, with St Albans accounting for Addington 17-12 and Linwood prevailing over Sydenham 14-5 on April 19, 1913.

New Zealand carved out famous wins over Great Britain in 1950 – the first Test played at the ground – and Australia in 1953 at what had since become known as Addington Show Grounds.

Canterbury Rugby League first leased the Show Grounds in 1951 after the Canterbury A and P Association chose rugby league as its winter tenant ahead of union. It became known as Rugby League Park in 1997 when CRL took a 40-year lease.

Addington Show Grounds/Rugby League Park hosted every CRL premiership grand final from 1967 to 2010, and again in 2015-16 after playing three deciders at Denton Oval following the earthquakes. Adverse weather throughout the 2017 winter necessitated a shift to Linfield Park for the grand final, but the 2018 double-header was a thrilling and poignant exit.

The ground has also been the scene of some of the greatest days in Canterbury’s representative rugby league history, including trail-blazing wins over France in 1955 and the Great Britain Lions in 1990, their first Rugby League Cup win over Auckland in 1963 and the famous 36-12 triumph over Auckland in the 1993 national championship final.

Addington Show Grounds garnered the nickname ‘The Killing Fields’ during the Frank Endacott-coached Canterbury team’s dominant early-1990s era.

Countless interisland matches were staged at the ground, too, while South Island famously upset Australia at the Show Grounds in 1980.

After 11 Tests were held there from 1950-91, Test football returned to Rugby League Park after a 26-year hiatus for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, with the Kiwis’ pool match against Scotland and the quarter-final between Lebanon and Tonga.

Two years later New Zealand and Great Britain squared off at the ground, while 2024 witnessed a historic Pacific Championships double-header with the Kiwis and Kangaroos locking horns in Christchurch for the first time in 35 years and the Kiwi Ferns and Jillaroos for the first time ever.

Lancaster Park hosted Australian premiership matches intermittently from 1996 to 2010, but the first NRL match at Rugby League Park occurred in 2016 when Penrith Panthers brought their home game against the Warriors to Christchurch.

Manly Sea Eagles ‘hosted’ the Warriors there in 2018 and ’19, and the Warriors played their first ‘home’ game in Christchurch at Rugby League Park in 2024 against Canberra Raiders.

Tonight’s Warriors-Knights clash potentially heralds the end of a 113-year era for rugby league in this city.