End of an era as Rugby League Park farewelled

While the Crusaders had the honour of hosting the last oval-ball match at Apollo Projects Stadium on Good Friday, it was nevertheless a poignant occasion for rugby league as the curtain came down on the venue more affectionately known as Rugby League Park or Addington Show Grounds.

The Crusaders took on Fiji Drua in their last home game before taking up residence at Te Kaha (One New Zealand Stadium) in Christchurch City Central. Canterbury Rugby League CEO Malcolm and CRL Board member Mel Tukapua attended the match as guests of Crusaders CEO Colin Mainsbridge.

Top-level rugby league will also feature at Te Kaha, kicking off with the Warriors’ NRL clash with North Queensland Cowboys on June 21 and followed by a Rugby League World Cup double-header in October (Kiwis versus Cook Islands and Kiwi Ferns versus France). Somewhat fittingly, less than 48 hours after the rugby union finale at Addington, rugby league had the spotlight for the first official One New Zealand Stadium test event: a watch party for the Warriors-Sharks NRL match.

Serving as the Crusaders’ and Canterbury provincial rugby union team’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 hosted NRL matches and rugby league Tests over the past decade.

But our game’s history on the same patch of grass runs far deeper.

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, before the 2018 men’s and women’s double-header provided a thrilling farewell prior to Canterbury Rugby League’s move to Ngā Puna Wai.

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.

The Warriors took their 2025 Anzac Day fixture against Newcastle Knights to Ōtautahi – heralding the end of a 113-year era for rugby league in our city.