Griqua Park (currently known as Windhoek Draught Park for sponsorship reasons) is an 11,000-capacity

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It is mainly used for

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

matches and it is the home stadium of provincial

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

side . The

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

side also played some matches at this ground. Griquas relocated to the stadium from their former

De Beers Stadium The De Beers Stadium in Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa was the home ground of the Griqualand West (now called Northern Cape) cricket team from 1927 to 1973. It staged a total of 88 first-class matches, in all of which Griqualand West ...

home in 1991, when the stadium was known as Hoffe Park. It was named after Chas Hoffe, the head manager of

Spoornet Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...

who owned the ground. Despite initially having only two stands, much ground development was done during the mid-1990s under the leadership of then-president

Andre Markgraaff Andries Thomas "Andre" Markgraaff (born 23 December 1956) is a retired South African rugby union lock. He matriculated at Diamantveld High School and was a controversial national coach, who resigned after he was taped using the racial K-word. ...

, increasing the stadium's capacity to 11,000, as well as adding several suites. Between 1998 and 2008, the stadium had a sponsorship deal with

ABSA Bank Absa Group Limited (ABGL; formerly Barclays Africa Group Limited), and originally Amalgamated Banks of South Africa, is a South African-based financial services group, offering personal and business banking, credit cards, corporate and invest ...

, during which time the stadium was known as Absa Park. Between 2009 and 2015, the stadium was known as GWK Park thanks to a sponsorship deal from

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

-based agricultural company GWK (Griekwaland-Wes Korporatief), who also became the title sponsor of the Griquas rugby team. When the sponsorship deal with GWK expired, the stadium became known as Griqua Park. During the course of the

2010 FIFA world cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, the stadium played host the

Uruguay national football team The Uruguay national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Uruguay) represents Uruguay in international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Uruguayan Football Association, the governing body for football in Uruguay. T ...

as they chose

as their host city. As such the team used the stadium as their training ground while in the city.

References

Rugby union stadiums in South Africa Multi-purpose stadiums in South Africa Sports venues in the Northern Cape Buildings and structures in Kimberley, Northern Cape {{SouthAfrica-sports-venue-stub