Cowles Stadium is a multi-purpose indoor arena in

Aranui Aranui is one of the eastern suburbs of Christchurch. It is a lower socio-economic area. The area is predominantly residential with pockets of light industry. There is a cluster of shops and service facilities at the intersection of Breezes Roa ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. It is the home arena of the

Canterbury Rams The Canterbury Rams are a New Zealand basketball team based in Christchurch. The Rams compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Cowles Stadium. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as The Wheeler Motor Can ...

of the

New Zealand National Basketball League The National Basketball League (NBL) is a men's semi-professional basketball league in New Zealand. In 1981, a group of club and provincial teams came together to create a men's national basketball league. The following year, the league was b ...

(NZNBL) and the Mainland Pouākai of the

Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa The Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa is a women's semi-professional basketball league in New Zealand. History In December 2021, a new women's national basketball league was established for 2022 with five new franchises. The league's name ''Tauihi Bas ...

women's basketball league. It is the former home arena of the

Christchurch Cougars The Christchurch Cougars were a New Zealand basketball team based in Christchurch. The Cougars competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games at Cowles Stadium. The Cougars pulled out of the NBL in 2011 after just ...

of the NZNBL and the Christchurch Sirens of the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...

(WNBL).

History

Cowles Stadium was constructed by F. W. Matthews, Ltd. Construction began in April 1960 and the stadium opened on 25 September 1961. Cowles Stadium was named in commemoration of William James Cowles, a Christchurch city councilor and sports administrator whose advocacy for an indoor sports stadium led to its construction. Cowles sponsored and supervised the stadium's construction.

Events

Cowles Stadium served as a venue for badminton at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games and volleyball and basketball at the 1989 World Games for the Deaf. The Benson & Hedges Classic men's

Grand Prix tennis The Grand Prix tennis circuit was a professional tennis tour for male players that existed from 1970 to 1989. The Grand Prix and World Championship Tennis (WCT) were the two predecessors to the current tour for male players, the ATP Tour, with t ...

tournament was held at Cowles Stadium during the

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

circuits. The tournament venue was shifted from

Wilding Park Wilding Park is a tennis facility located in Christchurch, New Zealand. The land at Wilding Park was purchased by the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association in the early 1920s and gradually developed into a tennis centre. Several years ago, during t ...

to Cowles Stadium during the 1973 tournament due to rain, and remained indoors at Cowles Stadium in 1974 to avoid further potential disruptions from bad weather. Cowles Stadium is the venue for the

Dead End Derby Dead End Derby (DED) is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Christchurch, New Zealand. The league currently consists of 4 teams. Two competitive adult travel teams, the "Death Stars" A team and "Living Dead Rollers" B team, 1 develo ...

roller derby league.

Home teams

Cowles Stadium was the home arena for the Canterbury Rams basketball team from the first NBL season in 1982 until 1999, when they relocated to

Westpac Arena Christchurch Arena is an indoor arena in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located in the suburb of Addington. It has gone through a series of name changes, the most recent of which prior to its current name having been Horncastle Arena. D ...

. The Rams returned to Cowles Stadium in 2007. In 2008, the Rams withdrew from the NBL and were replaced by the Christchurch Cougars, who used Cowles Stadium as their home arena for the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and 2010 NBL seasons. The Cougars were barred from playing at Cowles Stadium in 2011 due to an unpaid debt to the Christchurch City Council and withdrew from the league following the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

. The Rams returned to the NBL for the 2014 NBL season and have used Cowles Stadium as their home arena since their return. Cowles Stadium was the home arena of the Christchurch Sirens from November 2007 for the

2007–08 WNBL season The 2007–08 WNBL season was the 28th season of competition since its establishment in 1981. A total of 10 teams contested the league. The regular season was played between October 2007 and March 2008, followed by a post-season involving the top ...

— their only season in the WNBL. The Sirens relocated from Westpac Arena along with the Rams following upgrades to Cowles Stadium. Cowles Stadium has been the home arena of Mainland Pouākai of the

women's basketball league from the league's debut in 2022. The

Mainland Tactix Mainland Tactix are a netball in New Zealand, New Zealand netball team based in Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury. Between 1998 and 2007, as Canterbury Flames, they played in the National Bank Cup, Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cu ...

netball team used Cowles Arena as one of their home arenas for the

2022 ANZ Premiership season The 2022 ANZ Premiership season was the sixth season of Netball New Zealand's ANZ Premiership. With a team coached by Yvette McCausland-Durie, co-captained by Kelly Jury and Tiana Metuarau and featuring Aliyah Dunn, Erikana Pedersen and Whitne ...

Earthquakes

Cowles Stadium was used as a welfare centre after the

2010 Canterbury earthquake The 2010 Canterbury earthquake (also known as the Darfield earthquake) struck the South Island of New Zealand with a moment magnitude of 7.1 at on , and had a maximum perceived intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the Mercalli intensity scale. Som ...

, February

, and

June 2011 Christchurch earthquake The June 2011 Christchurch earthquake was a shallow magnitude 6.0 earthquake that occurred on 13 June 2011 at 14:20 NZST (02:20 UTC). It was centred at a Hypocenter, depth of , about 5 km (3 mi) south-east of Christchurch, which had p ...

. It was closed in 2011 due to roof damage cause by the earthquakes and re-opened in August 2012 following $480,000 renovations for repairs and earthquake strengthening.

References

{{reflist

External links

Cowles Stadium
at Christchurch City Council website 1961 establishments in New Zealand Sports venues in Christchurch Indoor arenas in New Zealand Basketball venues in New Zealand 1960s architecture in New Zealand Badminton venues