Cromer Park is a community

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

ground located in the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entra ...

suburb of

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local government authorities are Nor ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. It is home to

Manly United FC Manly United Football Club is an Australian association football, football club based in the northern beaches area of Sydney. The club competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW and their home ground is Cromer Park, in the suburb of Dee Why, N ...

and Manly Warringah Football Association.

History

In 1969, the area was selected to be the site of

Cromer High School Cromer Academy (formerly Cromer High School, Sports College, Cromer Institute of Science) is a 11- 16 secondary school with Academy (English school), academy status in Cromer, Norfolk. It is part of the Inspiration Trust federation. Description ...

, but was found to be too swampy. The Park was first developed in the 1970s.

Structure and facilities

The stadium has a 900-seat grandstand named after

Lucas Neill Lucas Edward Neill (born 9 March 1978) is an Australian former soccer player. Neill played as a defender, often playing as a centre back as well as a full-back. Neill spent almost 15 years of his career playing in England. He represented Austr ...

the 50th captain of the

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with ...

and ex

Blackburn Rovers FC Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

player. Neill played for Manly United FC as a junior, before moving overseas. The Lucas Neill Stand is situated on the western side of the field together with another 800 seats around the perimeter. There are change rooms, toilets and canteen facilities located on the northern side. Adjacent to Cromer Park on the eastern side is the Manly Warringah Football's licensed clubhouse and administration office of Manly Warringah Football Association and Manly United FC. The playing surface has been upgraded to a generation4 synthetic surface, manufactured by Field Turf. completed in June 2012. The synthetic surface has a mixture of cryogenic rubber and sand infill. The playing field dimensions are 76m x 125m with line marking 68m x 110m making it the largest synthetic football field in Australia. In early 2018 Cromer Park No. 2 was re-opened as a second Synthetic pitch and installed by Polytan. Cromer Park 1 has been redone again in 2022 with a new clubhouse/bistro and new synthetic turf. Stormwater harvesting was integrated into the design of the synthetic field to irrigate fields 3, 4 and 5 at Cromer Park.

Transport

Cromer Park is accessible by Sydney Bus routes 153, 179, and E79.

References

External links

Official Manly United websiteSoccerway page
Soccer venues in Sydney Sports venues in Sydney Sports venues completed in 1974 Manly United FC A-League Women stadiums {{NewSouthWales-struct-stub