EPRU Stadium, also known by its original name of Boet Erasmus Stadium, was a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

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 ...

. The letters "EPRU" in the name represent the Eastern Province Rugby Union, the stadium's historic primary tenants, whose team is now known as the

Mighty Elephants The Eastern Province Elephants (known as the Multisure Eastern Province Elephants for sponsorship reasons) are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup and Rugby Challenge (South Africa), Rugby Challenge competi ...

. The original name Boet Erasmus Stadium was named after Boet Erasmus, a former mayor of

. The stadium held a capacity of 33,852 people and served primarily as a venue 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 but also hosted a number of

association football 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 ...

(soccer) fixtures.

Background

Music

On 6 March 2007, Irish vocal pop band

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...

held a concert for

The Love Tour The Love Tour was a tour by the Irish band Westlife seen by 390,000 fans. The tour started in Australia, and covered Africa and UK in 2007. The tour had a subtotal of £1,031,033 gross secondary ticket sales. Support acts *Code 5 *Cushh *Dyyc ...

supporting their album The Love Album.

Rugby

Boet Erasmus stadium was primarily used as the home of rugby in the Eastern Cape. Situated in the affluent suburb of

Summerstrand Summerstrand is a seaside suburb of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is located south-east of the Port Elizabeth city centre. It is primarily a residential suburb along with shopping and business facilities. It is also home to three Nelson Mandel ...

, it hosted matches at Test,

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 ...

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 ...

Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...

and club level. It was regularly used by the

Eastern Province Elephants The Eastern Province Elephants (known as the Multisure Eastern Province Elephants for sponsorship reasons) are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup and Rugby Challenge competitions. They are governed by the ...

under their previous names, the Mighty Elephants and the Eastern Province Kings and hosted their two home matches during the 1994

Super 10 The Super 10 was a rugby union football tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga, and Western Samoa. The competition ran for three years from 1993 to 1995 and was the predecessor of Super 12 and Super 14, ...

season. The stadium was also the intended home of the

Southern Spears The Southern Spears, were a South African rugby union franchise who were founded in 2005 and were intended to participate in Super 14 from 2007 onwards; however, their proposed entry into the competition led to considerable controversy within ...

, a team that was scheduled to play in the

2006 Currie Cup The 2006 ABSA Currie Cup season was contested from June through to October. The Currie Cup is an annual domestic competition for rugby union clubs in South Africa. The tournament was controversial before it even began, with the Southern Spears sag ...

in preparation for its admission to the

starting in 2007. However, the Spears were later denied entry into both competitions. The stadium is credited for being the first stomping ground of a number of ''Springbok'' legends, included in which are

Danie Gerber Danie Gerber (born 14 April 1958 in Port Elizabeth, Union of South Africa) is a former South African rugby union player, who played for South Africa between 1980 and 1992. He played mainly at inside or outside centre, but also on the wing. His ...

, Garth Wright, Frans Erasmus and Hannes Marias.

The Battle of Boet Erasmus

In 1974, during the

1974 British Lions tour to South Africa In 1974, the British & Irish Lions toured South Africa, with matches in South West Africa and Rhodesia. Under the leadership of Willie John McBride, the Lions went through the tour undefeated, winning 21 of their 22 matches and being held to a ...

, one of the most violent matches in rugby history was dubbed the "Battle of Boet Erasmus Stadium". After a

99 call 99 may refer to: * 99 (number), the natural number following 98 and preceding 100 * one of the years 99 BC, AD 99, 1999, 2099, etc. Art, entertainment, and media * ''The 99'', a comic series based on Islamic culture Film, television and radio * ...

by Lions, there is famous video footage of J.P.R. Williams running over half of the pitch and launching himself at

Moaner van Heerden Johannes Lodewikus 'Moaner' van Heerden (born 18 July 1951) is a former South African rugby union international player. He played as a lock. His son, Wikus van Heerden, is also a South African international who played for Saracens in the Guinnes ...

, something that Williams says he is not proud of.

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

hit his opposite number,

Johan de Bruyn Johan de Bruyn (born 12 October 1948) is a former South African rugby union player. Playing career De Bruyn played his provincial rugby for the Free State. In 1974 he was selected at lock for the Springboks, for the third test against the to ...

, so hard that the Orange Free State man's glass eye flew out and landed in the mud. At the

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

on 3 June 1995,

took on

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in a clash that has also sometimes been dubbed the Battle of Boet Erasmus. The match, which South Africa ultimately won 20-0, was marred by an on-field scuffle with four players involved in a brawl. South Africa hooker James Dalton, who had come to the aid of a teammate who had been struck on the back of the head, and winger

Pieter Hendriks Pieter Hendriks (born 13 April 1970), is a former South African rugby union player who played for the South Africa national rugby union team between 1992 and 1996. Playing career Hendriks represented the South Eastern Transvaal Schools team at ...

were suspended for the remainder of the tournament for their roles in the incident and could only watch from the sidelines as the nation went on to claim its first Rugby World Cup title.

Soccer

The stadium was used as the home ground for Port Elizabeth's,

Bay United F.C. Bay United was a South African professional association football, football (soccer) club based first in the city of Port Elizabeth and later Polokwane. It played in the South African Premier Division and National First Division. The club came in ...

who moved to the stadium for their 2008/2009 season in the

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. The club used the stadium again at times during their 2009/2010 campaign in the

National First Division The National First Division (NFD), officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African club association football, football after the South African Premier Division. Both t ...

. This was due to availability problems with their preferred home ground, the Westbourne Oval.

Closure and abandonment

The stadium was officially closed in July 2010. The Eastern Province Rugby Union has moved all games to the new world class

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is a soccer and rugby union stadium in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa, It hosted 2010 FIFA World Cup matches and the third place play off. It is the home of Chippa United Football Club and formerly of r ...

in Port Elizabeth. The last match to be played at the stadium was a friendly against the

Blue Bulls The Blue Bulls (known for sponsorship reasons as the Vodacom Blue Bulls) is a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union and are based at Loftus Versfe ...

on 3 July 2010. ''The Boet'' hosted age-group, amateur and club rugby matches after being officially closed but has since been abandoned, with vagrants and thieves having slowly dismantled the stadium to such an extent that all that remains are the concrete structures. The local municipality, who own the property, has asked for proposals from the private sector for the redevelopment of the land. The stadium was demolished in 2019.

International tournaments

1995 Rugby World Cup

The stadium was one of 9 venues throughout South Africa used for the Rugby World Cup. The stadium was used for group games in Group A. It hosted 3 games, including the match between South Africa and Canada:

1996 African Cup of Nations

When the tournament was moved to South Africa, the EPRU Stadium was chosen as one of 4 host stadiums. A total of 6 pool games were played at the stadium, as well as a quarter-final:

2010 FIFA World Cup

During 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 was used as a logistics point for Port Elizabeth, a host city.

International matches

Rugby

Football

References

External links

Photos of Stadiums in South Africa
a
cafe.daum.net/stade
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eprfu Stadium Soccer venues in South Africa Rugby union stadiums in South Africa Rugby World Cup stadiums Buildings and structures in Port Elizabeth Sport in Port Elizabeth Sports venues in the Eastern Cape Sports venues demolished in 2019 Demolished buildings and structures in South Africa

Background

Music

Rugby

The Battle of Boet Erasmus

Soccer

Closure and abandonment

International tournaments

1995 Rugby World Cup

1996 African Cup of Nations

2010 FIFA World Cup

International matches

Rugby

Football

See also

References

External links