Owen Delany Park is a multi-purpose sports stadium in Taupo,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The main sports played there are

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

, though several other sports are accommodated on a permanent basis and numerous other events on a one-off basis.

History

The park is named for Owen Delany, who was a major figure in the Taupo sporting scene from 1953, when he formed the United Wanderers Cricket Club. In 1954 he reformed the Taupo Rugby Football club. The Taupo council named the new sports ground Owen Delany Park in recognition of the time and effort Delany had put into the establishment of the park and also his involvement in sport in Taupo over the previous thirty years. Delany attended the first One Day International held at the ground in 1999. In the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours, Owen Delany was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to sport.

Ground

The park itself covers several

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

of land on the north-eastern outskirts of Taupo. The main stadium contains a partially covered grandstand with 90 percent of the remaining perimeter formed as a raised grass embankment. The playing surface contains a Rugby field with a cricket pitch in the centre and a grass

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

track forming the boundary. A further two levels of grass surface provide up to five rugby fields and three artificial cricket pitches. There is also an indoor stadium which houses a

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

facility, as well as an outdoor bitumen

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

and outdoor

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

courts. There are also a

dog obedience Dog training is the application of behavior analysis which uses the environmental events of antecedents (trigger for a behavior) and consequences to modify the dog behavior, either for it to assist in specific activities or undertake particular ...

facility and numerous sports club buildings in the park.

Usage

Primary

The King Country Rugby Union and the

Northern Districts Cricket Association The Northern Districts men's cricket team are one of six New Zealand first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket. They are based in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand (excluding Auckland). They compete in the ...

each use the ground several times a year for matches involving their premier teams and also use the facility for junior teams, training and development. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

King Country hosted the South African Rugby team in the first match of their tour of New Zealand. This was South Africa's first game in New Zealand since the controversial 1981 tour. In 1999, 2000 and 2001 the

New Zealand cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...

played One Day International games at the park using the lights for the day-night fixtures. For the past several seasons Owen Delany Park has played host to the Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under 19 Tournament (2014–present), it will continue to host the tournament until 2021

Secondary

Various local sports clubs utilise the park on a weekly and seasonal basis providing competition on local and national levels. Several local rugby clubs use this as their home ground, including Taupo Marist, Taupo Sports and Taupo United. The main stadium has been configured numerous times to host other sports such as

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 ...

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

and archery. Concerts and other public and social events are also held at the ground when a larger sized venue is required.

International centuries

In the three ODIs that have been played at the venue one century has been scored.

References

External links

Owen Delany Park
at Taupo District Council website * * * {{Super Rugby stadiums Cricket grounds in New Zealand Rugby union stadiums in New Zealand Sports venues in Waikato Sport in Taupō 1983 establishments in New Zealand Sports venues completed in 1983