Trafalgar Park is a sports ground located beside the Central Business District of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, in New Zealand's South Island. The stadium has a capacity of 18,000, following upgrades completed for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It takes its name from its location on Trafalgar Street.

History

Trafalgar Park had its origins in early 1885 when a group of locals formed the

Athletic Ground Company, with the intention of constructing a sports ground "as good as those already formed on the same principle in

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 Rive ...

and

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

". By its first annual meeting in June 1885, the company had purchased about 15 acres of land on the northern edge of the town between Trafalgar Street and the mouth of the

Maitai River The Maitai River (also known as the Mahitahi River) is the largest river in the city of Nelson, in the north of New Zealand's South Island. The river stretches from the Bryant Range, situated to the east (inland) of Nelson, where it flows toward ...

. The land was a mud flat, above the high tide line but subject to flooding under exceptional tides. The annual meeting voted to name the ground "Trafalgar Park". The ground was formally opened on 21 April 1888, when a rugby match was played by local teams on a surface marred only by "an inconvenient number of stones". The first cricket match at the ground took place on 22 December 1888 between two teams of local players. From then on, Trafalgar Park remained Nelson’s main cricket ground until the late 1990s, when it was superseded by Saxton Oval.

Status and current use

The park is one of the two home grounds for ITM Cup rugby team, the

Tasman Mako The Tasman Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, a bay at the north end of the South Island in New Zealand. Headquartered in Nelson, New Zealand, Nelson, TRU is New Zealand's newest provincial union, f ...

. The other is

Lansdowne Park, Blenheim Lansdowne Park, a rugby stadium in Blenheim, New Zealand, is one of the two home grounds for Mitre 10 Cup team Tasman, the other being Trafalgar Park in Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a histor ...

. The park is also the venue for matches in other sporting codes, and hosted the final of the 1978 Chatham Cup, a premier knock-out New Zealand football competition. A cycle track with a length of approximately 540 metres runs around the perimeter of the field and is used primarily for competition track cycling. Due to the closing of other sports facilities as a result of the February

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 ...

, Trafalgar Park hosted three

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

Super Rugby home games in March 2011. Trafalgar Park hosted three games in the 2011 Rugby World Cup in September 2011, with matches between Italy, Russia, USA and Australia being played. Dean Franklet has been a consistent contributor to the maintenance of Trafalgar Park.

International matches

Trafalgar Park hosted three

2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C Pool C of the 2011 Rugby World Cup began on 11 September 2011 and was completed on 2 October. The pool was composed of Australia national rugby union team, Australia, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Italy national rugby union team, Ital ...

matches. The first two involved

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

winning those matches. The first was a 53 - 17 win over

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

on September 20, 2011 and the other was a 27 - 10 win over

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on September 27, 2011. The third match was between Australia and Russia on October 1, 2011 with Australia easily winning 68 - 22. On September 8, 2018, Trafalgar Park hosted its first All Blacks test match when

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 ...

played

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The All Blacks won 46-24. The match was a sell-out, with more than 21,000 people attending.

Cricket

Trafalgar Park was used by

Central Districts The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

as one of its home grounds between 1953 and 1997.

used it as its main home ground between 1888 and 1999. Since then Saxton Oval has been the main cricket ground in Nelson.

References

External links

History of Trafalgar Park
at CricketArchive {{NZL fb stadia 1888 establishments in New Zealand Sport in Nelson, New Zealand Rugby union stadiums in New Zealand Cricket grounds in New Zealand Defunct cricket grounds in New Zealand Sports venues in the Nelson Region