Eric Tweedale Stadium (formerly Granville Park Stadium), for sponsorship reasons also known as Merrylands RSL Rugby Park, is a rectangular stadium in
Granville Park in the western
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
suburb of
Merrylands, New South Wales
Merrylands is a suburb in Western Sydney, Australia. Merrylands is located west of the Sydney central business district and is in the local government area of the Cumberland City Council.
History
Merrylands was named after the former Englis ...
. The stadium, which cost 11.3 million dollars, designed by ARCH (formerly dwp) was opened in November 2021 on the ground of a previous stadium which generally referred to as ''Granville Park''. The total capacity for the ground is 5,000, of which 750 can be seated on the grandstand.
One of the first sports clubs to play at Granville Park was the Granville Royals Rugby Club in the late 1880s.
[
The land was owned by the City of Parramatta until May 2017 when the newly created ]Cumberland Council
Cumberland Council is the local authority for Cumberland, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. The ...
inherited the park, as a result of New South Wales council mergers.
The stadium is the home ground of the Parramatta Two Blues
Western Sydney Two Blues Rugby, formerly Parramatta Two Blues Rugby, is a rugby union club based in Parramatta, which is commonly regarded as the second Central business district, CBD of Sydney, Australia. The club was formed in 1879 and compe ...
club, founded in 1879, which competes in Sydney's premier rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
competition, the Shute Shield
The Shute Shield, currently known as the Charter Hall Shute Shield, is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team fro ...
.[ The clubhouse has a large hall suitable for hosting functions as well as changing room facilities and amenities. The main field has lighting suitable for hosting night time sports events. In 2021, the ground was renamed after the Australian rugby international and Two Blues player Eric Tweedale on the occasion of his 100th birthday.]Greater Sydney Rams
The Greater Sydney Rams, originally known as the Western Sydney Rams, is a former rugby union team from Australia that was disbanded in 2018. The Rams won the minor premiership in the 2007 Australian Rugby Championship (ARC), and then competed ...
team that plays in the National Rugby Championship
The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...
.[ The ]New South Wales Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...
team plays occasional pre-season trial matches at the ground.[
There are also sporting facilities for ]soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
,[ ]cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
, and basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
.[ A children's Splash Park was built in 2014,][ and the reserve also has barbeque and picnic facilities.
Over the course of the 2024 National Rugby League Women's season, the ]Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL).
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...
played 2 home games at Eric Tweedale Stadium. The first of which was against the Newcastle Knights
The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...
on 24 August 2024, whom they lost against 36-16. The second home game they played at the venue was against the Gold Coast Titans
The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...
on 8 September 2024.
References
*
Eric Tweedale Stadium and Sports Field
, Cumberland City Council
Cumberland Council, trading as Cumberland City Council, is a local government area located in the western suburbs of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Council was formed on 12 May 2016 from the merger of parts of the Citie ...
(per February 2022)
{{NRC Grounds
Sports venues in Sydney
Soccer venues in Sydney
Rugby league stadiums in Australia
Rugby union stadiums in Australia