| Football Park | |
|---|---|
| AAMI Stadium | |
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| Location | Turner Drive, West Lakes, South Australia |
| Coordinates | 138°29′44″E 138°29′44″E |
| Broke ground | 1971 |
| Opened | 1974 |
| Owner | SANFL |
| Operator | SANFL |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction cost | A$6.6m |
| Architect | Various |
| Capacity | 51,240 |
| Field dimensions | Football: 165m x 135m |
| Tenants | |
| Adelaide Football Club (AFL) (1991–2013) Port Adelaide Football Club (AFL) (1997–2013) Woodville-West Torrens Eagles (SANFL) (1991–1992) Glenelg Tigers (SANFL) (1991) |
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Football Park (currently also known by its sponsored name of AAMI Stadium) is an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian National Football League and opened in 1974 and is now the home ground of both the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power who play in the Australian Football League (AFL). With a seated capacity of 51,240 Football Park is the fourth largest Australian Rules Football stadium in Australia in terms of crowd capacity, behind Docklands Stadium in Melbourne (56,347), Stadium Australia in Sydney (81,500) and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (100,018).
Ground was broken for Football Park in 1971, giving the SANFL its own venue after years of playing out of the Adelaide Oval which is controlled by the South Australian Cricket Association. The SANFL had wanted their own home stadium for a number of years and finally settled on the undeveloped swampland at West Lakes in 1970 (the same year as the similarly designed, but larger VFL Park opened in Melbourne).
The stadium hosted its first football game on 4 May 1974, an SANFL match between Central District and North Adelaide. The first goal was kicked by North's Barry Hearl, but The Bulldogs won the game defeating The Roosters 21.13 (139) to 16.13 (109).
Intended to have a capacity of around 80,000, Football Park was originally standing room only in the outer (along with the usual crush barriers) with bench seating in the main grandstand and ended up with a capacity of approximately 62,000. Bench seating was gradually added to the stadium's bowl section, and the concourse roof was finished in 1982, by which time the grounds capacity had settled to around 52,000. The new roof gave the outer of the ground a limited number of under cover seats, as well as opening up more space for advertising boards. Television screens showing the games in progress at the ground are also in place under the concourse roof, as well as in the members area.
Football Parks four light towers were finished by 1984, with all night games in Adelaide moving from the suburban grounds (Norwood Oval and Thebarton Oval) to league headquarters for the next 16 years. Following the Adelaide Crows joining the AFL in 1991, and being joined by Port Adelaide in 1997, new corporate "superboxes" were build on top of the southern concourse, stretching from the scoreboard around to the members grandstand. The following year (1998) the stadium got its first video superscreen, although the old scoreboard located above the tunnel in the SE corner has remained in place as the main scoreboard.
After years of speculation, Football Park's members grandstand was extended in 2001 with the opening of the new Northern Stand, opening up some 7,000 new seats. The new grandstand was fitted with individual plastic seats, and the rest of the stadium was finally brought into line with this in 2004, seeing an end to the unpopular aluminum bench seating, and dropping capacity to 51,240.
In addition to football, Football Park has also hosted cricket matches, including the Kerry Packer-run World Series Cricket competition of the late 1970s when the upstart competition was shut out of major grounds such as the Adelaide Oval. The stadium has also hosted International rules football games between Australia and Ireland, as well as being used for rock concert's. Football Park also hosted a National Soccer League game during the early-mid 1990's.
At present the only sport played at the ground is Australian rules football, with all Crows and Power home games played there as well as the SANFL finals and Grand Final.
The record football crowd at Football Park was 66,897 when Sturt defeated Port Adelaide in the 1976 SANFL Grand Final, though many believe the attendance figure was closer to 80,000. To avoid a crush, spectators were allowed on the field between the boundary line and the fence, and thousands were turned away by the police as the house full signs went up.
Football Park has a bus terminal for public buses from Adelaide and surrounding suburbs; approximately 1000 buses are in service to transport spectators to and from the stadium for football games. This service is known as the 'Footy Express'. For "Showdown" matches, when both of Adelaide's sides play against each other, the number of buses is doubled.
There is no railway line directly serving the site, but there have been plans to build a spur from the Grange line. The nearest station is Albert Park, but Seaton Park, East Grange and Grange are a similar distance from the stadium, roughly 2.5 km.
Major artists have held concerts at Football Park, including ABBA, Dire Straits, U2, The Rolling Stones and Robbie Williams. Bon Jovi will be performing at Football Park in December 2013.
| Three highest attended events | ||||
| Number | Event | Type | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robbie Williams | Concert | 80,000 | 5 December 2006 |
| 2 | Sturt v Port Adelaide | SANFL Grand Final | 66,897 | 28 September 1976 |
| 3 | U2 | Concert | 60,000 (approx) | 16 November 2006 |
| 4 | West v North Queensland | Nrl | 24 May 2013 | |
The stadium has an absolute seated maximum capacity of 51,240 which equates to about 5% of the population of the Adelaide metropolitan area. Under the stadium's current configuration the record football attendance is 51,140 set on 26 April 2003 for Showdown XIII between the Crows and Power in Round 5 of the 2003 AFL season (Crows home game).
Since it was built, Football Park has had many additions including:
The playing surface covers approximately 2 hectares, with the average distance between the boundary line and fence being 6 metres. The ground dimensions from fence to fence are 177 x 145 m (581 x 476 ft) and the playing area from the boundary lines is 165 x 135 m (541 x 442 ft) and the goals run north to south. There is also a drop of approximately 1.5m from the centre of the ground to the fence to help with drainage leaving the ground with a distinctive hump.
Football Park's days as a major football ground are now numbered. The proposed upgrades to the stadium have been abandoned with both the Adelaide Crows and Port Power set to play their AFL games at a redeveloped, 50,000 capacity Adelaide Oval near the heart of the CBD from 2014, though the Crows, who have built their own clubrooms and state of the art training facilities on the eastern side of the ground, will continue to use the site as their training base in a similar arrangement to what fellow AFL club Hawthorn have with the old Waverley Park in Melbourne.
The SANFL will continue to use the stadium until approximately 2020, though the leagues Grand Final will also move back to its original home at the Adelaide Oval. The SANFL plans to sell off the surrounding land in a 25 year development plan, though the main grandstand will be retained as SANFL headquarters and the oval for use by the Crows and some SANFL matches.
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