Oki Jubilee Stadium

Infobox_Stadium
stadium_name = OKI Jubilee Stadium
nickname = Kogarah Park


location = Kogarah, Sydney
broke_ground =
opened = 1936
closed =
demolished =
owner = Kogarah Council
operator = Kogarah Council
surface = Grass
architect =
construction_cost =
former_names = Jubilee Oval
Kogarah Oval
tenants =St. George Dragons (NRL) (1936-1985, 1989-1998)
St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRL) (1999, 2003-present)
Sydney Olympic FC (NSL) (2003-2004)
seating_capacity = 12,500 (1950)
23,582 (1975)
19,608 (2005)
20,541 (2006-present)

OKI Jubilee Stadium "(also known as Jubilee Oval or Kogarah Oval)" is the home stadium of the St George Illawarra Dragons, a rugby league team that plays in Australia's NRL. Located on the Princes Highway in the Sydney suburb of Kogarah, it originally hosted its first game of rugby league sometime in 1936 when the Dragons defeated the Newtown Jets in an exhibition match. The stadium has undergone several constructions over the years and one is still being planned for the foreseeable future. The first official game was played on April 22, 1950 in which the Dragons lost 17-15.

History

Oki Jubilee Stadium currently stands on part of the original grant of 87 acres awarded on the 23rd of December, 1853 to Archibald McNab. Edmund English purchased the grant on the 23rd of May, 1854 for around 400 pounds. It officially became known as Kogarah Park when it was acquired by the Department of Lands on the 1st of July, 1896 and dedicated as the first public park in Kogarah. Control of the park was eventually passed to the Council of the Municipality of Kogarah on the 29th of August, 1906. The Stadium is famous for its big crowds on match day.

t. George Dragons

During Kogarah’s Jubilee celebrations in 1935, Jubilee Oval was constructed in Kogarah Park. The St. George Dragons had a successful debut game at Jubilee Oval in 1936 when they defeated Newtown in an exhibition match as part of the Jubilee celebrations. The gate from the match was donated to the St. George Hospital. Saints at this stage were still based at Arncliffe’s Earl Park and it wasn’t until 1950 that Saints returned home to Jubilee Oval.

The Dragons played their first official match at the ground on April the 22nd, 1950 against the South Sydney Rabbitohs before 12,500 fans. Unfortunately the Dragons lost a rather exciting match 17-15 but defeat would become quite a rare sight for the Dragons over the coming decades while at Kogarah.

St. George were based at Kogarah during their world record breaking 11 successive premierships from 1956 to 1966. They set an amazing record at Kogarah and were not beaten at home for an astonishing twelve years (Originally beaten by the Balmain Tigers on the 26th of June, 1954 at Kogarah which was just before the beginning of the streak. It wasn’t until the 31st of July, 1966 that they tasted defeat at Kogarah again, eventually losing 12-9 to the Western Suburbs Magpies).

In the year 1950 the Dragons began a permanent association with the ground, around this time was also when St. George legend Norm Provan joined the club and he said of Kogarah:

The team was based at Jubilee Oval right up until the completion of the 1985 season. They then chose to abandon the ground and decided to relocate to the Sydney Cricket Ground. The decision became one which they would come to dread. In 1985 St. George had been Club champions, 1st Grade Minor premiers, 1st Grade Runners-Up, Reserve Grade Premiers & Under-23s Premiers. In 1986 Saints missed the semi-finals in all 3 grades for the first time in 50 years. The fans of the club became angry at the club's decision and stayed away from the club in droves while the Dragons remained at the SCG for a further season.

In 1988 the opportunity came for the club to relocate again, yet instead of moving back to Jubilee they decided to move to Belmore oval instead. Finally common sense prevailed in 1988 when it was decided that the Saints would finally relocate home to Jubilee in 1989 with a new stand to be constructed for the 1990 season.

The club yet again moved in the late 90's and attempted to explain to fans the decision was on the basis that Jubilee was too small to accommodate a proposed $30 million stadium complex to meet NRL requirements for playing venues. In a joint statement, Kogarah Council and St. George DRLFC stated that the scale of the proposed 20,000 seat stadium would exceed the size of Jubilee Oval and have an impact on residents. The decision to leave Jubilee upset many of St George Illawarra's loyal supporters as the ground had so much history to it and in July 2000 many supporters held a rally in support of the ground.

t. George Illawarra Dragons

The St. George Illawarra Dragons use the ground as part of their home ground, along with WIN Stadium in the National Rugby League. The team was formed in 1999, and used the ground in that season, before moving their games to Aussie Stadium in 2000.

In 2000 and 2002 after many loyal St. George supporters held a rally and Information Night to persuade the club to move back to Oki Jubilee Stadium, the club did so and with the Dragons merging with the Illawarra Steelers they would be yet again occupying the famous rugby league ground. During these 3 years that the Dragons did not play at Oki Jubilee, there were talks with the club that they would play at St George Soccer Stadium, but their plans fell through. The Dragons returned in 2003 after high amounts of protests and rallies held by supporter group R2K (or Return 2 (to) Kogarah). The team has played at the ground 24 times, winning on 14 occasions, including the memorable 8-1 win over Parramatta in 2006.

Since 2003, OKI has been steadily upgraded with small features developed and re-developed. In 2006, the ground had been updated with new features to the seating around the grandstand and features directly out of the stadium including re-developments to the Hall of Fame walk and Kogarah Park in front of the stadium. Stage 1 has been completed, with new terraced seating at the north-western end, perimeter seating at the base of the hill, and a regrassed and raised hill area. Floodlights for televising night matches have also been installed. In 2007, the Dragons announced that they would not be playing home games at Kogarah for the 2008 season so that the latest and important updates to the grandstand could be completed with new roofed seating to the side of the existing grandstand and will be extended north, the southern terrace extended to hold approximately 2000 seats, and further upgrading to the hill area to be completed. The Dragons will return for 2009 and for future seasons at the history-filled stadium.

External links

* [http://www.dragons.com.au St. George Illawarra Dragons Official Site]
* [http://www.r2k.info/ R2K - The definitive website on OKI Jubilee Stadium]
* [http://www.r2k.info/locations/jubilee.html History of the Stadium]
* [http://www.r2k.info/lights.html Article on proposed construction to Jubilee]
*Austadiums|59