Newtown Park

Newtown Park
Location	Newtown, Wellington, New Zealand
Coordinates	41°19′13″S 174°46′57″E / 41.32028°S 174.7825°E / -41.32028; 174.7825Coordinates: 41°19′13″S 174°46′57″E / 41.32028°S 174.7825°E / -41.32028; 174.7825
Renovated	2008
Owner	Wellington City Council
Operator	Wellington City Council
Surface	Grass
Capacity	5000
Tenants
Kiwi Amateur Athletic Club Team Wellington Wellington Olympic AFC Wellington Phoenix FC Wellington United

Newtown Park is a multi-purpose stadium in Wellington, New Zealand. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer) matches and athletic events. The main pitch has a 400 metre, all-weather rubberized athletics track around it, as well as the spectator stands and the corporate loungue. A second, rectangular pitch (Newtown Park 2) is attached south of the main facility.

Football at Newtown Park

Newtown Park and its clubrooms are, during the winter football season, operated by Wellington United. However, Wellington United currently have a groundshare agreements with Wellington Olympic AFC, allowing Olympic to also host fixtures at Newtown Park.. Newtown Park is also the primary home stadium for Team Wellington of the New Zealand Football Championship, a franchise team of which both United and Olympic are members.

Team Wellington, the regional representative of the national New Zealand Football Championship, also use Newtown Park as their primary stadium. In the case of clashes with athletics events, Team Wellington play matches at Porirua Park. Both Wellington United and Olympic are members of the franchise currently operating as Team Wellington.

The second pitch was redeveloped in 2008, and is currently used by A-League club Wellington Phoenix FC for training and minor exhibition matches.

Other Football Events Hosted

• 1925, 1927, and 1989 finals of the Chatham Cup.
• 2007 Women's National League Final.
• 2008 Sichuan earthquake relief match - exhibition between Wellington Phoenix United^[1] and Christchurch Chinese Community.^[2]
• 2008 Pre-Olympic Exhibition match - New Zealand Under-23 vs Chile Under-23

Athletics at Newtown Park

Newotnw Park is the primar athletics stadium for the Wellington region, and during the summer football season is operated by the Kiwi Amateur Athletic Club. It is host to the McEvedy Shield competition, an annual athletics series between four Wellington boys schools. It is also used by many other schools as a place to stage in-house events.

Other Events at Newtown Park

Newtown Park also serves as a community events centre for the surrounding area, hosting cultural events such as Carols by Candlelight.

The #1 pitch will be re-developed in 2011 to function as a training venue for teams competing in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. During this time, it is expected that football events will be relocated.

References

1. ^ Not to be confused with Wellington Phoenix FC - Wellington Phoenix United was a team composed of some Phoenix FC players and prominent members of the Wellington football community
2. ^ http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/77488,gao-sparks-phoenix-fundraiser.aspx