Carisbrook Stadium

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Lore & Background

Carisbrook was named after the estate of early colonial settler James Macandrew (itself named after Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight). Known locally simply as 'The Brook', it was branded with the name 'The House of Pain', due to its reputation as a difficult venue for visiting rugby teams. The stadium was home to both the Highlanders in Super Rugby and Otago in the ITM Cup through each team's respective 2011 season. It also hosted 38 All Blacks test matches. The All Blacks played against every major Test-playing nation at Carisbrook at least once. The first All Black defeat at Carisbrook was by the 1908 Anglo-Welsh team. The final official Test against a Tier 1 nation was against South Africa on 12 July 2008, won by the All Blacks 19–8. The final Test match at Carisbrook overall was against Fiji on 22 July 2011, won by the All Blacks 60–14.

In Their Own Story

On June 22, 2011, Carisbrook hosted its very last Test match, a fundraiser for the Christchurch earthquake appeal where the All Blacks defeated Fiji 60–14. Earlier that year, on June 3, the final Highlanders Super Rugby match ended in defeat against the Western Force (21–14). The stadium's closure was first announced in 2006, with demolition beginning in January 2012. Floodlight towers were dismantled and sent to Christchurch for temporary use at Addington Showgrounds while AMI Stadium awaited rebuilding. The corporate box stand, only 14 years old, was designed for disassembly, with proposals to move parts to University Oval or Queenstown's stadium. The Neville Street turnstile building, a Category I historic structure, remained protected during development. Carisbrook was sold to the Dunedin City Council in 2009 for $7,000,000 and resold in 2013 for $4,700,000.

Reader's Guide

Located at the foot of The Glen, a steep valley, the ground was flanked by the South Island Main Trunk Railway and the Hillside Railway Workshops, two miles southwest of Dunedin city centre in the suburb of Caversham. State Highway 1 also ran close to the northern perimeter of the ground. The ground's final regular capacity was around 30,000, but it hosted crowds as high as 42,000 with temporary seating. Floodlit since the 1990s, it could cater for both day and night fixtures. Partly due to Dunedin's relatively large number of tertiary students (20,000 of the city's 120,000 population), Carisbrook had a unique atmosphere. This was enhanced by the terraces, an uncovered concrete embankment at the eastern end of the ground.

Did You Know?

• Carisbrook hosted the first international football match between Australia and New Zealand in 1922; the hosts won 3–1.
• The floodlight towers were dismantled in 2012 and sent to Christchurch for use by the new temporary Christchurch Rugby Stadium at Addington Showgrounds.
• The turnstile building on Neville Street is a category I historic building and was protected during any potential developments on the site.
• Carisbrook was sold to the Dunedin City Council in 2009 for $7,000,000, and sold on in 2013 for $4,700,000.