Carisbrook

Carisbrook (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Carisbrook Stadium) was a major sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The city's main domestic and international rugby union venue, it was also used for other sports such as cricket, football, rugby league and motocross. Carisbrook also hosted a Joe Cocker concert and frequently hosted pre-game concerts before rugby matches in the 1990s. In 2011 Carisbrook was closed, and was replaced as a rugby ground by Forsyth Barr Stadium in North Dunedin, and as a cricket ground by University Oval in Logan Park.

Quick Facts

Nickname: The House of Pain
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Groundbreaking: 1881
Opened: 1883
Closed: 2011
Demolished: Starting 2013
Owner: Carisbrook Ground Company
Surface: Grass

Facts from the source article.

Background

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. Carisbrook was named after the estate of early colonial settler James Macandrew (itself named after Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight). Developed during the 1870s, it was first used for international cricket in 1883, when Otago hosted a team from Tasmania, and for Test cricket from 1955.

It hosted rugby union internationals from 1908. In 1922, Carisbrook hosted the first international football match between Australia and New Zealand. The hosts won 3–1. Floodlit since the 1990s, it could cater for both day and night fixtures.

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. It is also the former home of Otago cricket, which moved to the University Oval at Logan Park in the north of the city after its redevelopment in the early 2000s.

Between 1884 and 2008 Carisbrook hosted 252 first-class cricket matches, including, between 1955 and 1998, 10 Test cricket matches. It was also the home ground of Otago United in the New Zealand Football Championship, which moved to the lower-capacity Sunnyvale Park for the 2008–09 season.

Did You Know?

The largest attendance at Carisbrook was 42,000 for a rugby match between New Zealand and Australia in July 1993.
The floodlight towers were dismantled in 2012 and sent to Christchurch for use by the new temporary Christchurch Rugby Stadium at Addington Showgrounds.
Carisbrook was sold to the Dunedin City Council in 2009 for $7,000,000, and sold on in 2013 for $4,700,000.