Manuka Oval

Manuka Oval
The Menzies, Bradman and Hawke stands (left to right)
Former names	Manuka Circle Park (before enclosed)
Location	Manuka, Australian Capital Territory
Coordinates	35°19′5″S 149°08′5″E / 35.31806°S 149.13472°E / -35.31806; 149.13472Coordinates: 35°19′5″S 149°08′5″E / 35.31806°S 149.13472°E / -35.31806; 149.13472
Opened	1929 (enclosed)
Owner	ACT Government
Operator	Territory Venues and Events
Surface	Grass
Scoreboard	Jack Fingleton Scoreboard
Capacity	13,550
Record attendance	14,922 (2006, Kangaroos v Sydney Swans, AFL)
Field dimensions	179 x 150 m
Tenants
Canberra Comets, Futures League Eastlake Demons, AFL Canberra ACT Meteors, WNCL

Manuka Oval is a 13,550 capacity ground^[1] (however the capacity can be exceeded,^[2] 10,000 seated)^[3] located in the suburb of Griffith, adjacent to Manuka, a business district of Canberra, Australia's capital. The stadium is home to many events throughout the year, including cricket matches in the summer months and Australian rules football matches in the winter months.

History

The oval was originally a park officially known as Manuka Circle Park, however by the end of the 1920s it was known as Manuka Oval. The park and shopping centre were named after the leptospermum scoparium plant's Māori name, Manuka. There was a push for the park to become an enclosed oval starting in 1926 by various sports groups.^[4] Work began on Manuka Oval to erect a fence, along with other improvements made in 1929. The field had previously been used to casually play rugby league and Australian rules football. The first cricket pitch was played on in April 1930. The Bradman Pavilion, the oval's main stand, was constructed in 1962 in honour of Sir Donald Bradman. The Robert Menzies Stand and the Bob Hawke Stand were constructed in 1987 and 1992 respectively and were named after the first two Australian Prime Ministers who brought international cricket to Canberra in the form of the Prime Minister's XI.^[5] In 2004, Manuka Oval celebrated the 75th anniversary of its formal establishment. Manuka Oval will have a $4.3million upgrade starting from the second half of 2011, which includes 4,300 additional temporary seats for the venue, new media and corporate facilities, upgrades to the Hawke and Bradman stands' covering and upgrades to entry facilities, with upgrades of the ground's lighting to the to be considered in the future.^[6][7]

Sports played at the ground

Cricket

The first cricket match to be played at the oval was on Easter Monday, 13 April 1930.^[4] The Prime Minister's XI is played at the oval annually, it was started by Robert Menzies in 1951 and there were six more matches up to 1965 in his term as Prime Minister, the match was brought back in 1984 by Bob Hawke and has been played annually since. In 1992 the ground hosted its first One Day International (ODI) match between South Africa and Zimbabwe as part of the 1992 Cricket World Cup. The ground is home to the Canberra Comets who played in the Mercantile Mutual Cup from the 1997–98 season to the 1999–2000 season, they now play in the Futures League. Manuka was looking to host a Test match in the year 2013 to celebrate Canberra's 100th anniversary, however it now more likely to be an ODI with Australia involved.^[8] Manuka Oval held its second ODI on 12 February 2008 between India and Sri Lanka in the Australian tri-series.^[9] In 2009 the ground hosted two games in the Women's World Cup.^[10] The New South Wales Blues for three seasons, starting from the 2011–12 season, will play a Sheffield Shield and Ryobi One Day Cup match each season.^[7]

The trees around the oval date back to the 1920s

Australian rules football

The oval was a home venue to the Kangaroos, a Melbourne based club in the Australian Football League who had played matches at the venue from 1998 to 2006, playing three games per season from 2001 onwards. The ground record crowd was set in 2006 when 14,922 people came to watch the Kangaroos play the Sydney Swans.^[11] Brent Harvey was the only player to have played all 18 AFL games featuring the Kangaroos played at Manuka. It was announced on 16 August 2006 that the Melbourne Demons and the Western Bulldogs would play one premiership match each, from 2007 to 2009, all games were played against the Sydney Swans. The ground hosted one AFL regular season fixture in 2010 and 2011 between the Western Bulldogs and the Sydney Swans.^[12][13] From 2012 onwards the Greater Western Sydney Giants will play three regular season matches a year and one pre-season match at the ground.^[14] Manuka also hosts the home matches of the Belconnen Magpies and Eastlake Demons in the North East Australian Football League competition as well as all eastern conference finals.

Other

Manuka Oval hosted first-grade rugby league on 29 May 2001 with the Canberra Raiders moving their National Rugby League game to the ground because the ACT Brumbies were playing the Super 12 Final on the same night at Bruce Stadium.^[15] The Canberra Kookaburras (rugby union) played their home games at Manuka Oval when they competed in the Sydney competition from 1995 until they were excluded from the competition in 2000. The Canberra team rejoined the top Sydney competition in 2004 as the Canberra Vikings however opted to play their home games at Viking Park instead, the Canberra Vikings did make a return to Manuka Oval in 2007 for the Australian Rugby Championship and played three of their four home games at the ground, the other game was played at Canberra Stadium, however the competition was scrapped by the Australian Rugby Union at the end of the year.^[16] Hockey was also played at Manuka Oval until the National Hockey Centre was built. The venue has also previously hosted boxing and wrestling.^[17]

The PM's XI is an annual cricket match at Manuka Oval. The curator's residence is on the right in the background.

The Jack Fingleton Scoreboard at Manuka Oval.

Ground amenities

A two-storey curator's residence is attached to the oval. It was built in the 1930s in the style typically used by the Federal Capital Commission. The trees that circle the entire oval include cypress, poplar, oak and elm trees many of which were planted in the 1920s.^[18] The oval's scoreboard, the Jack Fingleton Scoreboard, was originally located at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, dated to 1901, however as the Melbourne Cricket Ground installed a new electronic scoreboard at the ground in the early 1980s the scoreboard was relocated to Manuka oval. The scoreboard was named after Jack Fingleton, who had recently died at the time of installation at Manuka, who was an Australian opening batsman as well as a political correspondent in Canberra and prolific author.^[2][19]

References

1. ^ "Manuka Oval - Overview". http://www.manukaoval.com.au/about/. Retrieved 24 October 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Manuka Oval - History". http://www.manukaoval.com.au/about/history.php. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 
3. ^ "Manuka Oval". Austadiums.com. http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=65. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Mr D. Selth. "Manuka Oval". Cricket ACT. http://www.cricketact.com.au/about-cricket-act/history/manuka-oval. Retrieved 21 December 2007. 
5. ^ "Manuka Oval, Canberra". England and Wales Cricket Board. http://www.ecb.co.uk/tickets/venues/manuka-oval-canberra,95,MV.html. Retrieved 16 July 2011. 
6. ^ Anderson, Stephanie (29 April 2011). "Manuka Oval and Canberra Stadium get $6m spruce-up". The Canberra Times. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/manuka-oval-and-canberra-stadium-get-6m-spruceup/2147849.aspx. Retrieved 29 April 2011. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Investing in our sporting and event venues". Andrew Barr, MLA - Media Releases. ACT Government. 3 May 2011. http://www.chiefminister.act.gov.au/media.php?v=10698. Retrieved 3 May 2011. 
8. ^ Chris Dutton (2 June 2011). "NSW support needed to attract Aussie cricket team: Barr". The Canberra Times. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/sport/cricket/nsw-support-needed-to-attract-aussie-cricket-team-barr/2182867.aspx. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
9. ^ "Australia alter summer schedule to satisfy India". Cricinfo. 20 April 2007. http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/content/story/291342.html. Retrieved 19 April 2007. 
10. ^ Merryn Sherwood (27 February 2009). "Australia's Cup squad trains in Canberra". The Canberra Times. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/sport/cricket/australias-cup-squad-trains-in-canberra/1445906.aspx. Retrieved 7 March 2009. 
11. ^ Jean, David (5 June 2006). "Swans grab win from nowhere Out-pointed visitors storm home to leap over Kangas". The Canberra Times. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/sport/afl/swans-grab-win-from-nowhere-outpointed-visitors-storm-home-to-leap-over-kangas/669093.aspx. Retrieved 6 November 2007. 
12. ^ Merryn Sherwood and James Dampney (AAP) (30 October 2009). "AFL pursues ACT youngsters after missing Mills (Page 2)". The Canberra Times. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/sport/football-australian-rules/afl-pursues-act-youngsters-after-missing-mills/1663658.aspx. Retrieved 22 December 2009. 
13. ^ Gaskin, Lee (8 August 2010). "Bulldogs, Swans to return to Manuka". The Canberra Times. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/sport/football-australian-rules/bulldogs-swans-to-return-to-manuka/1906072.aspx. Retrieved 24 November 2010. 
14. ^ "GWS-Canberra deal 'good value for money'". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 November 2010. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/11/3063121.htm. Retrieved 24 November 2010. 
15. ^ "Both codes keen to avoid further clashes of fixtures". The Canberra Times. 29 May 2001. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/sport/other/both-codes-keen-to-avoid-further-clashes-of-fixtures/657204.aspx. Retrieved 22 December 2009. 
16. ^ Whyte, Julia (11 August 2007). "Return from exile". The Canberra Times. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/sport/rugby-union/return-from-exile/702179.aspx. Retrieved 11 December 2007. 
17. ^ "WRESTLING, BOXING AT MANUKA OVAL.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1954) (ACT: National Library of Australia): p. 3. 1 November 1947. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2729203. Retrieved 18 July 2011. 
18. ^ "Manuka Oval ACT". Screenmakers Pty Ltd. http://www.screenmakers.com.au/services/sporting-venues/manuka-oval-act. Retrieved 4 May 2011. 
19. ^ Growden, Greg (2008). Jack Fingleton : the man who stood up to Bradman. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74175-548-0. 

External links

• Official website
• Manuka Oval at Austadiums
• ACT Cricket history of Manuka oval
• CricInfo's profile of Manuka Oval