AMI Stadium
Christchurch (Phillipstown), Canterbury, New Zealand
AMI Stadium, Christchurch (Phillipstown), New Zealand — opened 1881, as Lancaster Park, named for Benjamin Lancaster, the farmer who sold the land, 21 rugby league games hosted, home of Not a rugby league home ground — New Zealand's premier rugby union and cricket venue (All Blacks, Crusaders Super Rugby), used only occasionally for New Zealand rugby league Test matches and a handful of NRL club fixtures (Wests Tigers v Warriors pre-season matches 2004-2006; Sydney/Sydney Roosters and Manly matches later).
Sourcing caveat: A separate, physically different Christchurch venue (the former Addington Showgrounds/Rugby League Park site, written up in this same batch as 'Christchurch Showgrounds') later also carried an 'AMI Stadium' sponsor name from 2012; that is a different ground from this one and is not conflated here.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1881, as Lancaster Park, named for Benjamin Lancaster, the farmer who sold the land (A direct WebFetch check of this site's own primary match-record source corrected an error in an initial research pass, which had misreported the venue's highest-attendance rugby league match as New Zealand v Australia (it was actually New Zealand v Great Britain); the corrected, complete 21-match list is used below, and its own recorded highest crowd (20,721) matches this site's own directory figure for the venue exactly.) |
| Home club | Not a rugby league home ground — New Zealand's premier rugby union and cricket venue (All Blacks, Crusaders Super Rugby), used only occasionally for New Zealand rugby league Test matches and a handful of NRL club fixtures (Wests Tigers v Warriors pre-season matches 2004-2006; Sydney/Sydney Roosters and Manly matches later) |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 21 |
| Top recorded crowd | 20,721 |
| Capacity | 38,628 at the time of its 2011 closure |
| Test matches hosted | 2 |
| First rugby league match | 7 Aug 1920 — New Zealand 3-19 Northern Union (England), attendance 10,000, the first rugby league international at the venue |
| Years used | 1920–2019 |
| Location | Christchurch (Phillipstown), Canterbury |
Name history
- Lancaster Park — 1881-1998/99
- Jade Stadium — 1998/99-2007, naming rights sold to Jade Software Corporation
- AMI Stadium — 2007-Feb 2011, naming rights sold to AMI Insurance; closed after the Feb 2011 Christchurch earthquake, demolished 2012-2019
- Lancaster Park — reverted to the original name on reopening as a public recreation park in Jun 2022
Rugby league history
Best known as New Zealand's leading rugby union and cricket ground, hosting 48 All Blacks Tests (1913-2010) and the first Test cricket match played in New Zealand (Jan 1930). Rugby league use was intermittent but spanned a full century, from a 1920 Northern Union tour Test through NRL club matches into 2019 (Manly 46-12 Warriors, the venue's final recorded rugby league fixture, attendance 11,774), with the largest crowd of all — 20,721 — for a 2010 NRL fixture between Sydney and the Warriors. Destroyed by the Feb 2011 Christchurch earthquake and demolished over 2012-2019, the site reopened as a public recreation park under its original Lancaster Park name in Jun 2022.
Primarily rugby union and cricket; also historically tennis (a 1911-12 Davis Cup tie) and athletics (Peter Snell's 800m world record, 1962).
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 1 Nov 1996 — New Zealand 32-12 Great Britain, attendance 9,000
- 28 Oct 2006 — New Zealand 18-14 Great Britain, Tri-Nations, attendance 17,005
Pre-dates the site's structured match-by-match records for these competitions, so listed here as sourced facts rather than linked match pages.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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