Bathurst Sports Ground
Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Bathurst Sports Ground, Bathurst, Australia — opened not confirmed, 6 rugby league games hosted, home of home to three Group 10 rugby league clubs at various points — St Pat's, Charlestons and Railway — though all six of our directory's recorded games are representative/touring fixtures (a "Western Division" side against touring international teams and one club-level State Cup match) rather than ordinary Group 10 club rounds; also reportedly hosted motorcycle speedway 1928-1951 (medium confidence).
Sourcing caveat: All six recorded matches were independently re-verified via a direct fetch of Rugby League Project's own venue results page, matching our directory's games count, date range and top crowd exactly; none could be cross-checked against a second, independent source beyond RLP itself. Capacity and floodlight status were not found. The exact relationship between "Bathurst Sports Ground" and the separately-listed "Bathurst Showground" remains unresolved — at least one local news source uses the two names interchangeably in a single sentence, while Wikipedia's Bathurst Showground article makes no mention of rugby league at all.
Ground facts
| Opened | not confirmed (A regional sports ground in Bathurst, NSW, possibly (but not confirmed) referred to interchangeably with "Bathurst Showground" in at least one local news source — treated here as a distinct venue pending clearer disambiguation, consistent with our directory's separate listing. A local history source references a ground grandstand's "100 years" as of 2024, implying construction around 1924, but this is not a confirmed formal opening date.) |
| Home club | home to three Group 10 rugby league clubs at various points — St Pat's, Charlestons and Railway — though all six of our directory's recorded games are representative/touring fixtures (a "Western Division" side against touring international teams and one club-level State Cup match) rather than ordinary Group 10 club rounds; also reportedly hosted motorcycle speedway 1928-1951 (medium confidence) |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 6 |
| Top recorded crowd | 10,000 |
| Test matches hosted | 4 |
| First rugby league match | 29 May 1920 — Western Division 7-19 South Sydney, on tour (attendance not recorded) |
| Years used | 1920–1970 |
| Location | Bathurst, New South Wales |
Name history
- Bathurst Sports Ground — the only name found; also called "Bathurst Sportsground"
Rugby league history
Bathurst Sports Ground fits the classic pattern for regional Australian rugby league venues through the mid-20th century: touring international sides (the New Zealand Kiwis, and the Great Britain Lions on three separate tours) played representative "country tour" matches against a composite Western Division regional side, criss-crossing NSW between the main Sydney Test venues. Local club rugby league (St Pat's, Charlestons, Railway) shared the ground through much of this period, but poor winter playing conditions — the ground had a cricket pitch running through its middle, described by one longtime player as playing "like a razor blade" — eventually drove the code to a dedicated home, Carrington Park, from 1984. The modern Group 10 club, Bathurst Panthers (founded 2000), plays at Carrington Park, not here.
Also used for cricket and reportedly motorcycle speedway (1928-1951, including the 1931 Australian Solo Championship).
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 9 July 1930 — Western Division 14-20 New Zealand, 1930 Kiwis tour (3,000)
- 19 May 1954 — Western Division 11-29 Great Britain, 1954 Lions tour (5,218)
- 27 May 1962 — Western Division 10-24 Great Britain, 1962 Lions tour (10,000, our recorded top crowd)
- 21 June 1970 — Western Division 11-40 Great Britain, 1970 Lions tour (4,400)
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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