Christchurch Showgrounds
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Christchurch Showgrounds, Christchurch, New Zealand — opened Originally Addington Showgrounds; rugby league use recorded here from 1912, 21 rugby league games hosted, home of Not a single dedicated home club — hosted Canterbury, South Island and Southern Zone representative sides against international touring teams.
Sourcing caveat: Capacity during this 1912-1983 period is not confirmed (a later, post-2012 capacity of 17,000-18,000 under different names is outside this entry's tracked period and not used here).
Ground facts
| Opened | Originally Addington Showgrounds; rugby league use recorded here from 1912 (This site's own directory tracks this venue's name only through 1983; the same physical site was later renamed Rugby League Park (by 1997) and, after the nearby Lancaster Park/AMI Stadium was destroyed in the 2011 earthquake, took on a series of further sponsor names (AMI Stadium from 2012, Wyatt Crockett Stadium 2018, Orangetheory Stadium 2019, Apollo Projects Stadium since 2023) — all under a separate site/venue history not covered by this entry.) |
| Home club | Not a single dedicated home club — hosted Canterbury, South Island and Southern Zone representative sides against international touring teams |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 21 |
| Top recorded crowd | 8,000 |
| Test matches hosted | 3 |
| Years used | 1912–1983 |
| Location | Christchurch, Canterbury |
Name history
- Addington Showgrounds / Christchurch Showgrounds — 1912-1983, in this site's own directory
- Rugby League Park — later name for the same site, by 1997
Rugby league history
A Canterbury representative venue hosting touring international sides (England, France, and others) across seven decades under this name. Originally an agricultural showground associated with the Canterbury A&P Show. One 1979 Great Britain fixture recorded at the venue was cancelled.
Originally an agricultural/livestock showground (Canterbury A&P Show).
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 1946 — South Island 12-24 England, Lions tour, attendance 8,000, this site's own recorded top crowd for the venue
- 1951 — a France touring-side match, attendance 6,990
- 1960 — a France touring-side match, attendance 7,529
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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