Cumberland Oval
Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia
Cumberland Oval, Parramatta, Australia — opened 1920, 722 rugby league games hosted, home of Parramatta Eels (1947-1981).
Sourcing caveat: No Grand Finals or other representative fixtures at Cumberland Oval itself were identified in sources found.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1920 |
| Home club | Parramatta Eels (1947-1981) |
| Closed | 1981 |
| Demolished | Not precisely dated in sources found — the grandstand was burned down by celebrating fans after Parramatta's 1981 premiership win, and the site was redeveloped into the (now also demolished) Parramatta Stadium, which opened on the same footprint in 1986. |
| Site today | CommBank Stadium (opened 2019), the third stadium built on this footprint |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 722 |
| Top recorded crowd | 22,470 (22,470 (Parramatta v South Sydney, 26 April 1971)) |
| Capacity | Approximately 6,000 in the Eels' early years, with a single grandstand (reportedly built partly from old railway sleepers) |
| Surface | Turf; also used historically for cricket, rugby union, athletics and at times a dirt motorsport track |
| Last rugby league match | 30 August 1981 — Parramatta 20-20 Manly-Warringah (draw) |
| Years used | 1920–1981 |
| Location | Parramatta, New South Wales |
Name history
- Cumberland Oval — 1920–1981
Rugby league history
Cumberland Oval was the Parramatta Eels' home from their 1947 NSWRFL entry until 1981, when the club — having just burned down its own grandstand in premiership celebrations — moved to a temporary home at Canterbury-Bankstown's Belmore Oval while a new stadium was built on the Cumberland Oval site. That stadium, Parramatta Stadium, opened in 1986 (itself demolished in 2016-17 for the present-day CommBank Stadium). The Eels won the first of their four 1980s premierships in 1981 while based at Cumberland Oval, though the Grand Final itself, like all Grand Finals of that era, was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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