Okara Park
Whangārei, Northland, New Zealand
Okara Park, Whangārei, New Zealand — opened disputed, 9 rugby league games hosted, home of Northland Rugby Union (rugby union, the primary and long-standing tenant); no permanent rugby league tenant — hosted Northland, Northern Districts and New Zealand Māori representative rugby league fixtures against touring sides.
Sourcing caveat: None of the nine recorded rugby league matches at this venue were full New Zealand "Kiwis" internationals — all were provincial or representative sides (Northland, Northern Districts, NZ Māori) against touring international opposition, a distinction worth keeping precise.
Ground facts
| Opened | disputed (The modern stadium is usually dated to its 22 May 1965 official opening, but Rugby League Project records a rugby league match at "Okara Park" as early as 1932 — suggesting an earlier ground of the same name on the same general site, which no source found directly confirms.) |
| Home club | Northland Rugby Union (rugby union, the primary and long-standing tenant); no permanent rugby league tenant — hosted Northland, Northern Districts and New Zealand Māori representative rugby league fixtures against touring sides |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 9 |
| Top recorded crowd | 6,000 |
| Capacity | approximately 18,500 today after redevelopment; cited at around 30,000 when the 1965 stadium opened (a 1979 rugby union match reportedly drew an estimated 40,000 including embankment standing room) — capacity specifically during the 1932-1996 rugby league era is not confirmed |
| Challenge Cup Finals hosted | 1 |
| Floodlights installed | present (upgraded in a recent redevelopment); original installation date not found |
| Surface | grass |
| First rugby league match | 18 June 1932 — Northland 13-15 South Auckland, Northern Union Cup |
| Years used | 1932–1996 |
| Location | Whangārei, Northland |
Name history
- Okara Park — used generically since at least the 1930s
- Toll Stadium — a later sponsorship name
- Semenoff Stadium — since 2019, under a naming-rights deal with Stan Semenoff's business group
Rugby league history
Okara Park is overwhelmingly known as a rugby union venue — the long-time home of Northland Rugby Union, site of famous Ranfurly Shield upsets, and a 2011 Rugby World Cup venue (Tonga v Canada, Tonga v Japan). Its rugby league history is intermittent and secondary by comparison: touring international sides played representative Northland, Northern Districts or New Zealand Māori sides there roughly once every few years across six decades, rather than any ongoing club or league competition being based at the ground. Our recorded top crowd of 6,000 came for a New Zealand Māori 40-28 win over Great Britain's Lions in October 1996; a genuine full New Zealand "Kiwis" test match (against Samoa) was eventually played at the same ground, by then renamed Semenoff Stadium, in November 2014 — after the window covered by our recorded match data here.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 18 June 1932 — Northland 13-15 South Auckland, Northern Union Cup
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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