Owen Delany Park
Taupo, Waikato, New Zealand
Owen Delany Park, Taupo, New Zealand — opened 1983, 2 rugby league games hosted, home of a genuine multi-code community sportsground — rugby union clubs (King Country Rams, Northern Districts Knights, Taupo Marist, Taupo Sports, Taupo United), the Northern Districts cricket association (three men's ODIs, 1999-2001), plus football, athletics, archery, cycling and netball facilities; no rugby league club was ever a tenant — one relocated NRL fixture and its curtain-raiser.
Sourcing caveat: A Wikipedia season-summary table gives a conflicting attendance of 8,680 for the 2011 NRL match, against 14,645 recorded by Rugby League Project, the official Vodafone Warriors club website, and a dedicated crowd-statistics forum thread — three independent sources against one, and matching our directory exactly, so 14,645 is treated as correct here, but the discrepancy is noted rather than silently discarded. The curtain-raiser's exact score could not be independently corroborated beyond Rugby League Project.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1983 (Named for Owen Delany, a longtime champion of sport in the Taupō district from 1953 until his death in 2000, who led fundraising and council/NZ Rugby Union involvement to build the park.) |
| Home club | a genuine multi-code community sportsground — rugby union clubs (King Country Rams, Northern Districts Knights, Taupo Marist, Taupo Sports, Taupo United), the Northern Districts cricket association (three men's ODIs, 1999-2001), plus football, athletics, archery, cycling and netball facilities; no rugby league club was ever a tenant — one relocated NRL fixture and its curtain-raiser |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 2 |
| Top recorded crowd | 14,645 |
| Capacity | approximately 20,000 for rugby, up to 30,000 for concerts (seated capacity is far smaller, 1,750 total seats, 980 covered) |
| Test matches hosted | 1 |
| Floodlights installed | broadcast-quality floodlights were installed on the main field in a 2024 upgrade — the lighting in place for the 2011 rugby league fixture (a Sunday day match in any case) was of an earlier, lower standard |
| Surface | grass for the main oval |
| First rugby league match | 3 April 2011 — New Zealand Warriors 26-18 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, NRL 2011 Round 4, a Warriors "home" fixture relocated to Taupō (attendance 14,645, our recorded top crowd) |
| Years used | 2011 |
| Location | Taupo, Waikato |
Name history
- Owen Delany Park — 1983–present, the only name found
Rugby league history
This was the first NRL premiership match played at Owen Delany Park, part of the NRL's periodic practice of relocating Warriors home fixtures to regional New Zealand centres to grow the code's following outside Auckland. Warriors fullback Glen Fisiiahi scored two tries on debut in the position, a performance the club still describes as a memorable moment in the fixture's history. A same-day National Youth Competition curtain-raiser (Warriors 40-16 Cronulla) was also played, accounting for our directory's recorded 2 games; no further rugby league fixtures have been played here since.
A genuine multi-code community sportsground hosting rugby union, cricket (including three men's One Day Internationals, 1999-2001), football, athletics, archery, cycling and netball.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 3 April 2011 — New Zealand Warriors 26-18 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, NRL Round 4 (14,645) — independently re-verified via a direct fetch of Rugby League Project's own venue results page
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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