Patersons Stadium
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Patersons Stadium, Perth, Australia — opened 1908, 1 rugby league games hosted, home of overwhelmingly an Australian Rules football venue — West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers (AFL), 1987-2017, and Subiaco Football Club (WAFL), 1908-2004; no rugby league tenant — a single one-off NRL fixture.
Sourcing caveat: No rugby league Test matches, State of Origin games, or NRL finals were found at this venue. The exact round number (20 vs 21) for the 2012 Manly-Warriors fixture is inconsistent between sources; the date (21 July 2012) and crowd figure (20,095) are the better-corroborated facts.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1908 (First match 9 May 1908 (Subiaco v East Perth). This ground is the same physical venue as Subiaco Oval, later renamed Domain Stadium (2015-2017) before demolition in 2019 — a naming-rights rebrand, not a different ground.) |
| Home club | overwhelmingly an Australian Rules football venue — West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers (AFL), 1987-2017, and Subiaco Football Club (WAFL), 1908-2004; no rugby league tenant — a single one-off NRL fixture |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1 |
| Top recorded crowd | 20,095 |
| Capacity | 43,082 (final capacity, all-seat, after progressive redevelopments) |
| Floodlights installed | installed 1997 |
| Surface | grass; unusually large dimensions (175m x 122m), the longest ground in the AFL competition at the time |
| First rugby league match | 21 July 2012 — Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 24-22 New Zealand Warriors, a Manly "home" fixture relocated to Perth (attendance 20,095, our recorded top and only crowd) |
| Years used | 2012 |
| Location | Perth, Western Australia |
Name history
- Mueller Park — at construction, 1908
- Subiaco Oval — the long-standing common name
- Patersons Stadium — a naming-rights period, cited as starting either 2010 (Austadiums) or 2011 (Wikipedia) — not resolved — through 2014
- Domain Stadium — 2015–2017, before demolition in 2019
Rugby league history
Subiaco Oval/Patersons Stadium is fundamentally Western Australia's historic AFL and WAFL ground. Its single rugby league appearance was part of the NRL's periodic strategy of relocating a regular-season "home" fixture interstate to grow the code's footprint — Manly took a home game to Perth in 2012, drawing a strong crowd for a non-traditional NRL market. It predates the code's later preference for Perth's rectangular-stadium venue for subsequent relocated or exhibition matches.
Western Australia's historic AFL/WAFL ground — home of the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers (AFL) and Subiaco Football Club (WAFL); also hosted rugby union internationals (Wallabies, Western Force).
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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