Petone Recreation Ground
Lower Hutt (Petone), Wellington, New Zealand
Petone Recreation Ground, Lower Hutt (Petone), New Zealand — opened unknown, 4 rugby league games hosted, home of No rugby league club is documented as ever having this as a home ground. Historically associated with Petone Rugby (union), though that club's actual headquarters ground is North Park, not the Recreation Ground. Wellington's first-class cricket team used it 1991/92-1998/99 (women's team 1998-2002)..
Ground facts
| Opened | unknown (No confirmed general opening year for the ground exists in any source, though its historic grandstand has served the community "since 1899" per a 2025 community preservation petition. A Wikipedia cricket-ground page records the first cricket match there as 1951, but that is a sport-specific first-use date for cricket, not the ground's true opening year, and should not be read as such.) |
| Home club | No rugby league club is documented as ever having this as a home ground. Historically associated with Petone Rugby (union), though that club's actual headquarters ground is North Park, not the Recreation Ground. Wellington's first-class cricket team used it 1991/92-1998/99 (women's team 1998-2002). |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 4 |
| Top recorded crowd | 4,000 |
| Capacity | Not documented in any source. |
| Floodlights installed | Not documented in any source. |
| Surface | Not explicitly confirmed as grass, though implicitly so as a natural sports oval used for rugby, cricket, athletics and touch. |
| First rugby league match | 12 Sep 1908 -- Inter-District 1908: Wellington 13 drew with Auckland 13 (crowd 4,000, the venue's top recorded rugby league crowd) |
| Last rugby league match | 20 Sep 1997 -- 1997 Women's Test Matches: New Zealand 34 def Australia 26 |
| Years used | 1908–1997 |
| Location | Lower Hutt (Petone), Wellington |
Name history
Rugby league history
A genuine multi-sport facility (rugby union, cricket, touch football, athletics, marching) with entrances at Udy Street, Britannia Street and Kirks Avenue, Petone. Its 1908 fixture is an early inter-provincial match from rugby league's first year of existence in New Zealand (NZRL formed 1908). Its 1979 fixture, Wellington vs a touring Great Britain Lions side, was part of the full Great Britain tour of New Zealand, Australia and Papua New Guinea. Its 1997 fixture, New Zealand vs Australia women, was one of the sport's early sanctioned women's internationals. The ground's historic ~1899 grandstand is the subject of an active 2025 community preservation campaign, facing an approximately NZ$3 million repair-or-demolish decision by Hutt City Council.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
← Rugby League · Champions list · All-time records · Grand Final results · World Cup · All competitions · Teams · Players