Richardson Park (Darwin)
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Richardson Park (Darwin), Darwin, Australia — opened uncertain, 9 rugby league games hosted, home of historically "the home of rugby league in the Northern Territory"; no single club tenant is confirmed by name for the 1964-1995 period specifically.
Sourcing caveat: Austadiums separately lists a 2010 NRL trial match (Cowboys v Titans, crowd 9,879) as the venue's highest crowd on record, which conflicts with the higher 13,246 figure from Rugby League Project's more detailed 1964-1995 ledger used for our top-crowd figure; the discrepancy is most likely explained by Austadiums only tracking crowds from 2003 onward and missing the earlier NSWRL relocated matches.
Ground facts
| Opened | uncertain (A single source (Austadiums) states 1960; this could not be corroborated by a second independent source.) |
| Home club | historically "the home of rugby league in the Northern Territory"; no single club tenant is confirmed by name for the 1964-1995 period specifically |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 9 |
| Top recorded crowd | 13,246 |
| Capacity | approximately 5,000 (1,500 seated) in its final configuration before closure, per Austadiums — not independently corroborated and possibly reflecting a later, reduced-capacity era rather than its 1960s-90s peak |
| Test matches hosted | 4 |
| Floodlights installed | present during the venue's rugby league operating life, per Austadiums |
| Surface | grass |
| First rugby league match | 1964 — Northern Territory 19-36 France, Chanticleers tour (the earliest match in the available match-by-match record; not confirmed as literally the ground's first rugby league match) |
| Years used | 1964–1995 |
| Location | Darwin, Northern Territory |
Name history
- Richardson Park — used throughout its rugby league era
- Harvey Norman Stadium — an alternate/sponsored name at an unconfirmed later era, per Austadiums
Rugby league history
Richardson Park was the traditional home of Northern Territory rugby league for decades, also used in the late 1980s and 1990s by the NSWRL/ARL to stage relocated premiership matches in Darwin, a strategy several Sydney clubs used to build interstate/regional markets at the time — hence fixtures involving Penrith, Balmain, South Sydney, Sydney City and Western Suburbs there rather than genuine Test matches. Our recorded top crowd of 13,246 was for a 1991 NSWRL Round 6 match between Penrith and Balmain. The Northern Territory rugby league body left Richardson Park in 2014 over maintenance costs; a planned $20 million redevelopment was later abandoned after public opposition, and the code moved to the newly built Territory Rugby League Stadium at Warren Park in 2019. Richardson Park itself reopened in 2024 as a general community recreation space, and hosted a rugby league community carnival (the "Deadly Cup") again in 2026, described by organisers as holding strong memories for local Elders and families despite its loss of competitive status.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 1966 — Northern Territory 7-17 Great Britain, Lions tour (2,965)
- 1970 — Northern Territory 12-35 Great Britain, Lions tour (3,000)
- 1974 — Darwin 2-41 Great Britain, Lions tour (6,500) — played the same year as Cyclone Tracy; the ground reportedly suffered little damage, unlike much of the rest of the city
- 1984 — Northern Territory 13-40 Great Britain, Lions tour (7,286)
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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