Taumata Park
Eltham, Taranaki, New Zealand
Taumata Park, Eltham, New Zealand — opened Not precisely confirmed, but clearly in use as a sports/community venue by the early 1900s: its original wooden grandstand dated from 1905, and memorial gates were erected there in 1918, 1 rugby league games hosted, home of Eltham Rugby Football Club (rugby union) was the home tenant for over a century; in February 2014 the ground was reallocated to Eltham Association Football Club (soccer), with rugby operations relocating elsewhere. Taranaki's rugby league representative side used the ground only for the one recorded 1914 touring match, not as a regular home venue..
Ground facts
| Opened | Not precisely confirmed, but clearly in use as a sports/community venue by the early 1900s: its original wooden grandstand dated from 1905, and memorial gates were erected there in 1918 |
| Home club | Eltham Rugby Football Club (rugby union) was the home tenant for over a century; in February 2014 the ground was reallocated to Eltham Association Football Club (soccer), with rugby operations relocating elsewhere. Taranaki's rugby league representative side used the ground only for the one recorded 1914 touring match, not as a regular home venue. |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1 |
| Top recorded crowd | 2,000 |
| Capacity | A 1957 concrete memorial grandstand seats 650; this postdates the 1914 match, and the ground's capacity at that earlier time is not confirmed |
| Floodlights installed | Confirmed present in more recent decades (referenced in a 2014 dispute over the ground being reallocated to a soccer club); installation date not confirmed and almost certainly postdates the 1914 match |
| Surface | Grass; currently set up for soccer following the 2014 code change, but in 1914 it was a standard grass rugby ground |
| Years used | 1914 |
| Location | Eltham, Taranaki |
Name history
- Taumata Park — the only confirmed name across its recorded history
Rugby league history
Taumata Park was Eltham's principal sports ground and later became a Second World War memorial site, with a concrete grandstand opened in 1957. Rugby League Project confirms one rugby league match here: on 23 July 1914, the touring Northern Union (Great Britain) side beat the Taranaki provincial representative team 43-11 in front of 2,000 fans, with Stan Moorhouse scoring five tries for the tourists. This was one of fifteen matches Taranaki played against touring international sides between 1912 and 1990, never once winning any of them.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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