Tokoroa Memorial Sportsground
Tokoroa, Waikato, New Zealand
Tokoroa Memorial Sportsground, Tokoroa, New Zealand — opened 1953, 4 rugby league games hosted, home of No rugby league club is documented as having this as a home ground in any source found -- Waikato Rugby League's own history lists clubs in Hamilton, Huntly, Ngaruawahia and Raglan, with no Tokoroa club identified..
Ground facts
| Opened | 1953 (Formally opened/dedicated 17 October 1953 by Major General Sir Howard Kippenberger, per New Zealand's official war memorials register -- this is a war-memorial dedication date, not a rugby-league-specific one. The ground was established as a WWII memorial reserve, with sportsground facilities (oval, bowling greens, croquet lawns, netball/tennis courts) added afterward.) |
| Home club | No rugby league club is documented as having this as a home ground in any source found -- Waikato Rugby League's own history lists clubs in Hamilton, Huntly, Ngaruawahia and Raglan, with no Tokoroa club identified. |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 4 |
| Top recorded crowd | 3,546 |
| Capacity | Not documented in any source. |
| Floodlights installed | Not documented in any source. |
| Surface | Described only as "a multi-purpose sports oval"; presumed grass but not explicitly confirmed. |
| First rugby league match | 8 Jul 1970 -- 1970 Lions Tour: Northern XIII 17 def by Great Britain 42 (crowd 3,546, the venue's top recorded crowd) |
| Last rugby league match | 8 Oct 2005 -- 2005 Other Internationals: Cook Islands 26 drew with NZ Maori 26 |
| Years used | 1970–2005 |
| Location | Tokoroa, Waikato |
Name history
- Tokoroa Memorial Sportsground / Tokoroa War Memorial Sports Grounds — 1953-present -- both forms used concurrently in modern sources as informal variants, not a sequential rename
Rugby league history
Fundamentally a WWII memorial reserve (multi-sport community park) rather than a purpose-built rugby league venue. Its marquee rugby league fixture is the 1970 Great Britain Lions tour match, the venue's highest-crowd game. Two further matches (1983, 1988) were Papua New Guinea Kumuls touring-side fixtures against regional sides (Northern Selection, Midlands), reflecting Tokoroa's role hosting midweek tour matches for a small regional centre in that era. Original 1953 memorial gates honouring three local WWII dead were replaced in 2005 -- the same year as the venue's last recorded rugby league match -- with a concrete memorial plinth retaining the original tablets plus a new VJ Day commemorative tablet.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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