Waitemata Stadium
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Waitemata Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand — opened not confirmed, 10 rugby league games hosted, home of no permanent tenant confirmed — used as a tournament venue for the Pacific Cup rather than as any club's home ground.
Sourcing caveat: Opening date, capacity, floodlights, playing surface and exact address could not be confirmed from any source found; these are reported as not confirmed rather than guessed. Whether the 2004 Pacific Cup final (NRL.com names the Cook Islands as that year's champions) was also played here, or only pool matches, could not be resolved either.
Ground facts
| Opened | not confirmed (No source located gives a construction or opening date for this venue, and even its precise Auckland location could not be independently confirmed beyond the general area.) |
| Home club | no permanent tenant confirmed — used as a tournament venue for the Pacific Cup rather than as any club's home ground |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 10 |
| Top recorded crowd | 2,500 |
| Capacity | not confirmed |
| Challenge Cup Finals hosted | 1 |
| Surface | not confirmed |
| First rugby league match | likely one of two Pacific Cup pool matches played in October 2004 (Auckland Māori v New Caledonia, or Samoa XIII v New Caledonia) — which of the two came first could not be confirmed |
| Years used | 2004–2006 |
| Location | Auckland, Auckland |
Name history
Rugby league history
Waitemata Stadium's rugby league history is almost entirely tied to the Pacific Cup, a competition originally created in 1974 to give Papua New Guinea international opposition and revived by the New Zealand Rugby League in 2004 and 2006 using Auckland-based venues, largely featuring New Zealand-resident players representing their heritage Pacific nations rather than full-strength touring sides. The ground hosted pool matches in both years plus the 2006 final, and recorded some notably one-sided scorelines (Samoa XIII 76-0 New Caledonia, the venue's biggest winning margin) alongside its record crowd of 2,500 for Fiji's 40-18 win over the Cook Islands in February 2006. The Rugby League International Federation later took over running the Pacific Cup, and its finals moved to other venues such as FMG Stadium Waikato in subsequent editions.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 7 March 2006 — Tonga 22-4 Fiji, Pacific Cup Final
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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