Willowmore Park
Johannesburg (Benoni), Gauteng, South Africa
Willowmore Park, Johannesburg (Benoni), South Africa — opened 1924, 1 rugby league games hosted, home of primarily a cricket ground, home of the Easterns cricket team and a 2003 Cricket World Cup venue; no rugby league club was ever a tenant — a single one-off international fixture.
Sourcing caveat: The exact squad composition and sanctioning status (full national sides vs a select/scratch touring party) for both Great Britain and France on this 1957 visit was not fully confirmed by any source checked. Floodlight and playing-surface details for 1957 were not found.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1924 (Founded by English miners; more commonly spelled "Willowmoore Park" (double "o") in most sources, including Wikipedia and ESPNcricinfo, though Rugby League Project itself uses the single-"o" spelling matching our directory. Located in Benoni, in the Ekurhuleni metropolitan area east of Johannesburg, rather than in Johannesburg itself.) |
| Home club | primarily a cricket ground, home of the Easterns cricket team and a 2003 Cricket World Cup venue; no rugby league club was ever a tenant — a single one-off international fixture |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1 |
| Top recorded crowd | 13,000 |
| Capacity | approximately 20,000 today (following a recent upgrade); a period-specific 1957 figure was not found |
| Test matches hosted | 1 |
| First rugby league match | 20 July 1957 — Great Britain 61-41 France, an ad hoc promotional Great Britain/France touring visit to South Africa (attendance 13,000, our recorded top and only crowd) — independently re-verified via a direct fetch of Rugby League Project's own venue results page |
| Years used | 1957 |
| Location | Johannesburg (Benoni), Gauteng |
Name history
- Willowmoore Park — the standard modern spelling; "Willowmore Park" (single o) is an alternate spelling used by Rugby League Project and, following it, our own directory
Rugby league history
This was part of a short, ad hoc promotional visit to South Africa by touring British and French rugby league sides in 1957, organised by a local committee aiming to grow gate revenue and interest in a new market — rather than a formally constituted "Lions"-style tour, per a specialist South African rugby league history source, which also describes the venture as ultimately unsuccessful, with the touring sides reportedly not playing with the physicality South African crowds expected. That same source's account of the tour's other fixtures (describing only "Benoni and Durban" and a cancelled third match) does not fully align with Rugby League Project's own match ledger for other South African venues from this tour, a discrepancy that does not affect this specific match but is noted for anyone researching the tour's other legs.
Primarily a cricket ground, home of the Easterns cricket team; hosted two 2003 Cricket World Cup matches.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 20 July 1957 — Great Britain 61-41 France (13,000)
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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