AAMI Stadium | |
 Football Park pictured in April 2007, prior to demolition | |
 | |
| Location | Turner Drive,West Lakes, Adelaide,South Australia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34°52′48″S138°29′44″E / 34.88000°S 138.49556°E /-34.88000; 138.49556 |
| Capacity | 51,240 |
| Record attendance | 66,897(Sturt vPort Adelaide, 1976 SANFL Grand Final) |
| Field size | 165 metres x 135 metres |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1971 |
| Opened | 1974 |
| Closed | 2015 |
| Demolished | 2018–2019 |
| Construction cost | AU$6.6 million(1974) |
| Tenants | |
Adelaide Football Club[note 1] Glenelg Football Club (1991) | |
Football Park, known commercially asAAMI Stadium, was anAustralian rules footballstadium located inWest Lakes, a westernsuburb ofAdelaide, the state capital ofSouth Australia,Australia. It was built in 1973 by theSouth Australian National Football League (SANFL) and opened in 1974. Until the end of the2013 AFL season, it served as the home ground of South Australia'sAFL clubs, theAdelaide Football Club andPort Adelaide Football Club. It also hosted all SANFL finals from 1974 to 2013. Demolition of the stadium's grandstands began in August 2018,[1] and finished in March 2019.[2]
Despite the demolition of all grandstands, the stadium's playing surface was retained. The surface is used by the Adelaide Football Club as its primary training ground, and is also accessible to the public.
Ground was broken for Football Park in 1971, giving the SANFL its own venue after years of playing out of theAdelaide Oval, which was controlled by theSouth Australian Cricket Association (SACA). Due to ongoing conflicts with the SACA, the SANFL had wanted to leave Adelaide Oval and move into their own home stadium for a number of years, finally settling on the undeveloped swampland at West Lakes in 1970 (the same year as the similarly designed, but largerVFL Park opened inMelbourne).
The stadium hosted its first football game on 4 May 1974,[3] a SANFL match betweenCentral District andNorth Adelaide. The first goal was kicked by North Adelaide's Barry Hearl, but Central District won the game defeating North Adelaide by 30 points.
Intended to have a capacity of around 80,000, Football Park was originally standing room only in the outer (along with the usual crush barriers) with bench seating in the main grandstand and ended up with a capacity of approximately 62,000.[citation needed] Bench seating was gradually added to the stadium's bowl section, and the concourse roof was finished in 1982, by which time the grounds capacity had settled to around 55,000.[citation needed] The new roof gave the outer of the ground a limited number of under cover seats, as well as opening up more space for advertising boards. Television screens showing the games in progress at the ground are also in place under the concourse roof, as well as in the members area.
After long-term negotiations with theState Government and the local council, as well as local residents, the SANFL started building the ground's four light towers in late 1983. These were finished by early 1984, with all night games in Adelaide moving from the suburban grounds (Norwood Oval andThebarton Oval) to league headquarters for the next 16 years. Following Adelaide joining the AFL in 1991, and being joined by Port Adelaide in 1997, new corporate "superboxes" were built on top of the southern concourse, stretching from the scoreboard around to the members grandstand. The following year (1998) the stadium got its first video superscreen, although the old scoreboard located above the tunnel in the south-east corner remained in place as the main scoreboard.
After years of speculation, Football Park's members grandstand was extended in 2001 with the opening of the new Northern Grandstand, opening up 7,000 new seats. The new grandstand was fitted with individual plastic seats, and the rest of the stadium was finally brought into line with this in 2004, seeing an end to the unpopular aluminum bench seating, and dropping capacity to 51,240.
In addition to football, Football Park has also hostedcricket matches, including theKerry Packer-runWorld Series Cricket competition of the late 1970s when the upstart competition was shut out of major grounds such as the Adelaide Oval. And from 1984–1988 after the stadium got lights, Football Park also hosted theSouth Australian state one-day team in day/nightMcDonald's Cup games that the Adelaide Oval could not host due to it not getting lights until 1997.
The stadium has also hostedInternational rules football games betweenAustralia andIreland, as well as being used forrock concerts. Football Park also hosted aNational Soccer League game during the early-mid 1990s.
The record football crowd at Football Park was 66,897 whenSturt defeatedPort Adelaide in the1976 SANFL Grand Final, though police believe the attendance figure was closer to 80,000.[4] To avoid a crush, spectators were allowed on the field between the boundary line and the fence, and thousands were turned away bypolice as the house full signs went up. It was after this game that the original intended capacity of 80,000 was deemed unworkable for safety reasons so capacity was capped at around 62,000.
Adelaide and Port Adelaide played their last home games at Football Park in 2013, with both clubs moving to the Adelaide Oval in 2014. The record Showdown attendance at Football Park was recorded atShowdown XIX on 10 September 2005 when 50,521 saw the Crows defeat the Power by 83 points in the2005 First Semi Final. Apre-season match was played at the ground between the two sides in March 2015, in what was the last official event to be held at the ground.[5]
Major artists held concerts at Football Park, includingThe Beach Boys,ABBA,Neil Diamond,Alice Cooper,Dire Straits,Electric Light Orchestra,U2,The Rolling Stones,Genesis,Elton John with theMelbourne Symphony Orchestra on 21 November 1986 andRobbie Williams.Bon Jovi performed at Football Park in December 2013,[6] whileOne Direction performed in February 2015.[7]
| Number | Event | Type | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1976 SANFL Grand Final | Football match | 66,897 – 76,000[8] | 25 September 1976 |
| 2 | U2 (andKanye West) | Concert | 60,000[9] / 58,000+[10] | 16 November 2006 |
| 3 | 1974 SANFL Grand Final | Football match | 58,113 | 28 September 1974 |
| 4 | 1977 SANFL Grand Final | Football match | 56,717 | 24 September 1977 |
| 5 | Dire Straits | Concert | 55,000+[10] | 12 February 1986 |
After it was built, Football Park underwent several additions including:
Further upgrades, which largely did not eventuate, were proposed in June 2008.[11][12]
Proposed upgrades to the stadium were abandoned following confirmation that both Adelaide and Port Adelaide would move matches to the newly redevelopedAdelaide Oval, which has a capacity of 53,583 and is located very close to thecity. Adelaide Football Club continued to use the oval as their headquarters, and have their own clubrooms, administrative offices and indoor training facilities on the eastern side of the ground, a similar arrangement to what fellow AFL clubHawthorn have withWaverley Park inMelbourne.[13] The club announced their intention to move their training headquarters to an upgradedThebarton Oval sports precinct in June 2024, and are expected to complete the move in 2026.[14][15][16] During this time, the local council approved an application by the SANFL to a 42-year lease on the Football Park oval, enabling SANFL offices to return to Football Park in a newly designed building adjacent to the oval and have exclusivity of the oval for approximately three hours on weeknights and five hours on weekends.[17]
The SANFL Grand Final was moved back to its original home at the Adelaide Oval from2014. The SANFL announced a long-term development plan for the precinct in November 2014 with property developers Commercial & General forAU$71 million.[18] It was announced that the land will be redeveloped for 1,600 new houses, a library, retail area and a five-storey, 120-bedaged care facility.[19] Following the announcement, most of the seating at the ground was removed and given to local football clubs, before full-scale demolition work on the grandstands began in August 2018.[1] The demolition of the grandstands was completed in March 2019.[2]
The playing surface covered approximately 2 hectares, with the average distance between the boundary line and fence being six metres. The ground dimensions from fence to fence were 177 m × 145 m (194 yd × 159 yd) and the playing area inside the boundary lines was 165 m × 135 m (180 yd × 148 yd) and the goals ran north to south. There was a drop of approximately 1.5 metres from the centre of the ground to the fence to help with drainage, leaving the ground with a distinctive hump.
