Emirates Airline Park | |
 Ellis Park Stadium in July 2009 | |
 Interactive map of Ellis Park | |
| Full name | Ellis Park Stadium |
|---|---|
| Former names | Coca-Cola Park(2008–12) |
| Location | 47 N. Park LaneDoornfontein,Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, 2028 |
| Coordinates | 26°11′51″S28°3′39″E / 26.19750°S 28.06083°E /-26.19750; 28.06083 |
| Owner | City of Johannesburg,Orlando Pirates,Interza Lesego, Ellis Park Stadium (Pty) Ltd |
| Operator | Ellis Park World of Sport |
| Capacity | 62,567 (Rugby union andSoccer) 55,686 (2010 FIFA World Cup) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1927; 98 years ago (1927) |
| Built | 1927–1928 |
| Opened | June 1928; 97 years ago (1928-06)[1] |
| Renovated | 1982 |
| Expanded | 2009 |
| Construction cost | R 40 Million |
| Tenants | |
| Lions (1996–present) Golden Lions South Africa national rugby union team (selected matches) | |
Ellis Park Stadium (known asEmirates Airline Park for sponsorship reasons) is arugby union andassociation football stadium inJohannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It hosted thefinal of the1995 Rugby World Cup, which was won by the country's national team, theSpringboks. The stadium was the country's most modern when it was upgraded in 1982 to accommodate almost 60,000 people.
Today, the stadium hosts bothfootball and rugby and is also used as a venue for other large events, such as open-air concerts. It has become synonymous with rugby as the only time when rugby was not played at Ellis Park was during 1980 and 1981, when the stadium was under construction during the upgrade.
The stadium was originally named after J. D. Ellis, who made the area for the stadium available. A five-yearZAR 450 million (US$58 million/£30 million) naming rights deal was signed in 2008 with The Coca-Cola Company, resulting in the stadium being namedCoca-Cola Park between 2008 and 2012.[2]
League, provincial, and international football games have all been played at the stadium, and it has seen such teams asBrazil,Manchester United andArsenal play. Ellis Park Stadium is the centrepiece of a sporting sector in the south-east of Johannesburg, where it neighboursJohannesburg Stadium (athletics),Standard Bank Arena,[3] Ellis Park Tennis Stadium,[4] and an Olympic-class swimming pool.
Ellis Park is home to the following teams:
Cricket matches were held at the stadium in the past. Ellis Park hosted sixTest matches between 1948 and 1954,[6] but it has not been used forfirst-class cricket sinceNew Wanderers Stadium opened in 1956 and is now only used forrugby andfootball.
In 1889 when after a long and hard-fought battle the Transvaal Rugby Football Union (now theGolden Lions Rugby Union) was formed and established a domain. The first games were played at the Wanderers Club's stadium whose grounds were situated whereJohannesburg Park Station is today. Rows between the different rugby clubs as well as the Wanderers Club's claim of the field for the use of cricket games, forced the Transvaal Rugby Football Union to look for an alternative.
An area with a quarry and garbage dumps inDoornfontein was identified in, 1927 as the possible alternative. The Transvaal Rugby Football Union negotiated with theJohannesburg City Council's J. D. Ellis (after whom Ellis Park was named) for the availability of these grounds and 13 acres (53,000 m2) was made available. On 10 October 1927 the final rental agreement was signed. A quote of £600 was accepted for the grass and with a loan from the city council to the amount of £5,000, the building of the new stadium could commence. The stadium was built in eight months and in June 1928 the first test was played against theAll Blacks. Thus was born Ellis Park which became internationally renowned and synonymous withrugby. Crowds of between 38,000 and a record crowd of 95,000 against theBritish and Irish Lions (in 1955) attended the matches.
Ellis Park played the host forcricket matches after an agreement was reached between Transvaal Rugby Football Union andThe Transvaal Cricket Union. From 1947 when the cricket pitch was laid until 1956, Ellis Park was host to various cricket matches with the final games played in the 1953/54 series against New Zealand. Cricket then moved to its new venue where the current Wanderers still is today.
On 28 April 1969 the Transvaal Rugby Football Union formed a stadium committee to investigate the possibilities of a new stadium since the one in use did not meet all the modern requirements. Fifteen years later, after the game between Transvaal and the World Team on 31 March 1979, the old Ellis Park was demolished. Games were played at the Wanderers while the stadium was being rebuilt.
A new Transvaal Rugby Football Union management was elected in 1984 withLouis Luyt as chairman and Joe Poolman as his deputy. The decision was taken to place Ellis Park Stadium under the management of a trust. In 1987 after the Ellis Park Stadium was listed on the stock exchange and due to sound financial management by Luyt, Ellis Park could announce that the debt to the amount of R53 million was fully paid and a further 86 suites could be erected.
In 2005 Ellis Park became the first black-owned stadium in South Africa.The Golden Lions Rugby Football Union passed the management of the Ellis Park Precinct to a company with 51% black ownership.Orlando Pirates,Interza Lesego and Ellis Park Stadium (Pty) Ltd make up the new management of the Ellis Park Precinct.[5]
The stadium was witness to an incident during aPremiershipfootball match betweenOrlando Pirates andBlack Leopards on 17 January 2007, when high winds blew several sideline advertising boards onto the pitch, striking a linesman and three players. Play resumed 7 minutes later, but the match was ultimately abandoned 6 minutes before full-time due to sudden torrential rains and lightning. The game's kickoff previously had been delayed 15 minutes by a power failure.[7]
In 2001 acrowd crush occurred during asoccer game betweenOrlando Pirates andKaizer Chiefs. With 43 people killed, theEllis Park Stadium disaster is to date the biggest of its kind in South Africa.[8]
The inner city suburb ofDoornfontein has experienced increasing crime, leading to a number of incidents affecting stadium goers, and impacting stadium attendances. As a result, there have been calls for South African rugby to move to another venue in Johannesburg.[9][10]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(December 2012) |
On 12 January 1985, Ellis Park Stadium was the venue forConcert in the Park, abenefit concert organised by Hilton Rosenthal. 22 artists played the benefit, which raised money for Operation Hunger, a South African non-profit organisation.[11][12]
Among the touring artists who have performed at the Stadium are:
| Artist | Date | Tour |
|---|---|---|
| Whitney Houston | 12 November 1994 (1994-11-12) | The Bodyguard World Tour |
| Roxette | 15 January 1995 (1995-01-15) | Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour |
| Rolling Stones | 24 & 25 February 1995 | Voodoo Lounge Tour |
| Phil Collins | 17 March 1995 | Both Sides of the World Tour |
| Janet Jackson | 21 November 1998 | Velvet Rope Tour |
| Eminem | 1 March 2014 | Rapture Tour |
Whitney Houston's concert was recorded and released as a home video titled:Whitney: The Concert for a New South Africa). A year later alsoRoxette's concert during theCrash! Boom! Bang! World Tour was recorded and released on VHS home video.
In 1995, South Africa hosted theRugby World Cup, and the final was held at Ellis Park on 24 June in front of 65,000 spectators. South Africa beat New Zealand 15–12 in extra time.
| Date | Team 1 | Result | Team 2 | Round | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 May 1995 |  Ireland | 19–43 |  New Zealand | Pool C | 38,000 |
| 31 May 1995 | New Zealand | 34–9 |  Wales | Pool C | 38,000 |
| 4 June 1995 | Ireland | 24–23 | Wales | Pool C | 35,000 |
| 10 June 1995 |  South Africa | 42–14 |  Western Samoa | Quarter-finals | 52,000 |
| 24 June 1995 | South Africa | 15–12 (aet) | New Zealand | Final | 65,000 |
Ellis Park was one of the host venues for the2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
| Date | Time (SAST) | Team 1 | Result | Team 2 | Round | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 June 2009 | 16:00 | South Africa | 0–0 |  Iraq | Group A | 48,837 |
| 18 June 2009 | 20:30 |  Egypt | 1–0 |  Italy | Group B | 52,150 |
| 20 June 2009 | 20:30 | Iraq | 0–0 | New Zealand | Group A | 23,295 |
| 25 June 2009 | 20:30 |  Brazil | 1–0 | South Africa | Semi-finals | 48,049 |
| 28 June 2009 | 20.30 |  United States | 2–3 | Brazil | Final | 52,291 |
Ellis Park hosted five group games, one second-round game and one quarter-final of the2010 FIFA World Cup, for which its capacity was increased by 5,000 seats on the northern side only, to 62,000.[1] Areas like the Presidential suite also received a facelift. There was also a hospitality room and new changing rooms. The total cost of renovations was R500 million and were completed in June 2008, two years before theWorld Cup.
| Date | Time (SAST) | Team 1 | Result | Team 2 | Round | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 June 2010 | 16:00 |  Argentina | 1–0 |  Nigeria | Group B | 55,686 |
| 15 June 2010 | 20:30 | Brazil | 2–1 |  North Korea | Group G | 54,331 |
| 18 June 2010 | 16:00 |  Slovenia | 2–2 | United States | Group C | 45,573 |
| 21 June 2010 | 20:30 |  Spain | 2–0 |  Honduras | Group H | 54,386 |
| 24 June 2010 | 16:00 |  Slovakia | 3–2 | Italy | Group F | 53,412 |
| 28 June 2010 | 20:30 | Brazil | 3–0 |  Chile | Round of 16 | 54,096 |
| 3 July 2010 | 20:30 |  Paraguay | 0–1 | Spain | Quarter-finals | 55,359 |
A total of 13 Test match centuries were scored on the ground.[13]
| No. | Player | Score | Date | Team | Opposing team | Inn. | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Len Hutton | 158 | 27 December 1948 |  England |  South Africa | 1 | Drawn[14] |
| 2 | Cyril Washbrook | 195 | 1 | ||||
| 3 | Denis Compton | 114 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | Eric Rowan | 156* | South Africa | England | 3 | ||
| 5 | Allan Watkins | 111 | 12 February 1949 | England | South Africa | 1 | Drawn[15] |
| 6 | Dudley Nourse | 129* | South Africa | England | 2 | ||
| 7 | Len Hutton | 123 | England | South Africa | 3 | ||
| 8 | Lindsay Hassett | 112 | 24 December 1949 |  Australia | South Africa | 1 | Australia won[16] |
| 9 | Sam Loxton | 101 | 1 | ||||
| 10 | Arthur Morris | 111 | 10 February 1950 | Australia | South Africa | 1 | Australia won[17] |
| 11 | Jack Moroney[A] | 118 | 1 | ||||
| 12 | Jack Moroney[A] | 101* | 3 | ||||
| 13 | Neil Harvey | 100 | 3 |
Eight five-wicket hauls were taken in Test matches on the ground.
| No. | Bowler | Date | Team | Opposing team | Inn | O | R | W | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuan McCarthy | 12 February 1949 | South Africa | England | 1 | 35.7[a] | 114 | 5 | Drawn[15] |
| 2 | Keith Miller[B] | 24 December 1949 | Australia | South Africa | 2 | 15[a] | 40 | 5 | Australia won[16] |
| 3 | Bill Johnston[B] | 3 | 20.1[a] | 44 | 6 | ||||
| 4 | Michael Melle[C] | 10 February 1950 | South Africa | Australia | 1 | 33[a] | 113 | 5 | Drawn[17] |
| 5 | David Ironside[D] | 24 December 1953 | South Africa | New Zealand | 2 | 19[a] | 51 | 5 | South Africa won[18] |
| 6 | Neil Adcock | 4 | 19[a] | 43 | 5 | ||||
| 7 | Hugh Tayfield | 29 January 1954 | South Africa | New Zealand | 2 | 14[a] | 13 | 6 | South Africa won[19] |
| 8 | Neil Adcock | 3 | 26[a] | 45 | 5 |
| Preceded by | Fed Cup Final Venue 1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Twickenham London | Rugby World Cup Final venue 1995 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | FIFA Confederations Cup Final venue 2009 | Succeeded by |
