Eden Park, Rugby union venue in Kingsland, Auckland, New Zealand
Eden Park is a stadium in Mount Eden and Kingsland, Auckland, with tiered gray concrete seating rising on the left, rear and right sides. A long roof overhangs the upper tier on the left and rear, its fascia painted with ASB and POWERADE and the right stand with POWERADE and OWENS. The flat green field holds a pale rectangular pitch strip, ringed by blue advertising boards.
The ground opened in 1903 as a basic sports field on drained swampland. Multiple rebuilding projects over the twentieth century transformed it into the largest stadium in New Zealand.
The name Eden Park came into general use around 1912, after the Auckland Cricket Association took over the ground. At the 1987 Rugby World Cup opening match, the All Blacks performed the haka on New Zealand soil for the first time, having previously reserved it for tours abroad. During the 1981 Springboks match, a light aircraft flew low over the ground several times, dropping flour bags.
Eden Park sits three kilometres southwest of Auckland's centre, on the boundary between Mount Eden and Kingsland. The ground is used mainly for rugby union in winter and cricket in summer, so the playing surface and seating layout change with the season. The Eden Park Trust Board owns and runs the venue from offices inside the stadium.
The national rugby team has not lost here since 1994, a run of more than 50 consecutive wins. This streak makes the ground a particularly feared venue for visiting teams.
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