Knights Stadium, Football stadium in Sunshine North, Australia
Knights Stadium is a sports venue in Sunshine North with a central playing field surrounded by seating areas. The facility holds up to 15,000 spectators and provides amenities for various competitions and events.
The land at Somers Street, previously a drive-in cinema, was bought through donations and volunteer work, with the idea that 1,000 people each giving $300 would cover the purchase. The stadium was built in 1989 and used by the Melbourne Knights in the National Soccer League, a competition in which the club was one of the few to own its ground. In 2006 the Knights and Melbourne Croatia Soccer Club became separate legal entities, with Melbourne Croatia owning the stadium and the Knights as tenants.
The ground is tied to Melbourne's Croatian community, who bought the Somers Street land through donations and volunteer work, with the idea that 1,000 people giving $300 each would cover the purchase. The Melbourne Croatia club rooms stand in the complex, and Melbourne Croatia Soccer Club has owned the stadium since 2006, with the Knights as tenants.
The 12.5-acre complex has two car parks with 700 spaces and three pitches, the main one re-laid in 2008. The Mark Viduka Stand seats 4,000, with open standing terracing around the rest of the ground. In 2016 a lower, more viewer-friendly fence replaced the old tall one.
The land on Somers Street was a drive-in cinema before the Croatian community bought it, partly through a plan in which 1,000 people each donated $300. The club was among the few in the National Soccer League to own its ground. The Mark Viduka Stand seats 4,000.
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