Tony Ireland Stadium

Tony Ireland Stadium
Townsville Cricket Ground
Former names Riverway Stadium
Pioneer Park
Address Australia
Location 2 Sporting Drive, Thuringowa, Townsville 4817
Coordinates 19°19′2″S 146°43′54″E / 19.31722°S 146.73167°E / -19.31722; 146.73167Coordinates: 19°19′2″S 146°43′54″E / 19.31722°S 146.73167°E / -19.31722; 146.73167
Owner Queensland Government
Capacity

10,000 (1013 seated)

Surface Grass
Construction
Construction cost A$16.5m[1]
Tenants
Thuringowa Bulldogs AFL club
Queensland Bulls

The Tony Ireland Stadium is an international standard AFL and cricket stadium in Thuringowa Central, Townsville, Australia. The stadium is a part of the Riverway sporting and cultural complex.

Facilities

The stadium includes the oval, a 1013-seat grandstand and supporting facilities, a practice oval and cricket practice nets. The design was modelled on Brisbane’s Gabba cricket ground specifications and has a six turf wicket block.[2] Tony Ireland Stadium has a maximum capacity of 10,000+[3] This was achieved on New Year's Eve 2007 when 10,024 people attended a Twenty20 cricket match featuring the Queensland and the Victoria.[4] The stadium is also home to the Thuringowa Bulldogs AFL club, and the AFL's local regional office.[2] In June 2009, the stadium hosted a 4-day first class match between Pakistan A and the Australia A cricket team.[5] The stadium also hosted some matches of the 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup which was held in Australia from 11 August 2012. India emerged as the winner of Under-19 Cricket World Cup after beating Australia in the final at the Tony Ireland Stadium.

In November 2014, the stadium hosted its first international match between debutants Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong. The Stadium became the 10th ODI venue in Australia.

Lighting

In 2008, the inadequacy of the current "temporary" lighting was highlighted when a Queensland v Western Australia AFL representative match was rescheduled from dusk to mid afternoon.[6] Costs to install lighting adequate for televised sport have been estimated at five million dollars.[6]

Attendance records

Top 5 Sports Attendance Records

No. Date Teams Sport Competition Crowd
1 31 December 2007 Queensland Bulls v. Victoria Bushrangers Cricket T20 10,024
2 2 March 2013 Gold Coast Suns v. North Melbourne Kangaroos Australian Rules Football AFL (preseason) 7,216
3 23 February 2014 Gold Coast Suns v. Brisbane Lions Australian Rules Football AFL (preseason) 6,426
4 1 March 2015 Gold Coast Suns v. Geelong Cats Australian Rules Football AFL (preseason) 4,431
5 24 October 2010 Queensland Bulls v. South Australia Redbacks Cricket Ryobi Cup 2,000

Last updated on the 2nd of March 2015

One Day International Hosted

The stadium has hosted following ODI matches till date.

Team (A) Team (B) Winner Margin Year Note
 Papua New Guinea  Hong Kong  Papua New Guinea By 4 Wickets 2014 Scorecard
 Papua New Guinea  Hong Kong  Papua New Guinea By 3 Wickets 2014 Scorecard

Twenty20 International Hosted

Team (A) Team (B) Winner Margin Year Note
 Papua New Guinea  Ireland  Ireland By 7 Wickets 2016 Scorecard
 Papua New Guinea  Ireland  Ireland By 3 runs (D/L) 2016 Scorecard

References

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.