{"id":8164,"date":"2020-09-14T03:38:41","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T03:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=8164"},"modified":"2020-09-14T03:38:41","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T03:38:41","slug":"centenary-celebrations-come-early-as-newcastles-no-1-sportsground-upgrade-commences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/09\/14\/centenary-celebrations-come-early-as-newcastles-no-1-sportsground-upgrade-commences\/","title":{"rendered":"Centenary celebrations come early as Newcastle\u2019s No.1 Sportsground upgrade commences"},"content":{"rendered":"

A major\u00a0redevelopment of Newcastle\u2019s No.1 Sportsground\u00a0is underway and expected to\u00a0be complete\u00a0in time for the facility\u2019s 100th\u00a0anniversary\u00a0next year.
\nThe project, which includes\u00a0enlarging\u00a0the\u00a0playing field, upgrading the lighting\u00a0and\u00a0building\u00a0new\u00a0tiered\u00a0seating,\u00a0is\u00a0scheduled for completion\u00a0in mid-2021 and will\u00a0be position the region\u00a0to attract\u00a0elite\u00a0sporting events.
\n\"Web-pic-No-1-Sportsground.jpg\"
\nNewcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said\u00a0redeveloping\u00a0No.1 Sportsground\u00a0so it can\u00a0return\u00a0to its former glory of hosting elite cricket and AFL\u00a0is an\u00a0apt\u00a0way to celebrate\u00a0the facility\u00a0notching up its \u2018maiden century\u2019.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0eagerly anticipating\u00a0the sportsground\u00a0entering its centenary year in 2021\u00a0and\u00a0look forward to being able to\u00a0celebrate this milestone moment with a\u00a0significantly upgraded facility,\u201d Cr Nelmes said.
\n\u201cThis project will not only benefit those within our community who utilise it for grassroots and regional level sport, but\u00a0will also have a\u00a0wider-reaching impact\u00a0on\u00a0Newcastle\u2019s\u00a0economy\u00a0through its\u00a0potential to attract and host\u00a0first\u00a0class\u00a0cricket and\u00a0pre-season\u00a0AFL\u00a0fixtures.\u201d
\n\"Web-No1-Sportsfield-View-1-AFL-1.jpg\"
\nThe\u00a0staged\u00a0works\u00a0include\u00a0increasing the size of the playing field to achieve the minimum standard required for a first grade AFL match,\u00a0constructing seven new cricket wickets\u00a0and\u00a0re-building the entire playing surface.
\nA new sub-soil irrigation and drainage system will provide a high quality, consistent playing surface, while\u00a0the installation of six new 40\u00a0metre\u00a0light\u00a0poles\u00a0will\u00a0upgrade the lighting\u00a0to a standard\u00a0suitable for night-time games.
\nNew sight screens,\u00a0player dug-out benches\u00a0and oval fencing\u00a0will also improve the playing experience, while\u00a0the construction of new four-tier concrete bleachers to seat an additional 390 spectators will almost double the ground\u2019s current seated capacity.
\nCity of Newcastle\u00a0has\u00a0worked closely with the\u00a0various clubs\u00a0affected by the ground\u2019s closure, with arrangements made for alternative venues during the 2020\/21 summer and 2021 winter sporting seasons.<\/p>\n

No.1 Sportsground History<\/h2>\n

No.1 Sportsground\u00a0sits within the 20-hectare National Park, one of Newcastle\u2019s largest and oldest sportsgrounds and open space reserves.
\nIt was built on land previously owned by the\u00a0Australian Agricultural Company, which from\u00a01865 until\u00a0the early 1900s\u00a0was\u00a0leased\u00a0by the Newcastle Racing Club as the site of the city\u2019s original racecourse.
\nNational Park Sports Ground, as it was\u00a0originally\u00a0known, was\u00a0designed\u00a0by\u00a0City engineer\u00a0JF\u00a0Shine in\u00a01921, with its playing oval replicating the size of the\u00a0Sydney Cricket Ground.
\n\"Web-Historic-image-from-Local-History-archives.jpg\"
\nIts\u00a0original\u00a0two-storey timber\u00a0grandstand was completed in\u00a0October\u00a01921\u00a0and\u00a0could\u00a0accommodate between 200 and 300 people,\u00a0with dressing rooms, stores and locker rooms in the lower level.
\nThe sportsground was officially opened\u00a0on\u00a016 September\u00a01922, with\u00a0City of\u00a0Newcastle changing\u00a0its\u00a0name two years later to\u00a0Newcastle Sports Ground.
\nIn\u00a01989 the Newcastle Earthquake caused major structural damage to the\u00a0original timber grandstand, which resulted in it being\u00a0almost completely\u00a0reconstructed\u00a0with concrete stands, which\u00a0remain today.\u00a0This was the last significant upgrade to take place at the ground.
\nNo.1 Sportsground has a history of playing host to top level sporting events including international fixtures covering all codes of football, hockey and cricket.
\nIt has however been more than a decade since the\u00a0most recent\u00a0international\u00a0level\u00a0match\u00a0when\u00a0the Australian women\u2019s cricket team\u00a0defeated\u00a0South Africa\u00a0in March 2009 during\u00a0the group stages of the ICC Women\u2019s World Cup.
\nThe\u00a0last\u00a0first\u00a0class\u00a0cricket match\u00a0played at the ground was in\u00a0February\u00a02015,\u00a0when\u00a0Western Australia beat NSW by seven wickets in their Sheffield Shield clash.
\nOther codes have also\u00a0made the most of No.1 Sportsground\u00a0over the years, including a\u00a0rugby union clash between New South Wales and New Zealand in 1935, while the Newcastle rugby league team defeated Great Britain 23-18 in front of 22,750 fans\u00a0in 1962.
\nThe venue has been utilised for a range of non-sporting events as well, including\u00a0Anzac Day\u00a0celebrations\u00a0in 1946\u00a0and a Schools Jubilee and\u00a0Pageant in 1951 that saw 6,000 school children form a living map of Australia\u00a0in the centre of the field, while\u00a0Scottish pop-rock icons\u00a0Simple Minds\u00a0headlined the Newcastle 500 Supercars concert at the ground in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A major\u00a0redevelopment of Newcastle\u2019s No.1 Sportsground\u00a0is underway and expected to\u00a0be complete\u00a0in time for the facility\u2019s 100th\u00a0anniversary\u00a0next year. The project, which includes\u00a0enlarging\u00a0the\u00a0playing field, upgrading the lighting\u00a0and\u00a0building\u00a0new\u00a0tiered\u00a0seating,\u00a0is\u00a0scheduled for completion\u00a0in mid-2021 and will\u00a0be position the region\u00a0to attract\u00a0elite\u00a0sporting events. Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said\u00a0redeveloping\u00a0No.1 Sportsground\u00a0so it can\u00a0return\u00a0to its former glory of hosting elite cricket and AFL\u00a0is an\u00a0apt\u00a0way to … Continue reading “Centenary celebrations come early as Newcastle\u2019s No.1 Sportsground upgrade commences”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}