Hindmarsh Stadium - History

History

Built in 1960, the stadium stands on the site that was once Hindmarsh Oval which housed the West Torrens Football Club of the SANFL from 1905 until 1921.

The Soccer Association of South Australia owned land on a former brick pit on Torrens Road at Brompton named Rowley Park which was located only 5 km from the city and the original plan was for the land to be the home of Soccer in SA. However, the Soccer Association had received press regarding its failure to grow grass on the site. Rowley Park also had a tendency to flood during winter as the bottom of "The Brick Pit" was below the level of the water table which made playing soccer virtually impossible. The land was eventually leased to a group of speedway drivers and eventually became Rowley Park Speedway.

When it became obvious to the Soccer Association that Rowley Park would be unsuitable as a soccer venue they obtained a lease on Hindmarsh Oval from the Hindmarsh Council. The old Hindmarsh Oval was developed over the years into a rectangular stadium capable of holding 15,000 with a grandstand built during the 1960s that held approximately 2,000 while lighting for night games was installed during the mid-1970s. Other than the grandstand, the ground was all terracing surrounding the playing surface. This changed in 1996 when seats were installed on the eastern side of the ground.

Along with the Olympic Sports Field, Hindmarsh became one of two Adelaide venues in the then new but now-defunct National Soccer League in 1977 and the home ground of the Adelaide City Zebras and later the home ground for West Adelaide Hellas. Hindmarsh would eventually became the sole Adelaide NSL venue during the 1980s.

In 1986 Hindmarsh stadium hosted the first leg of the NSL Grand Final between Adelaide City and Sydney Olympic. Unfortunately for Adelaide fans Olympic won 1-0. Adelaide would go on to win the 2nd leg in Sydney 3-1 and become NSL Champions. Hindmarsh again hosted the NSL Grand Final (this time a single game) in 1994-95 when Adelaide City faced the Mark Viduka led Melbourne Knights. In front of a packed house of over 16,000 the Knights defeated the Zebras 2-0.

As soccer was generally played to smaller crowds during the 1970s and 80s, Hindmarsh became a regular host of the Socceroos in some of their international matches.

Hindmarsh Stadium not only hosted soccer matches but also hosted Rugby Union and Rugby League. In 1992 the New Zealand All Blacks played an exhibition game against a South Australian 'Select' team which included former Wallabies Lock and current day author/media personality Peter FitzSimons. The All Blacks, including goal kicking wizard Grant Fox, ran out easy winners while FitzSimons (rather humorously claiming innocence) was sent off after numerous infringements.

In 1998 the short lived National Rugby League team the Adelaide Rams used Hindmarsh for their last 4 home games of the 1998 NRL season. The Rams debut at the venue was a success when they thumped the Balmain Tigers 52-0 in front of 7,351 fans. The Rams would end up 2-2 at Hindmarsh after defeating the Auckland Warriors but losing to Manly and North Sydney. The Rams games at Himdmarsh (all night games) were their last home games ever as the team was wound up by owners News Ltd following the season.