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Parramatta Stadium

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Parramatta Stadium

Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, 24 km (15 mi) west of Sydney CBD. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure the most notable were the Parramatta Eels of the National Rugby League and the Western Sydney Wanderers of the A-League.

Cumberland Oval was the local name for the cricket, motor sports and rugby venue that had existed prior to Parramatta Stadium being built, with the area having been used for recreational activities since 1788, the founding year of the British colony in New South Wales.

The stadium also hosted numerous other sporting and cultural events since its opening in 1986. Michael Jackson performed there during his Bad World Tour on 20–21 November 1987, and Paul McCartney concluded the Australian leg of The New World Tour with two shows there on 22–23 March 1993.

In 2015 the NSW Government announced that the stadium would be demolished and replaced, and to that end, Parramatta Stadium was demolished in February 2017, with the new Western Sydney Stadium built in the same location.

Cumberland Oval was the main sporting venue for the Parramatta District from the mid 19th Century until 1982. It was initially a venue for horse-racing, cricket and athletics then for rugby union from 1879 and rugby league from 1909. Motorsports racing started in 1930 with motorcycles, then speedcars in 1936. Among the famous names who used the oval in their respective sports were English cricketer W. G. Grace, and Australia's triple Formula One World Champion Jack Brabham who raced in midget cars at the Cumberland Speedway in the 1940s.

The first stand at Cumberland Oval was built in 1850 and others followed at various times up to the final stand was built in 1936. Players from the local cricket club erected a two-rail fence around the oval during the 1860s but a solid planked safety barrier was needed for motor cycle racing, although this did not stop several deaths occurring as a result of crashes. The dirt track was originally 18 feet in width until expanded to 30 feet for the speedcars. The boundary fence and track remained in place after all speedway racing ended in 1959.

Some of the early touring English cricket teams played at Cumberland Oval at a time when Parramatta was "way out in the country". The cricket club evolved as Central Cumberland for the initial Sydney Grade Competition in 1893/94. When the nearby King's School moved to North Parramatta during the 1970s the turf pitches were removed and the cricket club moved to the oval that had been the school's main sports ground. The club now known as the Parramatta District Cricket Club still has the Old Kings Oval as its main ground. The Parramatta Rugby Union club now plays at Granville Rugby Park.

Cumberland Oval was originally used for rugby league by the Parramatta Iona and Endeavours clubs and the Western Districts representative side. When the Parramatta District Rugby League Club, later renamed to the Parramatta Eels, was admitted into the NSWRL Premiership in 1947, Cumberland Oval became the club's home ground. The first match was played against Newtown (now Newtown Jets) on 12 April 1947, before a crowd of 6,000. The largest crowd to watch a rugby league match at Cumberland Oval was 22,470 when the Eels took on the South Sydney Rabbitohs on 26 April 1971. The club lost the 1976 Grand Final 13–10 to Manly, and the 1977 Grand Final replay 22–0 to St George after the first Grand Final was drawn 9-9.

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