Yarrow Stadium
Yarrow Stadium is situated in the central suburb of Westown in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand, with main vehicle access off Maratahu Street. Named the third best rugby stadium on earth by New Zealand Rugby World magazine in May 2009, Yarrow Stadium conforms with the International Rugby Board's "clean stadium" policy.
The primary tenant of this 25,000-capacity stadium is the Taranaki representative team in the country's principal rugby union competition, the Mitre10 Cup. From 2013, the stadium will play host to the Chiefs team as part of a new alliance, after Taranaki cut their ties with the Wellington-based Hurricanes.
The venue was first developed as a rugby ground in 1931, with the first stadium completed in 1947. A major redevelopment saw two new grandstands added and considerable modernisation in 2002, and further enhancements to the venue were completed in 2010, raising the capacity to more than 25,500 for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and other fixtures.
The stadium is a personal legacy of the late Noel Yarrow, a pioneering Taranaki baker and businessman, and active philanthropist. Noel was a passionate rugby supporter, and the major grandstand overlooking the field's western sideline is a tribute to his support.
Currently the western and eastern grandstand are an earthquake risk, not complying with current regulations. The east stand was condemned in November 2017 with the west stand being ruled out of action in June 2018. Rugby was played at the venue in 2018 but spectators had to watch matches from the ends. Temporary infrastructure was bought into cater for the changes as changing facilities and corporate areas were off limits. Due to the stands being out of action, the TRFU lost $800,000 to their business. After 18 months owners the Taranaki Regional Council made a decision to repair and refurbish both grandstands in order for both stands to comply with earthquake regulations. The Taranaki Rugby Football Union and a catering company have moved to over locations until they can return to the grandstand.
Venue description
- Yarrow Stadium has four sports fields, the Legends Lounge, concourse and a variety of function rooms.
- The turf on the main field is laid over irrigation lines and drains on a sand profile.
- The main field has two grandstands providing undercover seating, terraced and embankment uncovered seating and standing areas.
- The stadium also has a full sound system, fully electronic scoreboard and floodlights.
- Fields one, two and three have training level floodlighting. Field two is behind the Eastern Stand, field three and four are behind the scoreboard on the southern end of the ground.
- Car parks are situated behind the TSB Bank
- It was announced in 2009 that Yarrow Stadium was to have a $1.5 million upgrade for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. An extra two thousand or so seats were added on the end embankments, and media facilities were improved.
Legends Lounge
Features
- Internal speaker system
- Power
- Data points
- Portable stage
- Staircase and lift access is at each end of the lounge with direct access to the seating deck.
- Two kitchens, bar and toilet facilities are located at each end of the lounge so that the area can be partitioned for smaller functions.
Players/Media area
- As the main stand is currently closed, temporary facilities were built in the southeastern compound which can accommodate two teams, match officials, medical personnel with two smaller changing rooms. These are built to Super Rugby standard.
- Ordinarily, two main change rooms, each with a connecting warm-up room, are located at ground level of the TSB Bank Stand. Five subsidiary changing rooms are located at ground level of the TSB Bank Stand for other teams and referees.
- A medical room, drug testing room, media interview room and match day office are all located adjacent to the main changing room at the ground level of the TSB Bank Stand. Also located at Yarrow Stadium is the HQ of the Taranaki Rugby Football Union. Their officers and a gym are located in the northern end of the TSB Bank Stand.
- Media: There are media facilities in the western grandstand, "Noel and Melva Yarrow Stand". There is a camera lounge on halfway with four adjacent media boxes for television, radio, additional commentary and television match official/third umpire usage. Other media boxes for extra commentary were built next to the primary boxes prior to 2011 for additional commentary. Scaffolding platforms are temporarily build for cameras during cricket coverage at both ends of the ground. Extra media areas for print media and non-rights holders have an area at the top of the TSB Stand side. Broadcast parking is behind the western grandstand.
- The big screen is located at the top of the southern embankment. An additional screen is brought in by the TSB Community Trust if required.
Events
Minor events
In the past Yarrow Stadium has hosted Relay for Life, Multi-ethnic Extravaganza and Searchlight Tattoo. Yarrow's has also hosted a number of cricket matches including the Central Districts when they clashed with Sri Lanka. Cricket is usually played at Pukekura Park, because of the incorrect size of Yarrow Stadium's number 1 field. However Yarrow Stadium hosted many matches in the New Zealand domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in the 2015/16 summer the first time in 14 years using a drop in pitch.Crusty Demons
The Crusty Demons had announced an additional four shows to their 2009 Unleash Hell NZ tour including Yarrows Stadium. Around 6,500 people filled Yarrow Stadium to watch the energetic male stunt riders for the eighth show of their nationwide Unleashed Hell tour.Rugby
!colspan="7" style="background:#C1D8FF;"| Internationals!colspan="7" style="background:#C1D8FF;"| NRL
!colspan="7" style="background:#C1D8FF;"| Historic
- Super Rugby Matches: ;
- Taranaki rugby games in both the ITM Cup and its predecessor, the National Provincial Championship, including 2014 ITM Cup final
Redevelopment
Capacity
In 2002, work on a $17m redevelopment of the park was completed with ground capacity believed to be 25,000. But while 22,500 crammed in for the All Blacks match against Manu Samoa in 2008, the game revealed the stadium could safely hold just 17,000.Heavy rain or other problems during the match could have resulted in safety issues for people sitting at either end of the ground. Council re-evaluations of the stadium's capacity showed that to meet self-imposed health and safety standards the stadium could hold only 17,000 people. The region's World Cup bid and future ability to attract top games such as another All Blacks test meant a greater capacity was needed.
The upgrade plans included levelling out the northern grass bank to make grass terraces with standing room for 8500 people, up from the estimated 1,500. At the southern end of the ground, 3,200 plastic shell seats replaced the concrete seating underneath the scoreboard. At both the northern and southern ends of the field, concrete walls were removed and the crowd area brought back down to ground level just six metres from the dead-ball line. Additional broadcast media facilities were installed next to existing media boxes. Print media and non-rights holder positions are based in tribunes at the rear of the TSB Bank Stand.
IRB Rugby World Cup 2011
Stadium Taranaki, as Yarrow Stadium was temporarily renamed for the World Cup, hosted three matches during the pool play stage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup:| Date | Team No. 1 | Res. | Team No. 2 | Round | Attendance |
| 2011-09-11 | 22–10 | Pool C | 20,823 | ||
| 2011-09-15 | 6–13 | Pool C | 13,931 | ||
| 2011-09-26 | 81–7 | Pool D | 13,710 |