Jubilee Oval

Jubilee Stadium (also known as Kogarah Oval or by its sponsored name Netstrata Jubilee Stadium) is a multipurpose stadium in Carlton, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The stadium is mainly used for rugby league and the A-League, and is one of the home grounds of the National Rugby League (NRL) team St. George Illawarra Dragons. The stadium has hosted football matches, including hosting Sydney Olympic FC in the 2003–04 National Soccer League and recently, Sydney FC in the 2018–19, 2019–20 A-League, 2020–21 and 2021–22 due to the rebuild of the Sydney Football Stadium. The Cronulla Sutherland Sharks temporarily played at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium during the major redevelopment of their leagues club and stadium in 2020-21.

Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
Jubilee Stadium Grandstand in 2008
Full nameNetstrata Jubilee Stadium
Address249 Princes Highway
Kogarah
Australia
LocationSydney, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates33°58′19″S 151°7′45″E
OwnerGeorges River Council
OperatorGeorges River Council
Capacity20,500 (present)[1]
Record attendance23,582 – St George vs South Sydney, 1975
SurfaceGrass
Opened1936
Tenants
St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRL) (1999, 2003–2007, 2009–present)
St. George Dragons (NSWRL/ARL/NRL) (1936, 1950–1985, 1989–1998)
Sydney Olympic FC (NSL) (2003–2004)
Sydney FC (A-League) (2018–2022)
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (NRL) (2020–2021)
Website
http://www.jubileestadium.com.au

The ground hosted its first game of rugby league in March 1936 when the St. George Dragons were defeated by the Newtown Bluebags in an exhibition match. The first official game was played on 22 April 1950 in which the Dragons lost 17–15 to South Sydney. The stadium has undergone several constructions over the years and are set to continue in the following decade.

History
A view of the scoreboard at the north-eastern corner of the ground.

Jubilee Stadium stands on part of the original grant of 87 acres (350,000 m2) awarded on 23 December 1853 to Archibald McNab. Edmund English purchased the grant on 23 May 1854 for around 400 pounds. It officially became known as Kogarah Park when it was acquired by the Department of Lands on 1 July 1896 and dedicated as the first public park in Kogarah. Control of the park was eventually passed to the Council of the Municipality of Kogarah on 29 August 1906, which became Kogarah City and on 12 May 2016 Georges River Council.

During Kogarah's Jubilee celebrations in 1935, Jubilee Oval was constructed in Kogarah Park.

Development

The ground was closed from 1986 until the end of 1988 because of the construction of the new grandstand being built on the western side of the ground. During this time the Dragons played their home games at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1986 and 1987, while using Belmore Oval, the home of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, in 1988.

Since 2003, Jubilee Stadium has been steadily upgraded in a three-stage plan, funded by the NSW State Government and Federal Government. In 2006, the ground had been updated with new features to the seating around the grandstand and features directly out of the stadium including re-developments to the Hall of Fame walk and Kogarah Park in front of the stadium. Stage 1 consisted of new terraced seating at the north-western end, perimeter seating at the base of the hill, and a regrassed and raised hill area. Floodlights for televising night matches were also installed.

In 2007, the Dragons announced that they would not be playing home games at Kogarah for the 2008 season so that Stage 2 redevelopment of the ground could be completed with new roofed extension on the southern side of the main grandstand, increasing capacity by around 2000, and further upgrading to the hill area, including turnstile facilities and strengthening the retaining wall at the Southern Jubilee Avenue end. The Dragons returned for 2009 against the Sharks in round 3, and broke the club record for highest Crowd at the ground.

In 2010, the Dragons secured $13m from the NSW State Government to complete the Stage 3 Northern grandstand extension, with an additional 1580 seats and the replacement of 1730 seats in the existing main grandstand.[2] Also included in the development are additional public toilets and facilities, refurbishment of the existing grandstand facilities including the team change rooms, a new passenger and service lift, additional corporate and multi purpose facilities, and a museum and merchandise store.

A new digital scoreboard and several satellite scoreboards, new security system, turnstiles and ticketing facilities at Gate B and a rainwater harvesting tank were also installed around the ground during 2010 and 2011. [3]

Walk of Fame

In March 2004, a Legends Walk outside Jubilee Stadium was opened, with 16 club greats inducted into the walk of fame:[4] • Brian `Poppa` Clay • Mark Coyne • Reg Gasnier • Ken Kearney • Johnny King • Graeme Langlands • Eddie Lumsden • Matt McCoy • Noel Pidding • Norm Provan • John Raper • Rod `Rocket` Reddy • Kevin Ryan • Billy Smith • Ian Walsh • and Craig Young

2007 inductees: • Robert Stone • Billy Wilson

2021 inductees: • Ben Creagh • Ben Hornby • Jason Nightingale • 1921 St George Inaugural Team

Naming rights

From 1950 until 2003, the ground was simply known as Jubilee Oval.

In 2003, printing and data communications company OKI signed a five-year sponsorship deal for naming rights to the ground with the name becoming OKI Jubilee Stadium. In October, 2008, OKI Printing Solutions decided not to renew the naming rights of Jubilee Oval, as the Dragons played at ANZ Stadium during the 2008 season due to re-developments at Jubilee. The naming rights ended on 31 October with the park reverting to its former name.[5] It was officially announced on 25 December 2008, that WIN Corporation had bought the naming rights for Jubilee Oval.[6] With this agreement, WIN owned the naming rights to both of St. George Illawarra's home grounds, WIN Jubilee Oval and WIN Stadium. In early 2014, WIN backed out of this sponsorship, with the ground once again reverting to its original name. From 2016, the University of Wollongong held the rights to the ground for a two-year period, ending in late 2017. The ground was known as "UOW Jubilee Oval".[7] In January 2019 strata management company Netstrata signed a three-year sponsorship deal for the naming rights of the ground with the name becoming "Netstrata Jubilee Stadium".[8] This decision was confirmed at a special Council meeting on 11 February 2019.[9] Netstrata's sponsorship with the ground was extended for another year, ending in late 2022. [10]

  • Jubilee Oval (1950–2003, 2008, 2014–2015, 2018)
  • OKI Jubilee Stadium (2003–2008)
  • WIN Jubilee Oval (2009–2013)
  • UOW Jubilee Oval (2016–2017)
  • Netstrata Jubilee Stadium (2019–present)

The ground is usually simply referred to as "Kogarah Oval" by the media and fans. This helps to distinguish the stadium from the small suburban cricket ground located in Glebe, New South Wales, which is also called Jubilee Oval.

Uses

St. George DRLFC

The St. George DRLFC which commenced competing in Sydney's top level in the 1921 NSWRFL season, had an unsuccessful debut game at Jubilee Oval in 1936 when they were defeated by Newtown in an exhibition match as part of the Jubilee celebrations.[11][12] The gate-takings from the match were donated to the St. George Hospital. Saints at this stage were still based at Arncliffe's Earl Park and it wasn't until 1950 that Saints returned home to Jubilee Stadium.

The Dragons played their first official match at the ground on 22 April 1950 against the South Sydney Rabbitohs before 12,500 fans. The Dragons lost a rather exciting match 17–15 but defeat would become quite a rare sight for the Dragons over the coming decades while at Kogarah.

St. George were based at Kogarah during their world record breaking 11 successive premierships from 1956 to 1966. They set a record at Kogarah and were not beaten at home for an astonishing twelve years: originally beaten by the Balmain Tigers on 26 June 1954 at Kogarah which was just before the beginning of the streak. It wasn't until 31 July 1966, that they tasted defeat at Kogarah again, eventually losing 12–9 to the Western Suburbs Magpies.

In 1950, the Dragons began a permanent association with the ground. Around this time was also when St. George legend Norm Provan joined the club and he said of Kogarah:

The qualities of the club from Kogarah are not easy for me to put into words... Saints are special. I will certainly never forget my years at Kogarah, and at the club across the Princes Highway. At St.George I found qualities that enriched my life – friendship, unswerving loyalty, fair play and healthy ambition, the learning to win, and to lose.

The team was based at Jubilee Stadium right up until the completion of the 1985 season. They then chose to abandon the ground and relocated to the Sydney Cricket Ground. The decision was one which they would come to dread. In 1985 St. George had been Club champions, 1st Grade Minor premiers, 1st Grade Runners-Up, Reserve Grade Premiers and Under-23s Premiers. In 1986 Saints missed the semi-finals in all 3 grades for the first time in 50 years. The fans of the club became angry at the club's decision and stayed away from the club in droves while the Dragons remained at the SCG for a further season.

In 1988 the opportunity came for the club to relocate again. Instead of moving back to Jubilee they decided to move to Belmore Oval. Finally, in 1988 it was decided that the Saints would move home to Jubilee in 1989 with a new stand to be constructed for the 1990 season.

The club yet again moved in the late 1990s and explained to fans the decision was on the basis that Jubilee was too small to accommodate a proposed $30 million stadium complex to meet NRL requirements for playing venues. In a joint statement, Kogarah Council and St. George DRLFC stated that the scale of the proposed 20,000-seat stadium would exceed the size of Jubilee Oval and affect residents. The decision to leave Jubilee upset many of St George Illawarra's loyal supporters as the ground had so much history to it and in July 2000 many supporters held a rally in support of the ground. In March 2002, the R2K (Return to Kogarah) group held a successful Information Night at the Kogarah RSL to support a return to Jubilee Oval and successfully lobbied for the Dragons to play matches at Kogarah from 2003 onwards.

St George Illawarra Dragons
A view of the ground prior to a match between the St. George Illawarra Dragons and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in August 2018.

The St George Illawarra Dragons, formed as the result of a merger between St George and the Illawarra Steelers in 1999, use Kogarah as one of their home grounds in the National Rugby League, along with the Steelers former home, WIN Stadium in Wollongong. The newly formed Dragons used Kogarah in the 1999 NRL season, before moving their games to the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) in 2000.

From 2000 until 2002, after many loyal Dragons supporters held a rally and Information Night to persuade the club to move back to Jubilee Stadium (while at the SFS, the team had continued using WIN Stadium), the club did so and would be yet again occupying the famous rugby league ground. During these 3 years that the Dragons did not play at Kogarah, there were talks with the club that they would play at the nearby St George Soccer Stadium, but plans fell through and the soccer stadium has since fallen into disrepair. The Dragons returned to Kogarah in 2003 after a high number of protests and rallies held by supporter group R2K (or Return to Kogarah).

Lights were installed at Kogarah in 2006, with the Dragons christening their first night game at the ground with an 8–1 win over the Parramatta Eels in Round 13 of the 2006 season. The game was played in driving rain, which many gave as the reason for a crowd of only 9,075 in attendance.

The club did not play at the ground in 2008 because of renovations of the south-western end grandstand being built. During this time, the Dragons played at ANZ Stadium. They returned to Kogarah in 2009, where they have remained ever since.

Association Football

Sydney Olympic FC played at Jubilee Stadium in their 2003/2004 season, competing in the National Soccer League.

On 4 December 2011, it marked the first time an A-League club played a first grade competition game at the venue, with Sydney FC playing Brisbane Roar FC, in front of a crowd of 11,555.[13] Sydney won 2–0, and this game itself would be remembered as the game the Roar lost its first match in the last 36 matches.

In 2014, the St George Saints got promoted to the NSW Premier League, and moved to this ground as their home-ground stadium. Also, Sydney FC played a few games at this ground in the W-League during their 2013/2014 season.

The Socceroos have held several open training sessions at this ground since 2013.

Sydney FC uses this ground as their primary home venue for the 2018–19 A-League, as their usual home ground, the Sydney Football Stadium, was demolished and a new stadium built on its site. The fan base showed great support for this – having a sellout 19,081 attend their first home match there, against Melbourne Victory on 25 November 2018.[14] They continued to use it, along with Leichhardt Oval, in the 2019–20 A-League season.

Transport

Carlton railway station is located a few hundred metres from the ground.

Attendance record

The ground record attendance for Jubilee Stadium was set in May 1975 when St. George took on South Sydney in front of 23,582 fans. In its modern form, the record attendance is 20,847 when the Dragons took on local rivals the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in March 2009.

The record soccer match attendance was on 25 November, 2018, when Sydney FC took on Melbourne Victory in the A-League in front of a crowd of 19,081.

References
  1. "Jubilee Oval". austadiums.com. Austadiums. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  2. "$13 million Govt boost to upgrade WIN Jubilee Oval – NRL.com". Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
  3. "Work Continuing at Dragons Home Venues - St.George Illawarra Dragons". Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  4. Brad Walter and Steve Mascord (8 March 2004). "Broncos' teenage prodigy in the Hunt for a baptism of fire against the Warriors - see under St George Illawarra". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  5. "OKI quits Jubilee". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
  6. "WIN comes to Jubilee Oval". Archived from the original on 26 December 2008.
  7. "UOW Jubilee Oval Announcement". www.dragons.com.au. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  8. "Georges River Council Minutes 17 December 2018".
  9. Georges River Council tackles Jubilee Stadium naming rights claims St George Leader 12 February 2019.
  10. "Netstrata naming rights for Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah extended". July 2021.
  11. "Jubilee Oval – The history of Kogarah's iconic sports ground". Kogarah City Council. Archived from the original on 19 February 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  12. "Rugby League – Exhibition Match". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 March 1936. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  13. Lavicka laments another slow start, Football Federation Australia, 28 November 2011. Retrieved on 30 November 2011.
  14. Sydney FC Sell Out #BigBlue At Jubilee Stadium Sydney Football Club
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