Ellis Park Stadium


Ellis Park Stadium is a rugby union and association football stadium in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It hosted the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was won by the country's national team, the Springboks. The stadium was the country's most modern when it was upgraded in 1982 to accommodate almost 60,000 people. Today, the stadium hosts both football and rugby and is also used as a venue for other large events, such as open-air concerts. It has become synonymous with rugby as the only time when rugby was not played at Ellis Park was during 1980 and 1981, when the stadium was under construction during the upgrade.
The stadium was originally named after Mr J.D. Ellis, who made the area for the stadium available. A five-year ZAR 450 million naming rights deal was signed in 2008 with The Coca-Cola Company, resulting in the stadium being named Coca-Cola Park between 2008 and 2012.
League, provincial, and international football games have all been played at the stadium, and it has seen such teams as Brazil, Manchester United and Arsenal play. Ellis Park Stadium is the centerpiece of a sporting sector in the south-east of Johannesburg, where it neighbours Johannesburg Stadium, Standard Bank Arena, Ellis Park Tennis Stadium, and an Olympic-class swimming pool.
Ellis Park is home to the following teams:
Cricket matches were held at the stadium in the past. Ellis Park hosted six Test matches between 1948 and 1954, but it has not been used for first-class cricket since New Wanderers Stadium opened in 1956 and is now only used for rugby and football.

History

In 1889 when after a long and hard-fought battle the Transvaal Rugby Football Union was formed and established a domain. The first games were played at the Wanderers Club's stadium whose grounds were situated where Johannesburg Park Station is today. Rows between the different rugby clubs as well as the Wanderers Club's claim of the field for the use of cricket games, forced the Transvaal Rugby Football Union to look for an alternative.
An area with a quarry and garbage dumps in Doornfontein was identified in, 1927 as the possible alternative. The Transvaal Rugby Football Union negotiated with the Johannesburg City Council's, Mr. J.D. Ellis, for the availability of these grounds and was made available. On 10 October 1927 the final rental agreement was signed. A quote of £600 was accepted for the grass and with a loan from the city council to the amount of £5,000, the building of the new stadium could commence. The stadium was built in eight months and in June 1928 the first test was played against the All Blacks. Thus was born Ellis Park which became internationally renowned and synonymous with rugby. Crowds of between 38,000 and a record crowd of 100,000 against the British and Irish Lions attended the matches.
Ellis Park played the host for cricket matches after an agreement was reached between Transvaal Rugby Football Union and The Transvaal Cricket Union. From 1947 when the cricket pitch was laid until 1956, Ellis Park was host to various cricket matches with the final games played in the 1953/54 series against New Zealand. Cricket then moved to its new venue where the current Wanderers still is today.
On 28 April 1969 the Transvaal Rugby Football Union formed a stadium committee to investigate the possibilities of a new stadium since the one in use did not meet all the modern requirements. Fifteen years later, after the game between Transvaal and the World Team on 31 March 1979, the old Ellis Park was demolished. Games were played at the Wanderers while the stadium was being rebuilt.
A new Transvaal Rugby Football Union management was elected in 1984 with Dr Louis Luyt as Chairman and Prof Joe Poolman as his deputy. The decision was taken to place Ellis Park Stadium under the management of a trust. In 1987 after the Ellis Park Stadium was listed on the stock exchange and due to sound financial management by Dr Luyt, Ellis Park could announce that the debt to the amount of R53 million was fully paid and a further 86 suites could be erected.
Today the Golden Lions Rugby Union and Ellis Park Stadium Ltd are debt free and have cash resources of more than all the other Unions and South African Rugby Union combined as well as borrowing powers of a similar amount.
In 2005 Ellis Park made history by becoming the first black-owned stadium in South Africa. The Golden Lions Rugby Football Union passed the management of the Ellis Park Precinct to a company with 51% black ownership. Interza Lesego, Orlando Pirates F.C. and Ellis Park Stadium Ltd make up the new management of the Ellis Park Precinct.
The stadium was witness to an incident during a Premier Soccer League football match between Orlando Pirates and Black Leopards on 17 January 2007, when high winds blew several sideline advertising boards onto the pitch, striking a linesman and three players. Play resumed 7 minutes later, but the match was ultimately abandoned 6 minutes before full-time due to sudden torrential rains and lightning. The game's kickoff previously had been delayed 15 minutes by a power failure.

Disaster of 11 April 2001

In 2001 a stampede occurred during a soccer game between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. With 43 people killed, the Ellis Park Stadium disaster is to date the biggest of its kind in South Africa.

Concerts

On 12 January 1985, Ellis Park Stadium was the venue for Concert in the Park, a benefit concert organised by Hilton Rosenthal. 22 artists played the benefit, which raised money for Operation Hunger, a South African non-profit organisation.
Among the touring artists who have performed at the Stadium are:
ArtistDateTour
Whitney HoustonThe Bodyguard World Tour
RoxetteCrash! Boom! Bang! World Tour
Rolling Stones24 & 25 February 1995Voodoo Lounge Tour
Janet Jackson21 November 1998Velvet Rope Tour
Eminem1 March 2014Rapture Tour

Whitney Houston's concert was recorded and released as a home video titled: ). A year later also Roxette's concert during the Crash! Boom! Bang! World Tour was recorded and released on VHS home video.

Sporting events

1995 Rugby World Cup

In 1995, South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup, and the final was held at Ellis Park on 24 June in front of 65,000 spectators. South Africa beat New Zealand 15–12 in extra time.
DateTeam 1Res.Team 2RoundAttendance
27 May 199519–43Pool C38,000
31 May 199534–9Pool C38,000
4 June 199524–23Pool C35,000
10 June 199542–14Quarter-finals52,000
24 June 199515–12 Final65,000

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup

Ellis Park was one of the host venues for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
DateTime Team 1Res.Team 2RoundAttendance
14 June 200916.000–0 IraqGroup A48,837
18 June 200920.30 Egypt1–0 ItalyGroup B52,150
20 June 200920.30 Iraq0–0Group A23,295
25 June 200920.30 Brazil1–0Semi-finals48,049
28 June 200920.30 USA2–3 BrazilFinal52,291

2010 FIFA World Cup

Ellis Park hosted five group games, one second-round game and one quarter-final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, for which its capacity was increased by 5,000 seats on the northern side only, to 62,000. Areas like the Presidential suite also received a facelift. There was also a hospitality room and new changing rooms. The total cost of renovations was R500 million and were completed in June 2008, two years before the World Cup.
DateTime Team 1Res.Team 2RoundAttendance
12 June 201016:001–0Group B55,686
15 June 201020:302–1Group G54,331
18 June 201016:002–2Group C45,573
21 June 201020:302–0Group H54,386
24 June 201016:003–2Group F53,412
28 June 201020:303–0Round of 1654,096
3 July 201020:300–1Quarter-finals55,359

Construction

Test centuries

A total of 13 Test match centuries were scored on the ground.
No.PlayerScoreDateTeamOpposing teamInn.Result
1Len Hutton15827 12 19481Drawn
2Cyril Washbrook19527 12 19481Drawn
3Denis Compton11427 12 19481Drawn
4Eric Rowan156*27 12 19483Drawn
5Allan Watkins11112 2 19491Drawn
6Dudley Nourse129*12 2 19492Drawn
7Len Hutton12312 2 19493Drawn
8Lindsay Hassett11224 12 19491Australia won
9Sam Loxton10124 12 19491Australia won
10Arthur Morris11110 2 19501Australia won
11Jack Moroney11810 2 19501Australia won
12Jack Moroney101*10 2 19503Australia won
13Neil Harvey10010 2 19503Australia won

Test match five-wicket hauls

Eight five-wicket hauls were taken in Test matches on the ground.
No.BowlerDateTeamOpposing TeamInnORWResult
1Cuan McCarthy12 2 1949135.71145Drawn
2Keith Miller24 12 1949215405Australia won
3Bill Johnston24 12 1949320.1446Australia won
4Michael Melle10 2 19501331135Drawn
5David Ironside24 12 1953219515South Africa won
6Neil Adcock24 12 1953419435South Africa won
7Hugh Tayfield29 1 1954214136South Africa won
8Neil Adcock29 1 1954326455South Africa won