Eden Park

Eden Park has been a sports ground since 1900.The park began as a cricket ground in 1903, and was due to the vision of one Harry Ryan, a cricket enthusiast who approached landowner John Walters to lease part of his land as a sports field. In the book Eden Park: A History, the authors write, "Certainly the rough paddock strewn with stones, studded with outcrops of rock and streaked with cowpats, falling away to a boggy trough that filled in a downpour and remained flooded throughout the winter, looked better suited to frog-hunting or duck-shooting than cricket, let alone rugby. Ryan knew or at least imagined better. That bit of land was in fact located just up the road from Cabbage Tree Swamp, now Gribblehirst Park.

Those who saw Ryan's vision as madness most likely felt vindicated when, in 1907, massive downpours of rain saw the ground submerged in water for a week. The same thing happened again later in the year. Drainage problems were a scourge even as late as 1975 when severe rain before the one-off test between the All Blacks and Scotland saw the event close to being called off with the drainage system unable to cope with the flooding.

In 1913 the park was leased to the Auckland Rugby Union so it became both a summer and winter sporting venue, and in 1921 hosted the first international event, a NZ v South Africa Test. The Western part of the ground was just open space until 1950 when a temporary stand was erected for the British Empire Games. In 1956 a permanent stand was built, but subsequently moved to North Harbour Stadium.

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Eden Prairie, MN

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