Eden Park

The land itself started as swamp pasture bought from a farmer named John Walters and cleared by volunteers under Harry Ryan. Matches were called off for standing water as late as 1907.

The reconstruction of 2008–2010 changed the shape of the stadium entirely, replacing the old terraces and the south stand with three-tier structures ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Covered seating nearly doubled, permanent capacity settled at 50,000, and organisers can still add roughly 10,000 temporary seats for the biggest internationals. That flexibility mattered again when the ground hosted the World Cup final itself, New Zealand beating France 8–7 in front of 61,079 — a modern-era record that still sits behind the raw crowd of 61,240 who packed the old terraces in 1956 to watch the All Blacks edge South Africa 11–5.

The Blues have used Eden Park as their Super Rugby Pacific base since 1996, and Auckland's provincial union has played here since 1913. From 2026, Auckland FC brings football to the ground for OFC Professional League fixtures. The surface itself was overhauled in 2020, when the old turf gave way to a hybrid Dick Motz pitch blending natural ryegrass with synthetic fibres — a fix aimed squarely at the drainage troubles that shaped the ground's first hundred years.