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Parramatta Stadium (known as Pirtek Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is an Australian sports stadium situated in Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, 23 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district. The stadium is used as the home ground of Western Sydney sports teams: Parramatta Eels (National Rugby League), Western Sydney Wanderers (A-League) and Greater Sydney Rams (National Rugby Championship). It has also hosted numerous other sporting and cultural events since its opening in 1986. Michael Jackson performed at the stadium during his Bad World Tour on 20–21 November 1987, and Paul McCartney concluded the Australian leg of The New World Tour with two shows there on 22–23 March 1993. The precinct the stadium was built on is historically known as Cumberland Oval. The stadium is in the process of undergoing a refit and expansion, which will bring the capacity of the stadium to approximately 24,000 seats as well as improving facilities for players, the clubs, supporters and the media. ==History== Parramatta Stadium is the second sports ground to occupy the site, the first being Cumberland Oval (now Old King's Oval) which was the main sporting venue of the Parramatta District from the mid 19th Century through to the 1980s, hosting horse-racing, cricket, rugby union, athletics and speedway. Among the famous names who used the oval in their respective sports were English cricketer W. G. Grace, and Australia's triple Formula One World Champion Jack Brabham who raced Speedcars at the Cumberland Speedway in the 1940s. While used since 1847 as a sportsground, the first stand at Cumberland Oval was built in 1850 and others followed at various times up to the final stand was built in 1936. The oval was surrounded by a post and two-rail fence that was constructed in the 1860s by players of the Central Cumberland Cricket Club. Central Cumberland Cricket Club (formed in 1862) played at Cumberland Oval from 1863, and played famous England XI touring sides during the 1880s and 1890s. Now known as the Parramatta District Cricket Club, the Sydney grade cricket club still plays at the oval. Rugby union was played at Cumberland Oval from 1879 and, from 1936, Parramatta (now the Parramatta Two Blues) played home matches at the Oval, the team now plays its matches at Granville Rugby Park. Rugby league was played at Cumberland Oval from as early as 1909 by local clubs such as Parramatta Iona, Endeavours and the Western Districts representative side. When the Parramatta District Rugby League Club (later known as the Parramatta Eels) was admitted into the NSWRL Premiership in 1947 Cumberland Oval became the club's home ground. The first match was played against Newtown (now Newtown Jets) on 12 April 1947, before a crowd of 6,000. The largest crowd to watch a rugby league match at Cumberland Oval was 22,470 when the Eels took on the South Sydney Rabbitohs on 26 April 1971. Cumberland Oval remained the home ground of the Parramatta Eels until 1981, playing their last match there against Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in August in front of their seasons highest home attendance of 18,449 before going on to win their maiden NSWRL Premiership by defeating Newtown 20-11 in the Grand Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground. After losing the 1976 Grand Final 13-10 to Manly, and the 1977 Grand Final replay 22-0 to St George (the original Grand Final was drawn 9-9), 1981 was the first premiership success for the Eels. As the Parramatta Eels secured their first-ever Premiership, defeating the Newtown Jets in the 1981 Grand Final, wildly jubilant scenes erupted in Parramatta, the Leagues club quickly overflowed with Eels fans celebrating with thousands rallying at nearby Cumberland Oval and, in a frenzy of excitement, burning the Oval's grandstand to the ground. After the destruction of Cumberland Oval, a new stadium was to be built on the site, which was approved by the New South Wales Government for development in 1983 and the contract for the construction and design of the stadium was put up for tender. In November 1984 the construction company Civil & Civic won the contract to design and build a new stadium less than 100 meters from the site of Old Kings Oval (previously known as Cumberland Oval). In November 1985 the stadium was complete and the grass was planted. On 5 March 1986, the Parramatta Stadium was opened by Queen Elizabeth II. On 16 March, the first NSWRL Premiership match was played at the ground with 26,870 in attendance. Parramatta's Steve Sharp scored the ground's first try in the Eels' 36 – 6 victory over the St. George Dragons. The only try for the Dragons came when centre Michael O'Connor fielded an infield kick from Eels front rower Paul Mares and raced 91 metres to score with a flying Eric Grothe only just failing to stop him as he came across in cover.〔(Parramatta vs St George - Parramatta Stadium first game )〕 On 20 May 1990, the 1989–90 National Soccer League Grand Final between western Sydney based clubs Sydney Olympic and the Marconi Stallions was played at the venue. Olympic win the match 2–0 in what was the highest soccer attendance at Parramatta Stadium stands at 26,353. On 19 June 1992, the Parramatta Eels versus Great Britain Lions game on the Lions 1992 tour of Australasia attracted a crowd of 18,220, the largest non-Test match crowd of the Lions tour, with Parramatta winning 22–16. Prior to the match, Parramatta and Great Britain winger's Lee Oudenryn and Martin Offiah, generally regarded at the time as the fastest player in rugby league, faced off in a Tooheys Blue Label challenge race over 100m (try line to try line). Oudenryn caused what many believed to be a huge upset by defeating Offiah by approximately half a metre.〔(Parramatta vs Great Britain highlights 1992 )〕 In December 2002, work began on converting the formerly grassed hill areas (The Brett Kenny Hill and The Peter Sterling Hill) into seated terrace areas (holding 4,500 spectators). This redevelopment reduced the ground's capacity to 21,500, down from the previous capacity of 27,000. On 23 March 2013, the third A-League Sydney derby saw the highest A-League attendance at Parramatta Stadium, with 19,585 turning out for the occasion, which ended in a 1–1 draw. Parramatta Stadium announced on 9 October 2013, that for the first time in the history of the stadium that it would take on a naming rights sponsor. Pirtek, a hydraulics company with origins in Western Sydney, are the sponsors of the stadium and the stadium will be known officially as "Pirtek Stadium".〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/pirtek-buys-naming-rights-to-parramatta-stadium-20131009-2v77h.html )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Parramatta Stadium」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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