Кари́сбрук: История стадиона в Данидине

Former stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand

Carisbrook (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Carisbrook Stadium) was a major sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The city's main domestic and international rugby union venue, it was also used for other sports such as cricket, football, rugby league and motocross. In 1922, Carisbrook hosted the first international football match between Australia and New Zealand. The hosts won 3 1. Carisbrook also hosted a Joe Cocker concert and frequently hosted pre game concerts before rugby matches in the 1990s. In 2011 Carisbrook was closed, and was replaced as a rugby ground by Forsyth Barr Stadium in North Dunedin, and as a cricket ground by University Oval in Logan Park.

Located at the foot of The Glen, a steep valley, the ground was flanked by the South Island Main Trunk Railway and the Hillside Railway Workshops, two miles southwest of Dunedin city centre in the suburb of Caversham. State Highway 1 also ran close to the northern perimeter of the ground. Carisbrook was named after the estate of early colonial settler James Macandrew (itself named after Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight). Developed during the 1870s, it was first used for international cricket in 1883, when Otago hosted a team from Tasmania, and for Test cricket from 1955. It hosted rugby union internationals from 1908. Floodlit since the 1990s, it could cater for both day and night fixtures. Known locally simply as "The Brook", it was branded with the name "The House of Pain", due to its reputation as a difficult venue for visiting rugby teams. The stadium was home to both the Highlanders in Super Rugby and Otago in the ITM Cup through each side's respective 2011 season. It also hosted 38 All Blacks test matches. It is also the former home of Otago cricket, which moved to the University Oval at Logan Park in the north of the city after its redevelopment in the early 2000s. Between 1884 and 2008 Carisbrook hosted 252 first class cricket matches, including, between 1955 and 1998, 10 Test cricket matches. It was also the home ground of Otago United in the New Zealand Football Championship, which moved to the lower capacity Sunnyvale Park for the 2008–09 season.

The ground's final regular capacity was around 30,000, but it hosted crowds as high as 42,000 with temporary seating. Until 1998 the sides of the Caversham bypass motorway allowed a free view of the ground and was known as the "Scotsman's Grandstand". Occasionally trains would slow to a crawl or stop on the track above the stadium, allowing passengers to watch. In 1998 a new stand and corporate boxes were built that blocked the view. Partly due to Dunedin's relatively large number of tertiary students (20,000 of the city's 120,000 population), Carisbrook had a unique atmosphere. This was enhanced by the terraces, an uncovered concrete embankment at the eastern end of the ground.

On 9 August 2006, a proposal was announced that would see Carisbrook retired and a 30,000 capacity covered stadium built in Dunedin North, close to other major sporting facilities such as Logan Park and the University Oval. Construction and ownership of the new $NZ 198 million stadium, officially named the Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza, would be overseen by the Carisbrook Stadium Trust. Until the new stadium was completed, all international and Super Rugby games were still held at Carisbrook. The last international game was expected to be the All Blacks versus South Africa Tri Nations match on 12 July 2008. However, the All Blacks returned to Carisbrook to play France on 13 June 2009 and finally Wales on 19 June 2010. Carisbrook was sold to the Dunedin City Council in 2009 for $7,000,000. It was sold on in 2013 for $4,700,000.