Athletic Park

Athletic Park was a well-known ground used mostly for rugby matches in Wellington, New Zealand. The ground was also the inaugural home of New Zealand's principal knockout football tournament, the Chatham Cup (first held in 1923). It has now been demolished and replaced with a retirement village. It was famous for a very steep grandstand (the Millard Stand) which used to sway a little in the regular strong winds that Wellington is famous for. The stand was unsafe as Wellington is very susceptible to earthquakes. Athletic Park was an open park overlooking the Cook Strait and Pacific Ocean and was exposed to strong winds - most famously the 1961 All Black Test against France which was played in hurricane force winds. Throughout the 1980s...