York Park
York Park is an oval-shaped sports ground in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Tasmania. The stadium is used primarily for Australian rules football and hosts regular matches in the Australian Football League.
The area was swampland before becoming Launceston's showgrounds in 1873. In the following decades the grounds were increasingly used for other sports, including cricket, bowls and tennis. In 1919, plans were prepared for the transformation of the area into a multi-sports venue. From 1923, the venue was principally used for Australian rules football by the Northern Tasmanian Football Association, becoming the ground ground of the North Launceston Football Club. The ground also hosted occasional inter-state football matches. Visiting mainland football clubs regularly played mid-season or end-of-season matches at the ground.
As part of a long-term agreement with the Tasmanian Government, the Hawthorn Football Club have played between two and five home AFL matches each season since 2001. Previously the St Kilda Football Club played two home games a year at the ground between 2003 and 2006. The venue hosted its first AFL finals match during the 2021 AFL finals series.
As well as football, York Park has hosted other sports and several concerts and other entertainment events. The venue was redeveloped in 2005 at a cost of $23.6 million, and as of 2025 is currently undergoing a $130 million redevelopment to accommodate four home games per season for the Tasmania Football Club, who will enter the AFL in 2028.
York Park has been home to the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame since 2009.
History
The area now known as York Park was originally "swampy, sour, and choked with weeds". After European settlement, it was used for landfill before becoming the Launceston showgrounds in 1874. By 1881, of land had been taken over by the Launceston City Council "for the purpose of recreation, health and enjoyment". The area was ready to be used for two cricket games by the end of 1886. Cricketers were full of praise for the ground, but because winter rain caused it to become waterlogged, footballers were often unable to use the facility.At a council meeting in July 1901, one member, Alderman Storrer, proposed that Inveresk Park be renamed York Park in honour of the Duke of York, who visited Tasmania during the Federation celebrations of 1901. The proposal was passed 4–2, although another member, Alderman Sadler, noted that "Launceston was well known as a loyal community and did not need to change the park's name" to prove their fidelity to the monarchy. A bowling green and tennis courts were completed by 1910, along with the main oval which was used for state school sports.
In 1919, the council held a competition for the design of the York Park sports ground, the winner to receive £20. The final design had to include two full sized tennis courts, a bowling green, a cycling track, cricket and football grounds with dressing rooms and facilities for spectators. Although not fully complete, York Park was officially opened by the St Andrews Caledonian Society on 1 January 1921. A cycling track surrounding the perimeter fence was in use by September of the same year.
On 4 May 1923 The Examiner reported on that "Work on the grandstand was completed for the opening of the 1923 football season, when the game was transferred from the NTCA Ground to York Park. Work on the grandstand and the seating round the oval has been proceeded with at top speed, and spectators at the game tomorrow should have little to complain of." The first game between teams representing the northern and southern halves of Tasmania took place at the oval in August 1923 in front of a crowd of 9,441. A reporter from The Examiner commented: "The oval is in good order and well grassed and the new motor mower copes with the latter very effectively under favourable conditions. The whole five acres can be cut in six hours, as compared with twenty hours by the horse mower." When the ground was harrowed, glass and other debris would surface; a contemporary observer, John Orchard, later remembered: "they'd line up a whole group of people, perhaps thirty or forty players, and we'd go along with a container alongside each other and we'd pick up everything that was likely to hurt a player."
Heavy floods in 1929 caused substantial damage to the ground, destroying the cycling track, which was subsequently rebuilt. In the 1930s the Launceston Football Club, who played regularly at the ground, won six consecutive premierships before World War II intervened. As a consequence of the war NTFA matches were cancelled after the 1941 season, not to resume until May 1945. Three years later, 12 ornamental trees were planted at the ground, in memory of NTFA players who had lost their lives in the war.
In 1960, York Park was the venue of a football match in which Tasmania defeated Victoria for the first time. The match was attended by a record crowd of approximately 15,000. Four years later, the southern stand was completed. In the 1970s another stand was added, capable of holding 650 spectators and incorporating sales kiosks and committee rooms.
Up to 1999 York Park had remained a sports ground used predominately for local events, generally attracting modest crowds; according to ground manager Robert Groenewegen, supporters were able to "park car next to the boundary fence".
However, before the 1998 federal election the local member of parliament representing the Division of Bass, Warwick Smith—a minister from the ruling Liberal Party—promised public funding for the redevelopment of York Park. Although Smith lost his seat, the Liberals retained power and kept the promise. The $6.4 million redevelopment completed in 2000 was the first major phase in the process of raising the ground to Australian Football League standard. Work included the construction of the Gunns Stand, a two-level grandstand originally holding 2,500 which incorporates corporate facilities. Other improvements added were five television standard light towers, a watering and drainage system able to disperse up to of rain an hour, and 85 in-ground sprinklers capable of rising.
In 2003, the Government of Tasmania allocated $2 million to erect a roof above 6,000 terrace seats, in readiness for the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup; this meant that almost all of the seating area was protected from the weather. In 2004, the ground became known as Aurora Stadium as the result of six-year naming rights sponsorship deal with Aurora Energy.
During 2006, the state government supplied $150,000 for new gates and ticket boxes at the stadium entry. The gates were later named after recently deceased Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon. These gates, and the heritage-listed Northern Stand, have been placed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register as culturally significant to the state.
In March 2008, an arson attack destroyed part of the Northern Stand, causing between $300,000 and $500,000 damage. In December 2008 the Launceston City Council proposed a $7 million development for a replacement Northern Stand. The project includes the relocation of the old Northern Stand's heritage roof into part of the redevelopment of facilities at Invermay Park. The old structure at York Park will be replaced with a 2,125-seat grandstand which will include three AFL compliant changerooms, an AFL umpire changeroom, a corporate facility for 936 people in corporate boxes, suites and function rooms, coaches boxes, along with statistician, timekeepers and print media rooms. Post-match press conference, drug testing, and radio rooms will also be included. The stand has increased the ground's capacity to 21,000 and the seating capacity to 13,825. These works were designed by Tasmania-based architects Philp Lighton Architects. The Australian Government was expected to contribute $4 million, the Tasmanian Government $2 million and Launceston City Council $500,000. The Hawthorn Football Club asked for a "sizeable" contribution from the AFL towards the development, and Inveresk Precinct Authority chairman Robin McKendrick has indicated that a contribution of $1 million was possible.
Redevelopment
As the Tasmanian Government sought to secure a license for a Tasmanian team in the Australian Football League, redeveloping York Park became an active pursuit of the government.In March 2022, Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein announced the government intended to pursue a significant redevelopment of the stadium: he revealed the development would occur within the following five years, though this was contingent on the state government's $65 million contribution being matched by the federal government, and the stadium ownership being transferred from the Launceston City Council to the state government-run Stadiums Tasmania agency. The federal funding was secured in April 2023 in an announcement by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Shortly after this announcement, the Tasmania Football Club was approved for entry into the AFL for the 2028 season.
In November 2024, the Launceston City Council voted to transfer ownership of the stadium from the council to Stadiums Tasmania, paving the way for construction works on improved matchday facilities to commence and bringing umpires rooms, changing rooms and other facilities to Australian tier 2 sporting guidelines. Major construction at the stadium commenced in September 2025.
The redevelopment will include a new centre-west stand incorporating function, corporate and media facilities, a new seating bowl in the lower section of the western stand and a revitalised eastern stand. It is expected be complete in 2027, and will result in a total stadium capacity of 17,500.
Sports and events
Australian rules football
is the main sport played at the stadium which has hosted Australian Football League games since 2001, when the state government started paying interstate clubs to relocate their home games. Melbourne-based Hawthorn played one game in 2001 and two in 2002, and in 2003 were joined by another Melbourne team, St Kilda. In 2004, it was estimated that the cost to the government per game was between $300,000 and $500,000, but Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon stated that the government was making a profit on its investment, estimating that each game injected between $1 million and $1.5 million into the Tasmanian economy.The number of AFL matches peaked in 2006, when Hawthorn played three home games and one pre-season game, while St Kilda played two home games. The games drew an average crowd of 17,108, with a record attendance of 20,971 for the match between Hawthorn and Richmond.
A major controversy occurred at York Park when, in the round 5, 2006 match between St Kilda and Fremantle, the final siren was too quiet to be heard by any of the umpires; play was restarted in error, and in the subsequent confusion St Kilda levelled the scores. After a protest, the AFL Commission convened and overturned the result, awarding Fremantle the victory. The stadium's sirens were replaced, and the old ones were put on display at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.
In 2007 York Park benefitted from a five-year, $16.4 million sponsorship of Hawthorn by the state government. Under the sponsorship agreement the stadium is the venue for five of Hawthorn's matches each year—one pre-season and four premiership games. Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has expressed interest in his club playing higher profile teams, such as Collingwood, at the stadium.
As well as being an AFL venue, York Park is the long-term base of North Launceston, and thus hosts regular Tasmanian State League matches. The ground also hosted occasional Tasmanian Devils Football Club home games in the Victorian Football League, from 2001 until the club's demise in 2008.
In 2021, due to COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns preventing matches from being played in Melbourne and Sydney, York Park hosted its first two AFL finals matches: both first-week elimination finals, the first a victory over, and the second a Greater Western Sydney Giants win over the Sydney Swans in Sydney Derby XXII.