Lang Park

Origins

The site of Lang Park was originally the North Brisbane Cemetery, and until 1875 was Brisbane's primary cemetery. By 1911, the area was heavily populated, so the Paddington Cemeteries Act (1911) was introduced, and the site was redeveloped as a recreational site. In 1914, it was fenced off and named Lang Park after John Dunmore Lang.^[13][14]

The ground was leased by the Queensland Amateur Athletics Association (QAAA) in the 1920s. In 1935, the Queensland Soccer Council (QSC) became a sub-tenant of the QAAA, with a view to using it as the home ground for Brisbane soccer fixtures (leaving its former home, the Brisbane Cricket Ground).^[15] The Latrobe Soccer Club, in turn, became a sub-tenant of the QSC, using the ground for its home games (see image below).^{[citation needed]}

However, by 1937, the QSC was considering sub-leasing Lang Park to "another code of football" (most likely Western Suburbs Rugby League) as it "was not satisfied with the financial returns ... under the sub-lease to the Latrobe-Milton club".^[16] Latrobe in turn responded that "'If no action Is taken to introduce the Ipswich clubs into the Brisbane competition this' season ... the Latrobe-Milton Club cannot accept an increase in rental for Lang Park. Give us competition play with Ipswich and my club will hold the ground as headquarters for the code."^[17]

On 11 February 1950, the official opening of the Lang Park Police Citizens Youth Club took place and youth activities commenced because of the concerns with the increase of juvenile delinquency. Activities such as boxing, wrestling, basketball and gymnastics all occur at these premises to this day. Contemporaneous records are scant, but it appears the QSC did not renew the lease the ground after the intervening World War II. In 1953 the Brisbane Rugby League (BRL) amalgamated with the Queensland Rugby League (QRL). QRL secretary Ron McAullife negotiated a 21-year lease of Lang Park from the Brisbane City Council in order to give the QRL a financially viable base of operations. The park had only the most basic facilities, and the QRL contributed £17,000 to its development. Lang Park hosted its first game of first grade rugby league during the 1930s, with regular BRL games commencing there in 1955. In 1958, it hosted its first Brisbane rugby league grand final in which Brothers defeated Valleys 22 points to 7.^[18] A record crowd of 19,824 saw Northern Suburbs defeat Fortitude Valley at Lang Park in the BRL grand final in September 1961.^[19]

In the 1960s, Fonda Metassa famously burst from the back of an ambulance to return to the field after being carted off injured in a match for Norths against Redcliffe. As the ground was used increasingly by the QRL, it became no longer viable for use as a public recreation facility due to spoilage of the running track.^[20] In 1962, the Lang Park Trust was created under an act of Parliament. This allowed for the construction of the Frank Burke Stand (1962), Ron McAuliffe Stand (1975), and the Western Grandstand (1994). The Trust had on its board one member from the Queensland Government, one member from the Brisbane City Council, two members from the Queensland Rugby League and one member from the Brisbane Rugby League.^[21]

From the 1960s, Lang Park hosted interstate and international rugby league, including the inaugural State of Origin match. Up until 1972, it was the home ground of the Western Suburbs Panthers.^{[citation needed]}

NSWRL/ARL years

In 1988, the Brisbane Broncos entered the NSWRL Premiership along with the Gold Coast Chargers and the Newcastle Knights. The Broncos played out of Lang Park from 1988 until 1992, when they moved to the 60,000 capacity ANZ Stadium, the stadium for the 1982 Commonwealth Games. The move occurred due to a dispute over the Broncos sponsor, Power's Brewery, being a competitor of the QRL's sponsor XXXX.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, the stadium's name was changed to Suncorp Stadium, when naming sponsorship was attained by Queensland financial institution, Suncorp. The venue is currently managed by AEG Ogden. On 25 May 1997, the 1996/1997 National Soccer League Grand final was played in front of then a capacity crowd of 40,446, where the Brisbane Strikers FC defeated Sydney United FC 2–0.^{[citation needed]}

Redevelopment

Lang Park was heavily redeveloped in the early 2000s into a 52,500 all-seater state of the art rectangular stadium.^[22]

Lang Park suffered significant damage during the 2010–2011 Queensland floods with the entire playing field being covered by flood water.^[23] An electrical fire started in a transformer room due to water ingress, however there was no major damage from the fire.^[24]

Today

Although the stadium has been the traditional home of rugby league in Queensland, it has also become the state's premier venue for soccer, as well as rugby union. The re-developed stadium first hosted rugby union games at the 2003 Rugby World Cup and in 2005, the stadium became the new home of the Queensland Reds Super Rugby team when they moved from their former home at Ballymore Stadium. This move caused some disquiet amongst rugby traditionalists, however was accepted by Queensland Rugby Union CEO Theo Psaros, who said that "our hearts may be at Ballymore but our heads say it's time to move.".^[25] The year before the Reds' move, the newly established football team Queensland Roar of the A-League also elected to play their home games at Suncorp Stadium.^{[citation needed]}

New Zealand rugby journalist Wynne Gray called Suncorp Stadium perhaps the best rugby stadium in the world. "It is so intimate you can hear the smack of bodies, the boot on leather, you feel the power and rhythm of the games."^[26]

The stadium has also been favourably compared to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and London's Twickenham Stadium.^[27]

On 29 July 2006, the Bledisloe Cup clash between the Wallabies and the All Blacks returned to Brisbane for the first time in over a decade for the 2006 Tri Nations Series. Though Australia narrowly lost the match, the game saw a new ground record set.^{[citation needed]}

A month later on 7 October the stadium hosted a 1–1 friendly soccer game between Australia and Paraguay in which Tony Vidmar, Stan Lazaridis, Zeljko Kalac and goal scorer Tony Popovic all retired from international soccer.^{[citation needed]}

On 8 November 2006, a crowd of 44,358 saw the Great Britain national rugby league team play against Australia for the last time.

On Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 December, the stadium hosted its first music concert since the 1980s and the stadium's redevelopment when Robbie Williams performed in front of two 52,413 sell-out crowds during his "Close Encounters" tour of Australia, and was the venue for the U2 360 tour in December 2010. That same month the stadium hosted Bon Jovi as part of The Circle Tour.^{[citation needed]}

The Stadium was also the site of the 2011 A-League Grand Final, drawing a crowd of over 50,000. The match was one of the most dramatic in A-League history, with the Brisbane Roar scoring two goals in the last five minutes to level the scores with the Central Coast Mariners after several hundred home supporters had left the stadium early, many returning after hearing the stadium erupt while waiting for the train. The Roar went on to win 4–2 in the penalty shootout, making for an incredible victory.^{[citation needed]}

The stadium is also home to the Lang Park Police Citizens Youth Club.^{[citation needed]}

American Singer-Songwriter Taylor Swift played at Suncorp Stadium for her Red Tour on 7 December 2013.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2016, it was announced that the video screens, originally installed in 2003, would be replaced.^[28] Construction started on the new video screens in March 2017 and was finished in early May 2017 in time for an NRL double header.^{[citation needed]}

In 2019, the stadium hosted the NRL's inaugural Magic Round, in which all eight matches in a single round are played at the one venue.^[29]

In 2020, the Melbourne Storm played their "home" finals at the venue, as it was not possible for the team to play them at its regular home ground, AAMI Park, due to the state of Victoria being locked down during the state's second wave of coronavirus infections.^[30]

On 26 June 2021, the Queensland Maroons played at home against the New South Wales Blues in the State of Origin series. Queensland lost the game 26–0, and henceforth the series.^[31]

Due to a COVID-19 lockdown in New South Wales, which began on 26 June 2021 and was still in effect into October, the stadium hosted twenty-one extra games on top of its normal commitments to the Brisbane Broncos as well as Magic Round, including the 2021 NRL Grand Final on 3 October 2021.^[32][33] This was the second time that a rugby league premiership Grand Final was played outside of Sydney, following the 1997 Super League Grand Final.^[34]

In 2023, the stadium hosted several matches of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.^{[citation needed]}

On February 15, 2025, All Elite Wrestling will make its Australian debut with AEW Grand Slam Australia at the stadium.^[35]

Average attendance per team

Statues

There are bronze statues outside the stadium. So far, all of them are of rugby players.^[37] There have been suggestions to include a statue of Clare Polkinghorne.^[38]

• Wally Lewis (Rugby league)^[39]
• Darren Lockyer (Rugby league)^[40]
• Mal Meninga (Rugby league)^[41]
• Arthur Beetson (Rugby league)^[42]
• John Eales (Rugby union)
• Allan Langer (Rugby league)^[43]