Hallowed Turf

New Plymouth’s Rugby Park was a simple, tree fringed venue with its most famous days still ahead of it when this two part panoramic photograph was taken between 1947 and 1950. The ground, now known as Yarrow Stadium, hosted its first game on 12 May 1937. It boasted a single modest covered stand and a cycle track round the touchlines. Advertising hoardings and corporate boxes had yet to make an appearance. A memorial to James McLeod, the chairman of the Taranaki Rugby Football Union from 1912-1944 is in the foreground of this image, but rugby was not the reason this photograph was framed up. It was actually presented to keen cyclist Joe Cross by the New Plymouth Cycle and Athletic League in 1950 “in appreciation of valued services rendered to the Club over a long period.”