Stadium that hosted matches for over 100 years was left abandoned after incident

A stadium that once hosted international sport has been left to rot despite having over 100 years of history.

Lancaster Park was situated in Christchurch, New Zealand. The stadium used to play host to the ‘All Blacks’ (New Zealand’s rugby union team) and the Black Caps (New Zealand’s cricket team) but has not hosted a sporting event since a devastating earthquake caused damage to the site on February 22, 2011.

On a club level, the Canterbury cricket and Crusaders rugby team used to call the stadium their home.

The ground had even been the site of several music events, with Bon Jovi, Roger Waters, and Billy Joel just a few of the names to have previously worked crowds at the stadium.

And even Pope John Paul II conducted a mass at Lancaster Park in 1986.

The facility used to see thousands of spectators walk its turnstiles with a capacity of 38,628, but those days are long gone because of the natural disaster.

Of course, when the incident occurred, arguably the last thing on local’s minds was the state of the ground, given the fact that 185 people died when the earthquake hit.

In the weeks that followed, the clean-up operation began, and the ground was in a sorry state as the tremor had lifted concrete from under the stand and then dropped it at the wrong angle.

As a result, by September 2019, the stadium had largely been demolished.

Now, the site has been redeveloped into a recreational area for locals.

Lancaster Park has been demolished (Credit:Getty)

However, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.

Plans are now in place to build a new state-of-the-art stadium called the ‘Te Kaha’ Stadium, just 1.5 miles away from the old site.

Crusaders’ Head Coach Rob Penney visited the new site in 2023 and admitted he got “emotional”.

“It’s a little bit emotional, really,” Penney told Crusaders’ website.

“It’s been a long journey to get to this point, and 2026 can’t come soon enough.”

“What a special asset this place is going to be for the entire region,” he added.

“Although rugby is no doubt going to be a cornerstone of this place, there will be a lot more activity here.”