Blandford Park

About

Blandford Park, in Auckland, New Zealand, was the home of association football in Auckland for much of the 20th century, and one of the country's main football grounds. Located in Grafton Gully, northeast of Grafton Bridge, roughly between the northern part of Whitaker Place and the Auckland Bowls Club in Grafton Mews, it was razed in the mid-1960s, and its site is now occupied by on- and off-ramps to the Auckland Central Motorway Junction. The ground hosted a considerable number of notable football matches, including several international fixtures and many of the Auckland regional finals and national semi-finals of the Chatham Cup.

Originally owned by Morgan Blandford (for whom it is named), the park was in existence at least as early as 1913. In 1923, Blandford leased the park to the Auckland Football Association for a period of 30 years, with an option to buy outright after that point. The park was unappealing at the time, with contemporary reports noting that it was swampy and seemed to be a general dumping ground.

Over the course of the next two years, the AFA attempted to transform the park, clearing the land and adding terraces which could accommodate several thousand spectators...