The Sydney Sports Ground was a basic sports arena in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, located on the site of the Sydney Football Stadium. The ground had two main grandstands and a huge hill, giving it a capacity of more than 35,000. It was demolished in 1986/7 to allow the building of the Sydney Football Stadium, which opened in 1988. It has also hosted some cricket matches. Mostly domestic A-Grade matches.
The ground's primary use was as the home venue for the Eastern Suburbs rugby league football club, founded in 1908. Soccer and rugby league were among the sports held at the ground, but soccer teams also used the ground for major matches. It was also an important open-air boxing venue between the 1930s and '60s. The champion Australian boxers Jack Carroll, Ron Richards and Jimmy Carruthers has memorable victories there. For many years the ground hosted motorbike races (motorcycle speedway). Between 1937 and 1955, 12 riders and drivers died as a result of accidents on the dirt track. The ground was one of the venues used in the 1938 British Empire Games. It hosted the World Youth Soccer Championships in 1981.
To raise money for Boys' Town - a Catholic home for troubled youths at Engadine, south of Sydney - the bookmaker George Nathan each Sunday organized a fund-raising carnival, with trotting, cycling and midget-car racing that packed the Sydney Sports Ground.
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