Another new venue for Test rugby union, WIN Stadium is located alongside the beach and overlooks the Pacific Ocean, but is still only a few minutes walk from the Central Business District of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales.
WIN Stadium, one of the three smallest venues being used at Rugby World Cup 2003 with its 20,000 capacity, of which 10,000 seats are undercover, opened the third of its grandstands in April 2002 after an upgrade costing $8 million.
The first grandstand was built in 1992, four years after the Wollongong Showground had been converted into a rectangular shape, the so called ‘village green’ in the centre having been the site of rugby league since the early 1900s.
The former National Soccer League champions Wollongong Wolves call the WIN Stadium home, while the St George-Illawarra Rugby League Club also play half of their games in the National Rugby League there.
WIN Stadium will stage two Rugby World Cup 2003 matches, the first of which is the Pool D encounter between Canada and Tonga on 29 October. Two days later France and the United States face each other in Pool B.
How to get there:
With a population of just over 250,000, the size of Wollongong means the best method to reach the WIN Stadium, which is located on the corner of Crown and Harbour Streets, is by foot.
However, WIN Stadium is only a few minutes walk from the Wollongong station, which is one hour and 20 minutes travel time from Sydney’s Central station.
If travelling to the WIN Stadium on match day, Wollongong is just over an hour’s drive from Sydney along the F6 Freeway (Princes Highway) and two and a half hours from Canberra via the Hume Highway and Illawarra Highways.