Football was granted regular access to the Basin Reserve from 1908, but the 1920s signalled its emergence as New Zealand’s major football ground. First played for in 1923, the Chatham Cup is still the feature trophy of New Zealand domestic football. In 1926 the final...
Rugby league’s first appearance at the Basin Reserve came in 1914 when England beat Wellington 14-7. Even though this match was a positive start, rugby league’s growth stalled as the Wellington Provincial Rugby Football League struggled to secure a ground. In 1919, after the City...
Marching is a proudly New Zealand invention, developed out of YMCA sports carnivals in the 1920s. From these early days, displays could often be seen at the Basin Reserve. When the first Inter-Dominion marching competition was held between New Zealand and Australia in 1977, the...
Before the National Hockey Stadium was in the 1980s, the Basin Reserve intermittently held hockey internationals. Among the early visitors to the ground were the Australian men’s and English women’s sides. When New Zealand played the English women’s side in 1914, it was the first...
Lacrosse is a fairly unfamiliar sport to most New Zealanders, but it has a long history in Wellington with the first reports to it being played here dating back to 1888. Like most sports in the capital, lacrosse quickly found a home at the Basin...
In August 1870, the Basin Reserve was the scene of an historic first as the first game of rugby was played in the North Island. While Athletic Park and the Wellington Regional Stadium have been the home of top flite rugby in Wellington, club rugby...
In 1857 citizens began to petition the Provincial Council for a site to create a permanent cricket ground. With the city growing rapidly, cricket fields were being built upon as quickly as they were developed and the English settlers passion for the game would not...
When Surveyor-General, Captain William Mein Smith, drew up plans for Wellington in 1840, a stream linked the harbour to a lagoon that he simply labelled ‘Basin’. Smith’s intention was for this Basin to become a safe harbour for ships, accessed through a canal to the...