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Thebarton Oval (currently known as Adelaide Airport Stadium) is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia currently used for a variety of sports including Australian rules football. It was the home ground of South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club West Torrens between 1922 and 1989, and since 2008 has been the home of the South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL). ==History== Thebarton has been home over the years to a number of other sports including speedway, soccer, gridiron, baseball and rugby league. The record crowd at Thebarton was set on 26 May 1962 when 20,832 fans turned up to see West Torrens take on SANFL rivals Norwood. After first playing their home games at Jubilee Oval (1987-1904) and Hindmarsh Oval (1905-1921), West Torrens moved from Hindmarsh to the nearby Thebarton Oval in 1922. Thebarton would remain the home of West Torrens until 1989. The Eagles moved to Football Park for 1990 before their perilous financial situation forced them into a merger with the Woodville Football Club from 1991. The new club would be known as the Woodville-West Torrens Eagles and would use the Warriors ground Woodville Oval as their home base. West Torrens played their last game at the ground in on 2 September 1989 ending a run of 68 seasons at Thebarton Oval. After the Eagles left, the ground subsequently deteriorated through lack of maintenance, though other sports would regularly use the oval including cricket, rugby league, baseball, gridiron and soccer. The South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL) also regularly used Thebarton Oval. In 2008 the SAAFL set up their headquarters at the ground, which saw a permanent return of football to Thebarton. Due to Woodville Oval's use by Grade Cricket in the summer months, Woodville-West Torrens use Thebarton as their pre-season base, as well as having played two games there (2009 and 2012). This has seen efforts made to upgrade the ground in the past few years including, upgrading the areas surrounding the ground, replaced the perimeter fencing, installing new seating in the stands, and a complete replacement of the grounds light towers. In March 2012, it was announced that Thebarton Oval would be renamed Adelaide Airport Stadium, following a sponsorship agreement with Adelaide Airport. On Friday 23 March 2012, Thebarton Oval hosted its first SANFL match since 2009, and its first night game since the 1983 Escort Cup Grand Final, when the reigning premier Eagles hosted their hated rivals from Port Adelaide to open the 2012 SANFL season. The game was taken to Thebarton not only to take advantage of the upgraded lights and open the season with a Friday night game, but because of the unavailability of the Eagles usual home ground Unleash Solar Oval due to being in use for Grade Cricket. The Magpies spoiled the Eagles' first game under lights at the former West Torrens home ground with a 55-point win 18.13 (121) to 10.6 (66) in front of 4,566 fans.〔(Port spoils Eagles first night back at Thebarton )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thebarton Oval」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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