page_title: York Park
section_title: Australian rules football
hierarchical_section_title: York Park / Events / Australian rules football
caption_attribution_description: English: Gunns Stand at Aurora Stadium
context_page_description: York Park is a sports ground in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia. Holding 19,500 people — the joint-largest capacity stadium in Tasmania — York Park is known commercially as University of Tasmania Stadium and was formerly known as Aurora Stadium under a previous naming rights agreement signed with Aurora Energy in 2004. Primarily used for Australian rules football, its record attendance of 20,971 was set in June 2006, when Hawthorn Football Club played Richmond Football Club in an Australian Football League match.
  The area was swampland before becoming Launceston's showgrounds in 1873. In the following decades the grounds were increasingly used for sports, including cricket, bowls and tennis. In 1919, plans were prepared for the transformation of the area into a multi-sports venue. From 1923, the venue was principally used for Australian rules football by the Northern Tasmanian Football Association, and for occasional inter-state games. Visiting mainland football clubs regularly played mid-season or end-of-season matches at the ground. Other sports such as cricket, tennis, bowling, cycling and foot-racing have been played at the venue.
context_section_description: Australian rules football is the main sport played at the stadium which has hosted Australian Football League (AFL) games since 2001, when the state government started paying interstate clubs to relocate their home games. Melbourne-based Hawthorn played one game in 2001 and two in 2002, and in 2003 were joined by another Melbourne team, St Kilda. In 2004, it was estimated that the cost to the government per game was between $300,000 and $500,000, but Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon stated that the government was making a profit on its investment, estimating that each game injected between $1 million and $1.5 million into the Tasmanian economy.
  The number of AFL matches peaked in 2006, when Hawthorn played three home games and one pre-season game, while St Kilda played two home games. The games drew an average crowd of 17,108, with a record attendance of 20,971 for the match between Hawthorn and Richmond.
  Controversy occurred at York Park when, in a game between St Kilda and Fremantle, the final siren was too quiet to be heard by any of the umpires; play was restarted in error, and in the subsequent confusion St Kilda levelled the scores. After a protest, the AFL Commission convened and overturned the result, awarding Fremantle the victory. The stadium's sirens have since been replaced, and the old ones will be put on display at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.
  In 2007 York Park benefitted from a five-year, $16.4 million sponsorship  of Hawthorn by the state government. Under the sponsorship agreement the stadium is the venue for five of Hawthorn's matches each year—one pre-season and four premiership games. Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has expressed interest in his club playing higher profile teams, such as Collingwood, at the stadium.
  As well as being an AFL venue, York Park is the long-term base of North Launceston, and thus hosts regular Tasmanian State League matches. The ground also hosted occasional Tasmanian Devils Football Club home games in the Victorian Football League, from 2001 until the club's demise in 2008.
caption: Gunns Stand during Hawthorn vs Brisbane AFL match in 2009
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