History

Mt Smart Stadium is an Auckland Regional Park, originally consisted of a volcanic hill 86 meters high, called "Rarotonga" (which means "below south"). The hill was named Mt Smart after Captain Henry Dalton Smart, who is believed to have been associated with the surveyor General of the day.

In 1937 Mt Smart (Rarotonga) Domain Board was created. In 1953 the board approved a plan for the stadium site and the basic formation work was completed in 1965. The stadium was officially opened in 1967, at which time facilities consisted of the No. 2 Grandstand, a cinder athletics track and the northern toilet block. The cinder track was replaced by a rubberised ‘Tartan' track in 1975.

The stadium was further extensively developed to accommodate the XIV Commonwealth Games in 1990. This development included the construction of the No. 2 Arena (now the Mt Smart Athletics Stadium), the laying of Rekortan synthetic tracks in both stadiums and the construction of the West Stand in the No. 1 Arena (now the Mt Smart Football Stadium). In early 1994, further development of Mt Smart Stadium was approved by the council to accommodate Winfield Cup Rugby League. The New Zealand Warriors first game was held on 10 March 1995.

The Mt Smart Football Stadium playing field has been re-configured and extended to accommodate rugby league and rugby union in addition to soccer by using removable material to grow across the running track surface at both ends and the western side of the field. The field has been further levelled and upgraded to ensure that it is able to withstand sustained heavy use under any weather conditions.

The addition of a new 8,000 capacity East Stand, completed in January 2005, has further improved the facilities by providing an additional 5,000 covered seats, a new club lounge for up to 1,000 patrons and a gymnasium and office base for the New Zealand Warriors.

The football stadium is also equipped with floodlighting of the required standard to allow night games to be broadcast by television.