Kings Park Stadium (known as Hollywoodbets Kings Park for sponsorship reasons since 2022), colloquially known as the Shark Tank, is a stadium located in the Kings Park Sporting Precinct in Durban, South Africa. It is the home of the Sharks rugby union team.
The stadium was originally built with a capacity of 12,000 and opened in 1958, extensively renovated in the 1980s and then again in time for the 1995 Rugby World Cup. It currently has a capacity of 46,000, after renovations reduced the capacity from 54,000 and is the home ground of the . The stadium is also used by Durban-based Premier Soccer League football (soccer) clubs, as well as for large football finals.
It was previously also known as the ABSA Stadium (between 2000 and 2010), Mr Price Kings Park Stadium (in 2011 and 2012), Growthpoint Kings Park (between 2013 and early 2017), and Jonsson Kings Park (between 2018 and 2021) due to sponsorship deals.
1995 Rugby World Cup The stadium was used as one of the venues for the 1995 Rugby World Cup held in South Africa. The stadium hosted three pool games in Pool B. The stadium also hosted one quarter final with France defeating Ireland 36–12. A very wet semi final was played here on 17 June 1995 between South Africa and France.
Date Team Result Team Round Attendance 27 May 1995 18–24 Pool B 35,000 31 May 1995 27–20 45,093 4 June 1995 44–22 35,000 10 June 1995 36–12 Quarter-final 20,000 17 June 1995 19–15 Semi-final 49,773
1996 African Cup of Nations The stadium was one of four venues for the 1996 African Cup of Nations. It hosted 3 group matches, a quarter final and semi final.
Date Team Result Team Round Attendance 16 January 1996 1–2 Group C 5,000 19 January 1996 2–0 4,000 24 January 1996 3–3 Group A 6,000 28 January 1996 Quarter-final 4,000 31 January 1996 2–4 Semi-final 5,000
Other events Artist Tour Date Whitney Houston The Bodyguard World Tour 8 November 1994 Roxette Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour 6 January 1995 Bon Jovi These Days Tour 3 December 1995 Tina Turner Wildest Dreams Tour 18 April 1996 Gloria Estefan Evolution World Tour 20 March 1997 Michael Jackson HIStory World Tour (the last show of the tour) 15 October 1997 Janet Jackson The Velvet Rope Tour 19 November 1998LiveThe Distance to Here Tour20 June 2000R.E.M.Around the Sun Tour8 March 2005Metallica Escape from the Studio '06 21 March 2006 Robbie Williams Close Encounters Tour 10 April 2006 Celine Dion Taking Chances World Tour 20 February 2008 Rod Stewart South Africa Tour 4 December 2008
Springbok matches Date Opponent Result Winner Competition Attendance 21 July 1962 British & Irish Lions 3–0 1962 British Lions tour of South Africa 40,000 23 May 1964 24–3 1964 Wales tour of Kenya and South Africa 35,000 15 July 1967 26–3 1967 France tour of South Africa 39,000 16 August 1969 16–9 1969 Australia tour of South Africa 40,000 19 June 1971 8–8 draw 1971 France tour of South Africa 40,000 24 July 1976 16–7 1976 New Zealand tour of South Africa 46,000 3 May 1980 South American XV 18–9 1980 South American XV tour of South Africa 37,000 6 June 1981 12–10 1981 Ireland tour of South Africa 38,600 17 May 1986 New Zealand Cavaliers 18–19 New Zealand Cavaliers 1986 New Zealand Cavaliers tour of South Africa 42,000 26 June 1993 20–20 draw 1993 France tour of South Africa 45,000 17 June 1995 19–15 1995 Rugby World Cup 49,773 17 August 1996 19–23 1996 New Zealand tour of South Africa 52,000 28 June 1997 15–18 British & Irish Lions 1997 British Lions tour of South Africa 50,000 15 August 1998 24–23 1998 Tri Nations Series 45,000 19 June 1999 101–0 1999 Italy tour of South Africa 36,210 26 August 2000 18–19 2000 Tri Nations Series 52,000 23 June 2001 20–15 44,794 10 August 2002 23–30 2002 Tri Nations Series 57,000 7 June 2003 29–25 2003 Scotland tour of South Africa 37,528 21 August 2004 23–19 2004 Tri Nations Series 52,247 18 June 2005 30–30 draw 2005 France tour of South Africa and Australia 50,419 10 June 2006 36–16 2006 Scotland tour of South Africa 32,066 23 June 2007 21–26 2007 Tri Nations Series 51,861 23 August 2008 15–27 2008 Tri Nations Series 48,123 20 June 2009 26–21 British & Irish Lions 2009 British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa 49,055 1 August 2009 31–19 2009 Tri Nations Series 43,149 13 August 2011 9–14 2011 Tri Nations Series 47,850 9 June 2012 22–17 2012 England tour of South Africa 43,052 8 June 2013 44–10 Quadrangular Tournament 23,663 14 June 2014 38–16 2014 Wales tour of South Africa 37,182 8 August 2015 25–37 2015 Rugby Championship 27,447 8 October 2016 15–57 2016 Rugby Championship 51,500 17 June 2017 37–15 2017 France tour of South Africa 27,712 18 August 2018 34–21 2018 Rugby Championship 26,836 24 September 2022 38–21 2022 Rugby Championship 45,982 13 July 2024 24-25 2024 Ireland tour of South Africa 52,000 27 September 2025 67-30 2025 Rugby Championship 45,158
Statistics Statistics updated to most recent match against Argentina, 13 July 2024. Opponent ||164||109||+55||81||88||–7 British & Irish Lions ||44||39||+5||22||17||+5||160||106||+54||36||35||+1||145||10||+135||149||185||–36 New Zealand Cavaliers ||18||19||–1||65||41||+24South American XV ||18||9||+9||62||19||+43 Opponent 36 22 3 11 61.11 897 647 +250
Future With the construction of the new Moses Mabhida Stadium for the 2010 FIFA World Cup less than 200m away, the local government had hoped that the Sharks would relocate. However, this is unlikely as they have a 50-year lease on Kings Park which runs to 2056.
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