The history of the Shark tank

Both the old and the new pictures this week were posted by Yatish Bipulprasad in the Facebook Page Durban History and Stories and features Durban’s home of rugby Kings Park Stadium.

In the background of the old picture, one can clearly see the old Kings Park soccer stadium and the Kings Park pool. It looks like the picture was taken before the Suncoast development opened in 2002. The modern picture shows the magnificent Moses Mabhida Stadium and was probably shot after the redevelopment of Suncoast in 2022.

Kings Park was originally built with a capacity of 12 000 and opened in 1958. It was extensively renovated in the 1980s and then again for the 1995 Rugby World Cup. It currently has a capacity of 46 000 and is the home ground of the Sharks. The stadium is also used by Durban-based Premier Soccer League football clubs, as well as for the 1996 Afcon Cup of Nations championship in SA.

The first Test at Kings Park was played between the Springboks and the British Lions on July 21, 1962, which South Africa won 3-0. The Boks have a very good home ground record at Kings Park. Of the 33 Tests played here, they have lost only 9 - Four of those to the All Blacks. The Boks have met France 7 times at Kings Park with 3 wins and surprisingly four draws. The most famed win against France was in the pouring rain during the semi-final of the 1995 World Cup which SA clinched 19-15. The French came within millimeters of scoring in the dying minutes of the game.

The stadium was 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. The later picture was taken during the Jonsson period.

Behind Kings Park was the Kings Park Soccer Stadium, a multi-use stadium also built in 1958. It was used mostly for football matches and was the home of Manning Rangers who played in the Premier Soccer League. The stadium had a capacity of 35 000 people. The stadium was demolished in 2006 to make way for the iconic arch of Moses Mabhida Stadium, one of the key stadiums built for the 2010 World Cup.

In the post, Durbanite Graham Laurie remembers: “We used to play schoolboy rugby on the outfields in the fifties. I think they must be the steepest stands I have ever seen. One gets vertigo just sitting up there. Tony Garstang was one of the architects that originally designed it. His son was a school friend of mine.”