Rushton Park 4.29

Rushton Park is an Australian rules football ground located in Mandurah, Western Australia. Having been in use as a football ground since the early 1960s, the ground is currently used as a home ground by three clubs: the, competing in the West Australian Football League, the Mandurah Mustangs, competing in the Peel Football League, and the Peel Thunderbirds, competing in the West Australian Women's Football League . Rushton Park is the only regularly-used ground in the WAFL that falls outside the Perth metropolitan area.HistoryThe area that is now Rushton Park was first gazetted as a sanitation site on 20 August, 1926, and was converted to a recreation reserve in September 1958, under the Mandurah Road Board. The reserve was named for Richard Rushton, a former local government commissioner, with the new name approved on 22 May, 1972. The park was first used for football in the 1960s by the Mandurah Football Club in the Sunday Football League. The ground held its first West Australian Football League (WAFL) match in April 1986 between and, with a record attendance at the time of 7,147 people. A further game was hosted in the 1987 season, between and South Fremantle, with 4,547 in attendance. As well as football, the ground also hosted two cricket matches between a Western Australia Country XI and touring Sri Lankan and Tamil Nadu sides, in 1987 and 1988, respectively. After the Peel Thunder Football Club was accepted into the WAFL for the 1997 season, Rushton Park became its home ground. The first game of the 1997 season, against, drew a crowd of 5,781 people.