LET'S GET IT ON!!!

V

Tuesday, November 30 at 7:30 PM
Franklin Field
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

The American National Rugby League will host the Philips Australian Kangaroos in a Rugby League International Match at historic Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The University of Pennsylvania's historic football stadium, has hosted the best in collegiate and professional competition for most of the century. Originally opened in 1895 for the first running of the Penn Relays, the stadium was rebuilt 72 years ago. The Field, deemed by the NCAA as the oldest stadium still operating for football games, has been the site of the nation's first scoreboard (1895), the nation's first two-tiered stadium (1922), the first football radio broadcast (WIP, 1922), the first football telecast (PhilCo, 1939) and Vince Lombardi's only NFL playoff loss (1960).

The Army-Navy series moved to Franklin Field in 1899 and in 1925, Red Grange set an NCAA record with 331 rushing yards as Illinois owned Penn. During the 1930's and 1940's, Penn led the nation in attendance for several years as crowds often numbered as many as 80,000. Today, the newly refurbished stadium seats 52,598.

Sprinturf was installed in the summer of 2004, bringing this 109 year-old venue into the 21st century. The new playing surface is a mixture of synthetic fibers with a rubber/sand infill combination. AstroTurf (the fifth carpet in stalled in 1993) had covered the playing surface since 1970 and a Rekortan track was installed in 1988. Penn also gave the scoreboard a facelift in 2004, installing a Daktronics scoreboard in lat August. Franklin Field has also been the home of the Philadelphia Eagles and has hosted the Historic Penn Relays for over 100 years.