Wade Park has hosted some notable rugby league clashes over the years.
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The best in modern memory is the 2013 Group 10 grand final which pitched together Orange sides CYMS and Hawks for their only derby grand final.
A crowd of more than 5000 people watched CYMS claim its third title in four years.
Minor premiers Hawks were shell-shocked by a CYMS opening half blitz that put the score at 16-4 at the break. It blew out to 22-4 before Hawks regained momentum for the game to finish 22-14. With gate takings of more than $50,000 it was a golden day.
An even-larger crowd of 7588 attended the last NRL trial game to be played in Orange.
Canberra beat Newcastle, who wore an orange strip, 34-28 in February 2016.
The Raiders scored all their points in the first half when both sides had their strongest line-ups on the field.
It led to calls for a rectangular field for more big games in Orange. And that's finally set to become reality with the planned $25 million sports complex at the former Country Club golf course.
Rugby league foklore was written in 1974 in two major clashes at Wade Park featuring Western Division.
In what was described as one of the dirtiest games ever played Western Division faced the touring Great Britain team in June.
Brawling took up nearly as much of the game as football before the touring team presided by 15 points.
However, Western Division, coached by Johnny King and with the likes of 'TV" Ted Ellery about to become household names, were already on the march in the inaugural Amco Cup knockout contest for teams across NSW and New Zealand.
Western Division had already beaten Auckland before knocking off Canterbury-Bankstown to set up a semi-final clash in Orange in July against Manly.
The score finished 12-all but after a penalty countback the bushies prevailed and headed to Leichhardt Oval for the final against Penrith.
Western Division won 6-2, watched on by a massive TV audience and a crowd of 16,000 people in a Wednesday night dream result.
Though defeated in the penalty count and in the scrums Western Division out-tackled their NSWRL opposition.
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