York Park was complete by 1921 and the oval had a perimeter fence, turnstiles, changerooms, a wooden grandstand and for the first few years had a cycling track around the perimeter fence until the new veledrome was built next door. 4 years later the Northern stand was constructed and it still stands today. The ground was very quickly made the home of the North Launceston Football Club and the NTFA was based there from then on.

The first traditional North v. South match was played there in 1923 before a then record crowd of 9,441. The ground was severely damaged by the floods of 1929 but was repaired quickly in readiness for the next NTFA season. The NTFA played all finals at the ground from 1929-1986 and still plays its Grand Finals there. The record NTFA crowd was 11,524 for the 1958 Grand Final between North Launceston and Longford. The record roster match crowd was 5613 for a 1951 double header including a match between Longford and Scottsdale, and North Launceston and Cornwall.

In 1960 it hosted one of Tasmanian football's greatest moments when a Tasmanian team (mostly made up of Northern players) defeated Victoria's second 18 by 7 points before a long standing record crowd of 15,163.

In 1999 work began on a $6.4 million upgrade in a bid to bring AFL to Launceston. This built a 2,000 capacity grandstand, AFL standard lights, a new bigger surface and new electronic scoreboard. Further upgrades included undercover seats on the outer and a spectator hill. This drew huge crowds to Statewide League matches, with 5,625 watching Clarence defeat North Launceston in the first ever night match. Though puring rain drove fans away from that year's Grand Final, with just 6,000 watching Clarence once again defeat the Bombers. This signalled the end of the Statewide League and York Park bcame a part time home to the VFL team Tasmania Devils, whose record crowd at the oval was 4,800 for a Friday night game between Tassie and Carlton in 2001.

The first AFL/VFL match was played there in 1978 when Richmond beat St Kilda by 9 goals in a practice game before nearly 8,000 people. Players that day included Francis Bourke and Kevin Bartlett. The next AFL match was in 1993 - a practice game between St Kilda and Collingwood. The crowd of 13,388 was the second biggest crowd ever at the ground. Home town Saint David Grant missed a shot at goal after the siren to lose St Kilda the game by 2 points. Players that day included Tony Lockett, Robert Harvey, Nicky Winmar and Stewart Loewe for the Saints, while Peter Daicos and Gavin Brown lined up for the Leigh Matthews coached Magpies. The following year the saints returned for a game against North Melbourne. Only 6,500 turned up to see a game including players such as Lockett, Harvey, Wayne Carey and Corey McKernan. Hawthorn played Richmond in the rain in 1996 before 7,500, a similar crowd to what watched Richmond play the Western Bulldogs in 1999. Then in 2000 Hawthorn signed a deal to play a roster match and pre-season match a season at the upgraded York Park for 3 years. The first of these games was an Ansett Cup game against Richmond which attracted a huge 13,958. In round 6 that season the Hawks made history by completing their best ever start to a season by defeating Adelaide by 13 points in the historic first roster game ever in Launceston. A then record of 17,460 turned up to watch. In 2002, 12,000 saw Hawthorn defeat the Kangaroos in the preseason match, in one of Wayne Carey's last ever games for the Roos, then 15,066 saw Hawthorn beat Fremantle in a thriller in round 3, before a record 18,112 saw Port Adelaide thump the Hawks by 40 points in round 10.

At the end of the 2002 season St Kilda signed a deal to play 2 roster games a season at the oval as well as Hawthorn. The first game was a Wizard Cup match in 2003, where the Hawks beat the Saints before 11,000. Crowds at the roster games that year were: 16,271 for the round 2 match where Hawthorn defeated West Coast by 2 points, 17,763 for St. Kilda's first ever home match at the park, when they lost to Port Adelaide by 7 goals, 17,212 for the Hawks' 30 point win over Fremantle on one of the coldest afternoons in Launceston's recent history, and 16,637 for the dead rubber round 21 game between the Saints and Bulldogs.

Other sports to be played at York Park include cricket, soccer (an NSL match between Melbourne Knights and Perth Glory in 2001 attracted 6,000), vigoro (national championships 2001) and Rugby Union (a World Cup match between Romania and Namibia next month).