Ninian Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Old Lady | |
 |
|
| Full name | Ninian Park Stadium |
|---|---|
| Former names | Sloper Park |
| Location | Sloper Road, Cardiff CF11 8SX |
| Coordinates | 51°28′29″N 3°12′00″W / 51.47472°N 3.2°WCoordinates: 51°28′29″N 3°12′00″W / 51.47472°N 3.2°W |
| Broke ground | 1909 |
| Built | 1910 |
| Opened | 1 September, 1910 |
| Closed | 2009 |
| Owner | Cardiff City F.C. |
| Surface | Grass |
| Main contractors | Cardiff Corporation |
| Capacity | 21,508 |
| Record attendance | 62,634 (Wales vs England, 17 October 1959) |
| Field dimensions | 110 x 75 yards |
| Tenants | |
| Cardiff City F.C. | |
Ninian Park was a football stadium in Leckwith, Cardiff, Wales. Until 2009, it was the home ground of Cardiff City F.C., who compete in the English Football League Championship. Cardiff City now play at the new Cardiff City Stadium from the season 2009-10.
Contents |
[edit] History
Ninian Park is named after Lt.-Col. Lord Ninian Edward Crichton-Stuart (15 May 1883–2 October 1915), son of John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute (12 September 1847–9 October 1900).
[edit] Overview
The ground featured large floodlights in each corner and a plasma screen television showed highlights during the game. The television was bought by the club in 2002 from Bolton Wanderers, who had previously used the screen in their former ground Burnden Park before moving to the Reebok Stadium, and was located between the Popular Bank and the Grange End.
The last ever football match played at Ninian Park was a 3-0 defeat to Ipswich Town on 25 April 2009.
[edit] Stands
The stadium featured four stands: the Spar Family Stand (formerly known as the Canton End), the John Smith's Grange End (formerly known as the Grange End prior to being sponsored by John Smith's Brewery), the Popular Bank (commonly known as the "Bob Bank") and the Grandstand.
[edit] The Grandstand
The Grandstand was a two-tier, all-seater stand, with old-fashioned wooden seats in the upper tier, and modern plastic seating in the lower tier. This stand also had several supporting poles holding up the roof. This stand also housed the area in which the player dressing rooms and tunnel were incorporated, as well as housing the dugouts, the V.I.P. area and the press/media benches.
[edit] Spar Family Stand
The Spar Family Stand was a fully covered, all-seated stand with several supporting poles along the width of the stand. The club ticket office was also located within this stand where an exterior entrance was provided. The rear of the stand was also home to a number of executive boxes and hospitality areas, although work began in the early 1980s they were not completed until 2001 due to financial difficulties.
[edit] The Popular "Bob" Bank Seating & Terrace
The Popular Bank had a mixture of covered seating to the rear of the stand, and uncovered standing terrace to the front. The seating had many supportive poles keeping the roof up, and in keeping with the tradition of many football teams, many seats were coloured white and when viewed from above spelled the word Cardiff.
[edit] John Smiths Grange End
The John Smiths Grange End became the most vocal area of the ground (from the Bob bank up until the 90's) and was a fully covered terrace, previously uncovered for many years, before its renovation in 2001 after Sam Hammam took over as chairman. It also had several supporting poles, and one section housed the away fans. The away section had terracing to the back and seating at the front. In between the home and away fans was a gap separating opposing fans from home fans. There was also netting in the middle just in case anybody wanted to get to the other side or throw anything. This gap in between the opposing fans came in in 2005 where before there was just a metal fence separating home and away fans.
It was officially opened on 1 September 1928 before a league match against Burnley by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff and could hold 18,000 spectators. The area behind the goal where the stand was built was previously an earth embankment. The original stand was demolished during the 1977/78 season as structural engineers deemed it to be unsafe and it was replaced by the current stand.
[edit] Transport
The stadium and surrounding area was served by Ninian Park railway station (on the Cardiff City Line) on one side of Sloper Road and Grangetown railway station (on the Vale Line) on the other side. Trains operate frequently to Central and Queen Street stations.
In addition the stadium is also served by the A4232 dual carriageway, which is approximately 0.7 miles (1.13 kilometres) away from the Leckwith Interchange.
[edit] Other usage
Since it was built the ground has been used for numerous other events including:
- It has hosted numerous Wales international matches and alongside Wrexham's The Racecourse Ground which is a current venue for the Wales U21 team.
- As part of his Rastaman Vibration Tour Bob Marley staged a concert at the ground on 19 June 1976.
- Pope John Paul II held a rally here during his visit to the United Kingdom in 1982.
- During the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games it hosted the show-jumping championships.
- Cardiff rugby club played at the ground twice between 1960-1961 due to their ground not having floodlights, and the Cardiff City Blue Dragons rugby league team used the ground as their home between 1981 and 1984.
[edit] Statistics
- Capacity: 22,000
- There was an advert on the roof of the Spar Family Stand for Redrow Homes, former shirt sponsor of the club (2003-2006). There was also an advert on the roof of the Bob Bank for Brace's Bread, a local bread-making firm. There was previously a mechanical scoreboard similar to that found in cricket or baseball.
- Record Attendance: 62,634; Wales-England, 17 October 1959[1]
- The record attendance for a Cardiff City match is 57,893 v Arsenal, April 22 1953.
- The 2005-2006 season's average attendance at the ground, over 23 home Cardiff City matches, was 11,720.
- Address: Sloper Road, Cardiff CF11 8SX
[edit] Future
Work started on the Cardiff City Stadium at the end of 2007, it is to hold around 26,500 when completed, with foundations in place to increase the capacity to 60,000 if needs be. On 6 August 2008 A contract was signed for naming rights on the Leckwith Stadium project after Cardiff City recruited a leading specialist who provided Arsenal with the Emirates Stadium sponsor to find their stadium a leading sponsor. Although a fee hasn't been released it is reported to be in excess of £3million over a 100 year period. It is currently called Cardiff City Stadium, although it is proposed that a sponsors name will eventually go in front of this.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Shepherd, Richard (2007). The Cardiff City Miscellany. Pitch books. ISBN 1-9054-1104-9.
- ^ "Bluebirds average attendances" cardiffcityfc.co.uk Retrieved on 8 May, 2009
[edit] External links
Media related to Ninian Park at Wikimedia Commons- The official online home of the Ninian Park Fans
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||
