Cardiff Arms Park
| Cardiff Arms Park | |
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| Cardiff Arms Park main stand, with Millennium Stadium behind | |
| Data | |
| place |
 Cardiff , Wales
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| Coordinates | 51 ° 28 ′ 46.6 " N , 3 ° 11 ′ 1" W |
| owner | Welsh Rugby Union |
| start of building | 1967 |
| opening | 1969 |
| surface | Natural grass |
| architect | Osborne V Webb & Partners |
| capacity | 12,500 seats |
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| Events | |
Cardiff Arms Park ( Welsh : Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd ) is a rugby union stadium in the center of the Welsh city of Cardiff . It is the home of the Cardiff Blues and the Cardiff RFC . The capacity is 12,500 spectators. There were once two stadiums on the site, known as the Cardiff Rugby Ground and the National Stadium . The latter was demolished in 1997 and replaced two years later by the Millennium Stadium , which is directly adjacent to the stadium that still exists today.
history
Cardiff Arms Park was originally a swampy meadow called Great Park behind the Cardiff Arms Hotel and was owned by the Marquess of Bute . The eponymous hotel was demolished in 1878. The Marquess of Bute decreed that the area could only be used for leisure activities. In 1881/82 the first grandstand for 300 spectators was built. 1922 bought Cardiff Arms Park Company Limited terrain for 30,000 pounds and leased it for 99 years at the Cardiff Athletic Club, the annual lease fee was 200 pounds.
The North Stand was built in 1934, and seven years later it was hit by an aerial bomb from the German Air Force. In June 1953, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) decided to play all international matches in Cardiff Arms Park. During the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958 , the drainage system was so badly damaged that the rugby union federations of England, Ireland and Scotland complained about the poor condition of the lawn. A committee then looked for alternative locations, but was unable to come up with a satisfactory solution. Plans for a stadium in Bridgend were dropped in 1964.
At that time the Cardiff Arms Park covered a cricket field of Glamorgan County Cricket Club in the north as well as from the national team and the Cardiff RFC used rugby stadium in the south. After negotiations with the Cardiff Athletic Club, the lease was transferred to WRU in July 1968. After the Cardiff RFC moved to the cricket field, work on the new national stadium could begin.
In 1970 the new Cardiff RFC stadium and the north stand of the National Stadium were opened. The west stand followed in 1977, the east stand in 1980. With the completion of the south stand in April 1984, the national stadium was able to accommodate 65,000 spectators. For safety reasons, the audience capacity at the national stadium had to be gradually reduced to 53,000 in the following years. If the stadium had been converted into a seating stadium, the capacity would have fallen further to 47,500.
A few years after its completion, the national stadium was already considered too small. It was demolished in 1997, giving way to the Millennium Stadium, which opened two years later. In order to gain more space, the new stadium, unlike its predecessor, is not oriented from east to west, but from north to south. The north stand of the Millennium Stadium is directly connected to the smaller stadium of the Cardiff RFC.
future
The further future of Cardiff Arms Park is uncertain. On September 19, 2007, the Cardiff Blues announced that they would be moving to the new Cardiff City Stadium , which was being built in the Leckwith neighborhood and will be shared with the Cardiff City football club . The Cardiff Athletic Club still owns the property, but the Marquess of Bute's order that the property be used for recreational purposes still applies. On the other hand, the site is attractive for construction projects due to its location close to the center. The Cardiff Athletic Club has yet to make a decision on the future of Cardiff Arms Park. In May 2012, the Cardiff Blues announced that they would return to Cardiff Arms Park for the 2012-13 season in response to falling attendance at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Individual evidence
- ^ The Older Inns of Cardiff. British History Online, accessed November 12, 2007 .
- ^ Cardiff: the building of a capital. (No longer available online.) Glamorgan Archives, archived from the original on October 20, 2012 ; accessed on November 8, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Old battles reign over shared ground plans. Wales Online, 2007, accessed November 12, 2007 .
- ^ Stadium switch turns spotlight on Arms Park. Wales Online, September 20, 2007; accessed November 12, 2007 .
- ^ Cardiff Blues announce return to Arms Park. BBC Sport, May 8, 2012, accessed November 8, 2012 .
