Lansdowne Road
| Lansdowne Road | |
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| Lansdowne Road in 2006 | |
| Data | |
| place |
 Dublin , Ireland
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| Coordinates | 53 ° 20 '6 " N , 6 ° 13' 43" W |
| owner | Irish Rugby Football Union |
| opening | 1872 |
| demolition | 2007 |
| surface | Natural grass |
| capacity | 50,000 seats |
| Capacity (internat.) | 50,000 seats |
| Events | |
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The Lansdowne Road ( Irish Bóthar Lansdún ) was a stadium in the Irish capital Dublin . It was owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and was mainly used for rugby union games, but also for individual important football games and concerts. It was the oldest rugby stadium in the world and hosted international matches until it was demolished.
The stadium was on the street of the same name in the southeastern part of Ballsbridge. In close proximity was the Lansdowne Road station of the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) suburban train . The tracks ran directly below the west stand.
use
Lansdowne Road was the home of the Irish national rugby union team and the Irish national football team . In addition, the provincial team Leinster Rugby avoided here for games with large audience interest , when their own stadium Donnybrook Rugby Ground proves to be too small. In 1999 and 2003 the final of the Heineken Cup took place here. From 1990 until its demolition in 2007, the FAI Cup final took place here .
Musicians who have performed at the Lansdowne Road stadium include U2 , REM , Eagles , Oasis , Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Corrs .
history
The idea to build the stadium came from the engineer Henry Wallace Doveton Dunlop, who organized the first Irish athletics championships. In 1871 he founded the Irish Champion Athletic Club. After the first event on the Trinity College site, the college's provost banned all further events. Dunlop had to look elsewhere and found vacant land on Lansdowne Road. He leased the property for 69 years at a cost of £ 60 a year and built a track and field track and tennis club there.
In 1872 Dunlop founded the Lansdowne Football Club , which has since played rugby union on the site and has developed into one of the most successful clubs from Leinster . A little later, the Wanderers Football Club also made its home here. Rugby was soon the most important sport practiced on Lansdowne Road and on March 11, 1878 Ireland's first international match against England took place here. Around nine years later, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) took over Dunlop's lease. In 1908 the IRFU had the first covered grandstand built.
The first international football match took place on March 17, 1900, when Ireland lost 2-1 to England. In 1926 the Irish Free State team played against Italy . This was the last official football game at Lansdowne Road until the European Cup match between Waterford FC and Manchester United in September 1968.
At the beginning of 2007 the stadium was closed and demolished for a new building. Before it closed, it had a capacity of 49,250. However, the capacity could not be fully used at international soccer matches, as the stands on the north and south sides only had standing room. The regulations of FIFA and UEFA , however, require that international matches must be played in pure seater stadiums, while the International Rugby Board has no such restrictions.
When the construction work is complete, there will be a fully seated stadium on Lansdowne Road with a capacity of 50,000 spectators. The arena is called Aviva Stadium . The contract for the naming rights with the British insurance company Aviva runs for ten years. The opening took place in May 2010.
Web links
- Irish Rugby Football Union (owner)
- Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company (operating company)