Vicarage Road
| Vicarage Road | |
|---|---|
| The Vic | |
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| Vicarage Road in 2015 | |
| Data | |
| place |
 Watford , Hertfordshire , United Kingdom
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| Coordinates | 51 ° 38 '59 " N , 0 ° 24' 4" W |
| owner | Watford FC |
| opening | August 30, 1922 |
| First game | Watford FC - Millwall FC |
| Renovations | 1986, 1993, 1995, 2013-2014 |
| surface | Natural grass |
| capacity | 21,438 seats |
| playing area | 105 × 68 m |
| Societies) | |
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| Events | |
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The Vicarage Road (also briefly The Vic called) is a football stadium in the English town of Watford . It seats 21,438 spectators. It is the home stadium and property of Watford Football Club . The rugby union club Saracens rented the facility from 1997 to 2013 for the home games of its professional team. In the early 1990s, Wealdstone FC from the Isthmian League was also based on Vicarage Road.
history
In 1922, Watford FC gave up its original stadium on Cassio Road and moved to Vicarage Road. The first game took place on August 30 of that year against Millwall FC . The main stand (main stand), which has been expanded several times and has since been demolished, originated from the early days. The first floodlight system was installed in 1953.
The Graham Taylor stand (until November 2014: Rous stand ), which is named after the former coach of Watford FC, Graham Taylor (1977–1987 and 1997–2001), dates back to 1986. The construction was partially financed by a Credit from Elton John . The Vicarage Road stand was built in 1993, and the Rookery stand followed two years later . From the 1997/98 season, the first team of the north London- based rugby club Saracens played in Watford, as their own stadium was around four times smaller.
In 2003 Watford FC got into financial difficulties and had to sell the stadium. Fans organized a fundraiser called Let's Buy Back The Vic ( "Let The Vic buy back"). Among other things, Elton John donated the entire proceeds of a concert that took place here. In 2005 the club was able to buy back the stadium for £ 7.6 million.
In 2008 the old Main Stand from 1922 was closed for security reasons. Watford FC signed a contract with GL events in September 2013 for a new building in the east with 3,000 seats. In December 2014, the recently built Watford FC community booth was given a new name. It is called The Sir Elton John Stand after the British singer and former club owner Sir Elton John .
Average attendance and visitor records
The attendance record was set on February 3, 1969 in the replay of the 4th round in the FA Cup against Manchester United with 34,099 visitors. Most of the visitors in the times of the seating stadiums attracted the game of Football League One on November 27, 1999 against AFC Sunderland with 21,590 spectators in the stadium.
- 2011/12: 12,704 ( Football League Championship )
- 2012/13: 13,454 (Football League Championship)
- 2013/14: 15.512 (Football League Championship)
- 2014/15: 16,664 (Football League Championship)
- 2015/16: 20,594 ( Premier League )
Grandstands
- The Vicarage Road Stand
- The Rookery Stand
- The Graham Taylor booth
- The Sir Elton John booth
gallery
The Main Stand closed in 2008 and demolished in 2013. It was replaced in 2014 by the Elton John Stand.
The Rookery Stand (2009)
The Graham Taylor Booth (2012)
Scene from a Saracens rugby match (2005)
Web links
- watfordfc.com: Official site of FC Watford (English)
- footballgroundguide.com: Stadium description (English)
- stadiumdb.com: Data on the stadium (English)
- news.bbc.co.uk: Stadium rating by BBC Sport from March 6, 2002 (English)
- groundhopping.de: Visitor report from 2007
Individual evidence
- ↑ premierleague.com: Premier League Handbook 2016/17 - page 44 ( PDF , English)
- ↑ wealdstone-fc.com: History of Wealdstone FC (English)
- ↑ watfordfc.com: Gallery: Graham Taylor Stand First Look ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article from November 29, 2014
- ↑ watfordfc.com: Official: East Stand is Happening ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) 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. Article from September 23, 2013
- ↑ stadiumdb.com: London: Elton John honored at Watford Article from December 15, 2014 (English)
- ↑ footballgroundguide.com: Visitor records (English)
