Welford Road Stadium
| Welford Road Stadium | |
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| Welford Road Stadium in 2010. MET-Rx stand to the left and Goldsmiths stand to the right. | |
| Data | |
| place | Aylestone Road Leicester LE2 7TR, United Kingdom
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| Coordinates | 52 ° 37 '26.7 " N , 1 ° 7' 58.6" W |
| owner | Leicester Tigers |
| operator | Leicester Tigers |
| start of building | 1892 |
| opening | 1892 |
| First game | September 10, 1892 |
| Renovations | 1909, 1918, 1920, 1995, 2008-2009, 2015 |
| surface | Natural grass |
| costs | £ 11m (2008-2009) £ 8m (2015) |
| architect | AFL Architects (2009, 2015) |
| capacity | 24,000 seats |
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| Events | |
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The Welford Road Stadium is a rugby stadium in the English city of Leicester , County Leicestershire . It is the sporting home of the rugby union club Leicester Tigers . It has a capacity of 24,000 spectators on its four tiers. This makes it the largest club-owned rugby stadium in England that was built solely for this purpose. It is located on the southern edge of the city center between Aylstone Road and Welford Road.
history
In 1891 the Tigers leased the area and on September 10, 1892 the first game took place. The first grandstands were built in 1893 and the clubhouse was inaugurated in 1909. In 1918 and 1920, respectively, the Members' Stand and Crumbie Stand were built ; this expansion nearly led to the club's bankruptcy. The preliminary conclusion in 1995 was the Alliance & Leicester stand , which is now called Goldsmiths stand .
In 2005, the Leicester Tigers announced their intention to give up the stadium on Welford Road and share the Walkers Stadium, which is almost twice as large, with Leicester City football club . The club officials found the Welford Road Stadium too small in view of the increased popularity of rugby. The two clubs could not come to an agreement, so the plan was abandoned. However, the Tigers occasionally rented the stadium, which has now been renamed the King Power Stadium , for games where a large number of spectators were to be expected, namely for matches in the Heineken Cup .
In the mid-2000s, the club pursued the plan to renovate its own stadium and expand it from around 16,815 to 30,000 seats. In 2007 plans for this were published. From 2008 to 2009, a new main grandstand was built in the first construction phase, which increased the audience capacity from 16,815 to 24,000. Since then, the games of the Heineken Cup and the follow-up European Rugby Champions Cup have taken place in Welford Road .
The second phase of the stadium renovation started in May 2015. The clubhouse booth built in 1909 in the west with 992 seats (28 of which are handicapped accessible) will be replaced by a new building designed by AFL Architects . The 3100 seat (62 handicapped accessible) for £ 8 million will be awarded a. the office of the club, the main ticket sales point, a lounge for season ticket holders, a stadium control tower for surveillance, a large video wall, as well as shops , food stalls and bars . The capacity will increase to around 26,000 spectators. Work on the grandstand should be completed at the start of the Aviva Premiership Rugby 2015/16 season . Some facilities such as the office space and lounge are unlikely to be available until December 2015.
Grandstands
- MET-Rx booth: main stand , north
- Holland & Barrett stand: Opposite stand , south
- Goldsmiths Stand: Back Gate, East
- Clubhouse stand: back gate, west
Rugby Union World Cup matches at Welford Road Stadium
A total of two World Cup group games were played in the Tigers' stadium. At the Rugby Union World Cup 2015 , games were played in the larger King Power Stadium.
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Rugby Union World Cup 1991
- October 13, 1991, Group A: Italy - New Zealand 21:31
- October 13, 1991, Group A: Italy - New Zealand 21:31
gallery
The Caterpillar booth (today: MET-Rx booth ) opened in 2009 at Welford Road Stadium
The stadium photographed from the Attenborough Building at the University of Leicester
The Goldsmiths stand was formerly called the Alliance & Leicester Stand
The clubhouse stand , which will be renewed in 2015
Web links
- leicestertigers.com: stadium on the website of the Leicester Tigers (English)
- worldstadia.com: Photos and description ( Memento from January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- news.bbc.co.uk: BBC Sport: Stadium rating from 2002 (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ skyscrapercity.com: Website about the renovation plans and the first renovation phase of the stadium (English)
- ↑ leicestermercury.co.uk: Leicester Tigers start work on £ 8 million project to redevelop part of Welford Road stadium ( Memento from July 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Article from May 1, 2015 (English)
- ↑ leicestertigers.com: About The New Stand (English)
- ↑ leicestertigers.com: Webcam of the grandstand construction site ( Memento from July 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English)