The Showgrounds is a football

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulste ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

. It is the home ground of

Coleraine F.C. Coleraine Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club, playing in the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of the Irish League. The club, founded in 1927, hails from Coleraine, County Londonderry and plays its home matches ...

The stadium holds approximately 3,500 with the stadium consisting of a mix of terracing and seating. Between September 1971 and October 1972,

Derry City F.C. Derry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Derry, Northern Ireland. It plays in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of league football in the Republic of Ireland, and is the League of Irelan ...

were forced to use the stadium as their home-ground after the

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...

banned the use of their ground in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. Th ...

, the

Brandywell The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium ( ga, Tobar an Fhíoruisce ) is a municipal football stadium with an adjoining greyhound racing track in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C. and (temporari ...

, due to security fears emanating from the Trouble and civil unrest in the nearby

Bogside The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The large gable-wall murals by the Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard Féile (an annual music and arts festival held in a former gasyard) are po ...

area. Derry's use ended in 1972 when, faced with dwindling crowds, travelling to Coleraine to play home-games was no longer financially sustainable.

Milk Cup

The Showgrounds also hosts the

Milk Cup SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area o ...

finals and main matches. The Milk Cup is an international youth football tournament which features both international teams and league clubs from around the world.

References

External links

The Ulster Groundhop video tour

Official Site
Association football venues in Northern Ireland Sports venues in County Londonderry Coleraine Sports venues completed in 1907 1907 establishments in Ireland Derry City F.C. Coleraine F.C. {{NorthernIreland-sports-venue-stub