Morton Stadium, or the National Athletics Stadium, is an athletics stadium in
Santry
Santry () is a suburb on the northside of Dublin, Ireland, bordering Coolock, Glasnevin, Kilmore and Ballymun. It straddles the boundary of Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council jurisdictions.
The character of the area has chang ...
Demesne,
Santry
Santry () is a suburb on the northside of Dublin, Ireland, bordering Coolock, Glasnevin, Kilmore and Ballymun. It straddles the boundary of Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council jurisdictions.
The character of the area has chang ...
in
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. Often called Santry Stadium, it is the centre for athletics events in
Dublin city and the home track of
Clonliffe Harriers. Managed by
Dublin City University
Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...
, it has also been the home ground for several
Irish association football clubs including Shamrock Rovers and Dublin City. The modern capacity of the ground is 8,800, with a single 800-seat covered stand.
History
1958–1970
Athletics
The stadium was opened in 1958 with a cinder track. An inaugural series of meetings was held, and on 6 August 1958, Australian
Herb Elliott
Herbert James Elliott (born 25 February 1938) is a former Australian athlete and arguably the world's greatest middle-distance runner of his era. In August 1958 he set the world record in the mile run, clocking 3:54.5, 2.7 seconds under the r ...
shattered the
world record
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...
for the
mile run
The mile run (1,760 yards, 5,280 Foot (unit), feet, or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance running, middle-distance foot race.
The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling ...
with a time of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds. This was the first race in which five athletes had run a
four-minute mile.
Cycling
Billy Morton, the businessman and administrator who started the track development for running, decided to arrange a cycling event in 1959, inspired by the progress of Ireland's first continental racing star, and only professional cyclist,
Shay Elliott. He persuaded
Lord Moyne, then Chairman of
Guinness plc
St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...
to pay for a banked cycle racing track, in tarmac, in celebration of the company's 200th anniversary. He then secured contractors to build it in just six weeks, after Lord Moyne turned the first sod on 1 May. The track was built around the running track, 515 yards long and 25 feet wide. Morton, with help from the CRE, also arranged for a small number of European cycling professionals to come for the headline race, with an "undercard" of Irish amateur riders. His achievements saw him voted as one of Ireland's "ten most popular public figures" by readers of the
Irish Independent
The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...
.
The professional race featured was headlined by
Fausto Coppi
Angelo Fausto Coppi (; 15 September 1919 – 2 January 1960) was an Italian cyclist, the dominant international cyclist of the years after the World War II, Second World War. His successes earned him the title ''Il Campionissimo'' ("Champio ...
, as well as Elliott, Brian Robinson, André Darrigade, Albert Bouvet and Roger Hassenforder. At 4 a.m. on 15 June, the stadium was damaged when a bomb exploded across the road; the Republican movement denied responsibility, stating "no member of the movement was involved in this affair" and some blamed the longstanding feud between the internationally-recognised CRE and another cycling group, the NCA. The stadium was repaired and the race meeting proceeded the same day, with Elliott winning the sprint, Darrigarde the points race, and then Elliott and Coppi facing off for the 4000m individual pursuit, which Elliott won at a time of 5:07. Christy Kimmage won among the amateurs.
The cycling track had fallen into disrepair by the late 1960s, and was later removed.
1970–present
In 1978 the stadium was resurfaced with a
tartan track
Tartan track is a trademarked all-weather synthetic track surfacing made of polyurethane used for track and field competitions, manufactured by 3M. The original production was in 1967, and the product was later reformulated to eliminate the u ...
, making it the second such facility in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
, after the UCD track at Belfield, which later became defunct. In the early 1990s it was renamed after Billy Morton, the administrator who had initiated the original track and who brought famous athletes to compete in the stadium. It hosted the athletics events of the
Special Olympics World Games
The Special Olympics World Games, also known as Special Olympiad, are an international sports, sporting event for participants with intellectual disabilities, organized by the IOC-recognised Special Olympics organization.
Principles
Although ...
in 2003.
On 25 July 2008, a special event was held in the stadium, the Morton Memorial Meeting, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the aforementioned world mile record in an event promoted by Billy Morton. The event website is www.mortonmemorial.com where there are photos of the 1958 event.
The track (both indoor and outdoor) was re-laid in late 2010. The indoor track is now blue.
Facilities
The stadium consists of a small covered
stand
Stand or The Stand may refer to:
Other
* To assume the upright position of standing
* Forest stand, a group of trees
* Area of seating in a stadium, such as bleachers
* Stand (cricket), a relationship between two players
* Stand (drill pipe) ...
with 800 seats and three sides of open
terracing, bringing the total capacity up to 4,000. The stand encompasses dressing rooms and other facilities; there are also separate clubhouses for the associated clubs.
The stadium complex also has
indoor athletics
Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...
training facilities.
Usage
Morton Stadium is the centre for athletics events in
Dublin city. It is also the home track for the
Clonliffe Harriers athletics club.
The stadium hosted
Shelbourne Ladies F.C. and
Drumcondra F.C., and has also been home ground for
Shamrock Rovers
Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...
(from 1999–2001),
Dublin City,
Raheny United F.C.
Raheny United Football Club is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Raheny, Dublin. Raheny United was founded in 1994 following the amalgamation of Raheny Boys and Dunseedy Un ...
and the now-defunct
Sporting Fingal F.C.
American football games have also been held here.
;Rugby League
See also
*
Stadiums of Ireland
The following is a list of sports stadiums on Ireland. This includes stadiums in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. They are ordered by their Seating capacity, capacity. The capacity figures are permanent total capacity as author ...
*
List of athletics tracks in Ireland
References
External links
* from Clonliffe Harriers website
[The domain clonliffeharriers.com is currently (6 Jul 2020) for sale, and is effectively a dead link for this purpose]
{{coord, 53.401179, -6.245063, type:landmark, display=title
Athletics (track and field) venues in the Republic of Ireland
Sports venues in Fingal
1958 establishments in Ireland
Dublin City University
Association football venues in the Republic of Ireland
Association football venues in County Dublin
Shamrock Rovers F.C.
Drumcondra F.C.
Raheny United F.C.
Sporting Fingal F.C.
American football venues in the Republic of Ireland