''Parc y Scarlets'' (, meaning: ''Scarlets Park'') is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

stadium in

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

, Carmarthenshire, that opened in November 2008 as the new home of the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

and

Llanelli RFC Llanelli Rugby Football Club () is a Welsh rugby union club founded on 30 March 1872. The club's historic home ground was Stradey Park in Llanelli, but they moved in 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent Pemberton. The club song is " ...

. The ground replaced Stradey Park, the home of Llanelli's rugby teams for almost 130 years. The stadium complex includes facilities for matchday supporters and for non-matchday revenue generation, as well as a training barn and a training pitch with athletics track. The stadium also occasionally hosts some matches of the Wales national under-21 and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

teams, as well as Llanelli Town A.F.C.'s matches in European competitions. Swansea City A.F.C. Reserve Team played all of their home fixtures at the stadium in the 2011/2012 season. In 2020 the venue was used for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

home games during the

Autumn Nations Cup The Autumn Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held in November and December 2020 in place of the usual Autumn rugby union internationals, Autumn internationals series typically held in the same period each year, as many teams were avoidin ...

due to the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

being used as a backup Covid venue to Dragon's Heart hospital during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

History

Llanelli 9-3 New Zealand scoreboard replica

The construction of a new stadium in Llanelli to replace Stradey Park was first suggested in June 2003, with the advent of regional rugby in Wales.

chief executive Stuart Gallacher said Stradey Park was "not up to scratch" and that options were being considered, including the redevelopment of the existing ground and the construction of a new stadium elsewhere in the town. In March 2004, they announced plans to build a new, 15,000-capacity stadium at a cost of £20 million, funded in part by the sale of the Stradey Park site. The location for the new stadium was selected in July 2004, near the Trostre tin plate works in Pemberton, on the eastern outskirts of Llanelli, and plans for the new stadium were released a year later. The entire complex would cost £45 million and feature a retail park, athletics facility and an indoor training barn, subject to approval of the plans, after which construction would begin in spring 2006 and be completed by August 2007. Having previously been known by the provisional title of "Pemberton Stadium", the stadium's official name – ''Parc y Scarlets'' – was announced on 20 May 2008.

Design

The stadium was designed by specialist sports stadium architects The Miller Partnership, whose designs include

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The stadium is owned by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) who has its headquarters based at the stadium, and is the national stadium of the Scotla ...

in Edinburgh. The stands have a slight curvature to allow for better views. The stadium's main stand, on the south side of the ground, contain the club's shop and museum, the ticket office, a large sports bar (called "The Heart and Soul"), the players' gym and changing rooms on the ground floor, while the upper floors is provided with eating and drinking areas. Construction was carried out by Port Talbot-based Andrew Scott. The approach to the main stand is known as the "

Ray Gravell Raymond William Robert Gravell (12 September 1951 – 31 October 2007) was a Welsh rugby union Centre (rugby union), centre who played club rugby for Llanelli RFC. At international level, Gravell earned 23 cap (sport), caps for Wales national r ...

Legends Walkway" paved with bricks naming each Llanelli RFC and

player to have played for

. A statue of Ray Gravell is erected outside the stadium, while other Llanelli legends are honoured in the naming of other of the stadium's facilities, with the museum known as the " Ken Jones Museum", while the various executive lounges are named after

Carwyn James Carwyn Rees James (2 November 1929 – 10 January 1983) was a Welsh rugby union player and coach. He won two Wales national rugby union team, Welsh international caps but is most famous for his coaching achievements with Llanelli RFC, Llanelli, t ...

Phil Bennett Philip Bennett (24 October 1948 – 12 June 2022) was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a fly-half for Llanelli RFC and the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national team. He began his career in 1966, and a year later he had taken ...

and the Quinnell family.

Opening

Before Parc y Scarlets could be opened to its full capacity, regulations required that it host three events at a limited capacity. The first rugby match was played there on 15 November 2008, when

beat

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club () is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after which relocating to Ca ...

32–3 in the Principality Premiership in front of a crowd of 4,800; Rhys Priestland scored the first points at the stadium, while Jonathan Davies scored the first try. The Scarlets' first match at the stadium on 28 November 2008 against

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

in the Celtic League with capacity limited to 9,000. The Scarlets' first

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

match in the new stadium was on 12 December 2008 against

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

, with a capacity limit of 11,000. The official opening ceremony was held on 31 January 2009 when the Scarlets hosted the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

, defeating them 40–24.

Football

As well as being the new home of the

, Parc y Scarlets has also hosted three

international football friendlies: against Estonia in 2009, Luxembourg in 2010, and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2012. It has also acted as home stadium for Llanelli Town A.F.C. when the facilities at their

Stebonheath Park Stebonheath Park (''Welsh language, Welsh: Parc Stebonheath'') is a multi-use stadium in Llanelli, West Wales with a capacity of 3,700. It is primarily used as a Association football, football ground and is the home of Llanelli Town A.F.C. It wa ...

ground have not been sufficient, such as in European competitions. For example, the second leg of their 2009–10 UEFA Europa League qualifier against

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

and the first leg of their 2011–12 Europa League qualifier against

Dinamo Tbilisi Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia (country), Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its Association football, football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating ...

were both played at Parc y Scarlets as

failed to meet UEFA criteria.

Gallery

File:0407 Stadium 1.jpg, Work 7 April 2008 File:0512Stadium1.jpg, Work 12 May 2008 File:0512Stadium2.jpg, Work 12 May 2008 File:0913 ParcYScarlets.jpg, Work 13 September 2008 File:Parc y Scarlets.jpg, Outside the stadium

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parc Y Scarlets Buildings and structures in Carmarthenshire Football venues in Wales Welsh Cup final venues Scarlets Llanelli RFC Rugby union stadiums in Wales Stadiums in Llanelli Sports venues completed in 2008 Venues of the United Rugby Championships