Scotstoun Stadium is an athletics and

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 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 completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

in Scotstoun, an area in the West End of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland.

Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...

have trained at the facility since 2009 and have played their home games here from the 2012–13 season onwards. The surface is a

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

approved artificial turf which is also suitable for athletics. It has a capacity of 9,708 for rugby union. Between 2012 and 2015, the Stadium hosted the Scotland Sevens – the Scottish leg of the IRB Sevens World Series, but then the leg was moved to a new host country, France in 2016.

History

Opening

The facility first opened in 1915 as Scotstoun Showgrounds after the land was developed by the Glasgow Agricultural Society as a venue for agricultural shows. It was soon being used as a venue for sporting events and as a result the Grandstand was erected. The facility underwent a huge renovation in 2008 and on completion was re-opened on 14 January 2010 by the Princess Royal.

Recent history

The stadium forms part of the wider ''Scotstoun Sports Campus'' which in addition to being a leisure centre open to the public, includes high-quality facilities for racquet sports (hosting the 1997 IBF World Championships, 1997 Sudirman Cup and 2007 Sudirman Cup in

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

, and the

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

and squash events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games), as well as a swimming pool which was the venue for the Synchronised swimming competition forming part of the multi-sport 2018 European Championships held in Glasgow and Berlin. In September 2018, the venue became the host site for the Murray Trophy – Glasgow, a new indoor hard court event on the

ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour (known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series) is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...

in men's tennis.

Renovation

Renovations involved building new stadium facilities housing new office space, meeting rooms, an indoor 100-metre sprint track, as well as resurfacing the outdoor 400-metre track with a full size rugby pitch in the in-field. The stands were extended creating a north stand and south stand which together can seat up to 5,000. 2010 also saw the introduction of new synthetic pitches and rugby training pitches located at the far end of the stadium. In addition to these, the stadium has a strength and conditioning suite for athletes.

Events

Scotstoun Stadium was used as a training venue for the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

and is regularly used for premier athletics events attracting world class athletes from all over the UK. It is expected to host the athletics events of the 2026 Commonwealth Games. It became the training base for the

rugby team in 2009 who subsequently started playing home games at the venue in September 2012, moving from their previous home at Firhill. Scotstoun Stadium first hosted the Scottish leg of the IRB World Sevens Series in May 2012, and continued to host the event until it was moved to France in 2016. It is also the home ground of Hyndland RFC Victoria Park City of Glasgow Athletics Club also trains at Scotstoun.

2026 Commonwealth Games

The stadium is expected to host the athletic events at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, hosted by Scotland in the city of Glasgow. Temporary seating will be poised around the perimeter of the stadium, increasing the seating capacity to between 10,000-11,000 people. The stadium is expected to undergo further works to improve the stadium prior to the games. It will serve as one of the main stadiums during the duration of the games.

References

External links

Official Site
{{coord, 55.8811, -4.3418, display=title Sports venues in Glasgow Tourist attractions in Glasgow Athletics (track and field) venues in Scotland Sports venues completed in 1915 1915 establishments in Scotland 2014 Commonwealth Games venues Rugby union stadiums in Scotland Rugby union in Glasgow Glasgow Warriors 2018 European Aquatics Championships Swimming venues in Scotland Badminton venues Squash venues Table tennis venues Tennis venues in the United Kingdom Glasgow Trophy