Strokestown Road, currently known as Bishopsgate for sponsorship purposes, is a

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 ...

stadium in

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

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 ...

which is the home of

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

club

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of I ...

History

In the mid-1990s,

moved their home ground from Abbeycartron to the townland of Mullolagher just off the N5 road between

and

Tarmonbarry Tarmonbarry, officially Termonbarry (), is a village in County Roscommon, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. 8 km west of Longford town, it is on the River Shannon where it is crossed by the N5 road (Ireland), N5 road. East of the bridge, part o ...

. It is one of the few

grounds which is owned by the club itself. The stadium underwent a significant redevelopment at the end of 2000–01 season. Previous to this, while containing a good pitch and floodlights, the ground had poor facilities along with two terraced (one uncovered) stands and a single-seater stand. The club's promotion to the Premier Division in 2000 was seen as a catalyst in the redevelopment of the ground to its present-day form. Through the receipt of government and FAI grant aid, it was fully redeveloped into an all-seater stadium by July 2001. The ground's capacity is 5,097. The ground became known as Flancare Park, after the club's then sponsor Flancare, in early 2001 until the arrangement finished at the end of 2013. During this time the ground held a number of international underage matches, three

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

ties and staged the 2004 League Cup final (which Longford won). It was affectionately referred to by

fans as the 'Flan Siro'; a play on the name of Flancare Park and on the name of the well-known

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

stadium in

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. In 2013, the ground's name changed to the City Calling Stadium. This name change was related to the club's then newly acquired main sponsor City Calling Group, a recruitment agency. In 2018, the City Calling Stadium received the

Football Association of Ireland The Football Association of Ireland (FAI; ) is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland. Organisation The FAI has an executive committee of five members under the president, who receive expenses, as well as a p ...

'Pitch of the Year' award. The stadium was selected as a venue for the 2019

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

as part of Ireland's hosting of the tournament. Four group stage matches were held at the ground, including England v France on 3 May 2019. In November 2019, the ground was renamed Bishopsgate after the club's main sponsor. Bishopsgate is a UK-headquartered payroll administration, employment and contractor support services company. The stadium suffered some damage during

Storm Éowyn Storm Éowyn ( ) was a powerful and record-breaking extratropical cyclone which hit Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom on 24 January 2025 and hit Norway on the night of 24 January into 25 January 2025. The twent ...

in January 2025.

Location

The ground is located in the townland of Mullolagher on the Strokestown Road (N5) to the west of Longford town.

References

{{Authority control Association football venues in the Republic of Ireland Longford Town F.C. Sports venues in County Longford