Westfield | |
Full name | Falkirk Stadium |
---|---|
Address | Falkirk Scotland |
Location | Westfield Falkirk Scotland |
Coordinates | 56°00′19″N3°45′10″W / 56.00528°N 3.75278°W |
Owner | Falkirk Community Stadium Ltd |
Operator | Falkirk F.C. |
Capacity | 7,937 [1] |
Record attendance | 7,926 (Falkirk v Dundee United, 19 May 2017) |
Field size | 109 x 79 yards |
Surface | synthetic pitch |
Construction | |
Broke ground | 2003 |
Opened | 2004 |
Expanded | 2004–2005 (North stand) 2009 (South stand) |
Architect | Falkirk Council |
Main contractors | Mowlem (North stand and West stand) Ogilvie (south stand) |
Tenants | |
Falkirk F.C. (2004–present) Stirling University F.C. (2016–2018) East Stirlingshire F.C. (2018–present) Queen's Park F.C. (2021) | |
Website | |
www |
The Falkirk Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Falkirk, central Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish League One club Falkirk and Lowland Football League club East Stirlingshire since 2018. The stadium has a capacity of 7,937 [1] and currently consists of three fully completed stands.
The stadium was opened in 2004 with the main stand completed. It became the home of Falkirk in the same year after the club ground shared Ochilview Park for the 2003–04 season whilst the stadium was being constructed. The north and south stands were built and opened in 2005 and 2009 respectively. East Stirlingshire have shared the ground since 2018, when they ended their own groundshare at Ochilview to return to Falkirk.
Work began on building the stadium in 2003 [2] after Brockville Park, the club's town centre home since 1885, was sold and demolished. [3]
The project of building the stadium was a partnership between Falkirk Football Club and Falkirk Council who set up the Falkirk Community Stadium Ltd which provided the funds to construct and run the stadium. [4] Falkirk Council estimated £6.1 million would be required for the first stage of the Community Stadium build and would contribute £3.1 million initially. The sale of Brockville Park amounted to £9 million pounds for the club, of which £2.8 million went towards the build, whilst £200,000 came from sportscotland.
The first stage of the stadium was completed in time for the 2004–05 football season and Falkirk moved in after spending the previous year ground-sharing with local rivals, Stenhousemuir at their Ochilview Park home.
Falkirk's first ever game at the stadium was a friendly in July 2004 against Dundee resulting in a 2–1 defeat. [5] A month later the first league game was hosted in the stadium with visitors Hamilton Academical drawing 1–1. [6]
In October 2004 construction work commenced for the building of a second stand to the north of the pitch. [6] The stand has a capacity of 2,000. After completion, the £1.58m [7] facility would bring the stadium's capacity to over the Scottish Premier League's 6,000 seating criteria meaning Falkirk would be allowed automatic promotion [8] from the First Division. The stand received its safety certificate in late March 2005, shortly before the SPL's deadline for a stadium which met the seating criteria. [8] By May of the same year the north stand was fully completed. [9]
Construction of the south stand began in December 2008 by contractors Ogilvie. [10] A £2m pledge from Sandy Alexander, founder of Schuh and Falkirk supporter, helped fund the project. [10] The south stand has a capacity of around 2,000 and is similar in appearance to the north stand of the stadium. [11] It was officially opened in August 2009 in a friendly game against Royal Antwerp FC of Belgium. [12] This brought the capacity of the stadium to around 8,000 people without the inclusion of the temporary east stand.
The joint venture that was set up between Falkirk F.C. and Falkirk Council, ended in 2009, just a few months before the opening of the south stand. The football club took full control of the facilities such as the pitch, seats, under-soil heating and floodlights, [4] whilst the council retained most of the development rights for the site and manages and receives rent from businesses set up the stadium's main west stand. [4]
An artificial playing surface was installed at the stadium in June 2013. [13] In 2016 Lowland Football League side Stirling University F.C. started playing their home matches at the ground, having moved from Stirling Albion's Forthbank Stadium.
Falkirk Stadium is situated opposite the fire station
In April 2018 it was announced that East Stirlingshire would begin playing their home matches at the Falkirk Stadium from the start of the 2018–19 season. [14] The club had previously played in the centre of Falkirk at Firs Park until 2008, before spending a decade ground-sharing with Stenhousemuir at Ochilview Park. Queen's Park also moved in during the latter part of the 2020–21 season, after their lease on Hampden Park expired. [15] [16]
The Falkirk Stadium is an all-seater stadium which currently consists of three completed stands in the form of the main west stand and smaller north and south stands. Upon the stadium's construction the west stand was the first to be built, and subsequently completed in 2004. The north and south stands were completed in 2005 and 2009 respectively. The west stand has a capacity of roughly 4,200 [17] [18] and hosts several facilities which have ranged from a nursery to a restaurant. The south stand features a bar called the Brockville Bar. A temporary east stand has been present on several occasions.
In June 2022, the South Stand was renamed to the Kevin McAllister Stand after the football player that played for the club.
Since 2012, Falkirk Stadium has been hosting summer concerts, achieving up to 21,000 [19] attendees per event.
Summer concerts at Falkirk Stadium | ||||
Musician(s) | Date | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Elton John | 10 June 2012 [20] | |||
Ronan Keating | 21 June 2013 [21] | |||
Midge Ure | 22 June 2013 [22] | |||
Status Quo | 23 June 2013 [23] | |||
Rod Stewart | 21 June 2014 [24] | |||
Tom Jones | 1 August 2015 [25] | |||
Madness | 4 August 2017 [26] | |||
Jess Glynne | 5 August 2017 [27] | |||
Little Mix | 27 July 2018 [28] | |||
The Killers, Blossoms | 6 June 2022 [29] ^ | |||
The Killers, Supergrass | 7 June 2022 [29] ^ |
^ The Killers were originally due to play at Falkirk Stadium on 28 May 2020 but this was postponed [30] to 8 June 2021 then again to 6 June 2022 because of COVID-19.
Westlife were supposed to perform at the stadium on 27 June 2020 for their "Stadiums in the Summer Tour" but this was cancelled due to COVID-19.
As well as hosting Falkirk F.C., the stadium has also staged several youth level international rugby union matches. [31] In 2008 the stadium was the venue chosen by the Scottish Rugby Union to host Scotland's home matches at the Six Nations Under 20s Championship which were played against England under-20s and France under-20s. [32] Former Falkirk manager John Hughes had commented on the condition of the pitch which was previously damaged during rugby matches. [31]
The stadium is also used on occasion by the Scotland women's national football team in World and Euro qualifying championships as well as in friendly matches. [33] Also in relation to football, the stadium has hosted the home matches of the Scotland national under-21 football team, the first happening in November 2004 in a game against Sweden. [34]
The Falkirk Stadium is within a 30-minute walk of Falkirk Grahamston railway station which is on the main Edinburgh to Dunblane Line and Cumbernauld Line from Glasgow. During weekdays and Saturdays alternate trains between Glasgow and Cumbernauld call at Falkirk Grahamston. [35]
Special match day bus services provided by McGill's Scotland East allow direct transport to the stadium from around the Falkirk area. [35] The number 98 service from Brightons passes through Shieldhill, Hallglen and Laurieston before terminating at the stadium. Access from Larbert on match days is provided by the number 99 bus, which is destined for the stadium via Stenhousemuir, Carronshore and Bainsford. [35] [36] As well as the special match day routes, regular services are also provided by McGill's Scotland East from Falkirk bus station to Grangemouth (routes 3 and 4) and Bo'ness (route 2) which stop outside the stadium. [35] [37]
Falkirk Football Club is a Scottish professional association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1876 and competes in Scottish League One, the third tier of Scottish football, as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club was elected to the Second Division of the Scottish Football League in 1902–03, was promoted to the First Division after two seasons and achieved its highest league position in the early 1900s when it was runner-up to Celtic in 1907–08 and 1909–10. The football club was registered as a Limited Liability Company in April 1905 – Falkirk Football & Athletic Club Ltd.
Stenhousemuir Football Club is a Scottish football club located in Stenhousemuir, Falkirk. They are a member of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two.
East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the Lowland League, the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins can be traced to 1880 when a local cricket club formed a football team under the name Bainsford Britannia.
The Excelsior Stadium is a football stadium in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the home ground of Airdrieonians of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). Since the 2021–22 season it has also been used by Celtic for the home matches of their women's team in the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) and B team in the Scottish Lowland Football League, as well as by Glasgow University F.C. of the West of Scotland Football League. It is an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 10,101, and has a 3G artificial surface.
Brockville Park was a football stadium located on Hope Street in Falkirk, Scotland, 0.25 miles (0.4 km) north-west of the town centre. It was the home of Falkirk F.C. from 1885 until the end of 2002–03 Scottish football season. The record attendance at Brockville Park was 23,100 on 21 February 1953 in a match against Celtic. The stadium has since been replaced with a Morrisons supermarket. An old turnstile is on display next to the supermarket's car park.
Firs Park was a football stadium in Falkirk, Scotland, which was the home of East Stirlingshire F.C. between 1921 and 2008. It was located on Firs Street, 0.3 miles north-east of the town centre. At the time of closing the ground had a capacity of 1,800 with 200 seated.
Lesser Hampden is a football stadium in Mount Florida, Glasgow, Scotland, which is located immediately beside the western end of Hampden Park stadium.
Ochilview Park is a football stadium in Stenhousemuir in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish League Two club Stenhousemuir. The stadium has a capacity of 3,746 with 626 seated.
Bainsford is a small village within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The village is situated in the Forth Valley, 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the town of Falkirk. It is positioned between the River Carron and the Forth and Clyde Canal to the north and south respectively.
The 1997–98 Scottish Challenge Cup was the eighth season of the competition, competed for by the 30 member clubs of the Scottish Football League. The defending champions were Stranraer, who defeated St Johnstone 1–0 in the 1996 final.
East Stirlingshire F.C. is a Scottish association football club from the town of Falkirk, formed in 1881. The club played regional football until 1900 when the club was elected into the Scottish Football League, taking the place of Linthouse.
The 1993–94 Scottish Challenge Cup was the fourth season of the competition, which was also known as the B&Q Cup for sponsorship reasons. It was competed for by the 26 clubs in the Scottish Football League Division One and Two. The defending champions were Hamilton Academical, who defeated Morton 3–2 in the 1992 final.
The 2012–13 Scottish League Cup was the 67th season of Scotland's second-most prestigious football knockout competition. It is also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup for sponsorship reasons, after the Scottish Government continued their 1.7 million sponsorship for a second season.
Merchiston Park was a football ground in Bainsford, near Falkirk, which was the home of East Stirlingshire F.C. between c. 1882 and 1920. It was near Main Street, just north of the Forth and Clyde Canal at Bainsford Bridge.
The East Stirlingshire F.C.–Falkirk F.C. rivalry refers to football matches between East Stirlingshire and Falkirk football clubs, the two senior Scottish Football League teams associated with the town of Falkirk in Scotland. The derby was first contested in 1881 and the last major competitive fixture was in 2015.
Gairdoch Football Club was a Scottish association football club based in the village of Carronshore, Stirlingshire.
Kilsyth Wanderers Football Club was a Scottish association football club based in the town of Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire.
Diamond Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium situated in Falkirk, Scotland. It was also known as the Brockville Greyhound Stadium and Falkirk Diamond Stadium and is not to be confused with the nearby Brockville Park.
Over the 150-year history of football in Scotland, most teams have occupied several grounds as their home; this has occasionally involved a relocation to another community altogether. Grounds which have been in continuous use for several decades have been extensively redeveloped, particularly since the 1990s, with a few exceptions. This article and the accompanying tables focus on those Scottish Football League / Scottish Professional Football League clubs which have moved to a different stadium, including temporarily, since the 1980s when this became more frequent.
Larbert Amateurs Football Club was a football club from Larbert, in Stirlingshire, Scotland, which reached the second round of the Scottish Cup in 1937–38.