![]() Park Hall in 2007 | |
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Location | Oswestry, Shropshire, England |
---|---|
Capacity | 3,000 (3,000 seated) [1] |
Construction | |
Built | 1993 |
Renovated | 2007 |
Tenants | |
Oswestry Town (1993–2003) The New Saints (2007–present) FC Oswestry Town (2013–2020) St Martins (2012–2022) |
Park Hall Stadium is a football stadium to the north-east of Oswestry, Shropshire, England. It was opened by Shropshire County Council in 1993, originally as the home of Oswestry Town. In 2003, Oswestry Town merged with Total Network Solutions F.C. (TNS) to form current Cymru Premier team The New Saints. The newly merged club moved to Park Hall from Total Network Solutions' Recreation Ground.
Following a short period of abandonment, the site was purchased from the council by Mike Harris with a view to redevelopment and The New Saints moving back to the ground. The New Saints started to use Park Hall as their home ground again in 2007, and the ground was further improved so that it was able to host matches in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. It has since been used to host youth international fixtures for both England and Wales while also hosting Non-League football for community teams in Oswestry.
Park Hall is also the name of the surrounding area, in Whittington civil parish, which has housing and some light industries. [2]
The stadium was originally the site of an army ground. [3] Park Hall was built as a stadium in 1993 by Shropshire County Council who owned the land and permitted Oswestry Town to use it as their home ground in the League of Wales after they had sold off their Victoria Road stadium. [4] However, due to the club's financial problems, the ground fell into disrepair.
In 2003, Oswestry Town and Total Network Solutions F.C. (a Welsh club carrying the name of their sponsor, a local computer company) voted to merge. They entered into an agreement whereby the newly merged TNS would split matches between Park Hall and Total Network Solutions' Recreation Ground in Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain, with a view to moving to Park Hall. [5] In the meantime, the majority of matches were played at the Recreation Ground [6] with Park Hall being used only occasionally by TNS' women's, youth and reserve teams. [3]
The move was initially blocked by UEFA because the two teams were in different countries. The two clubs appealed, and UEFA took into account Oswestry Town's historic membership of the Football Association of Wales. [7] TNS director Richard Hann also argued the precedence of Derry City F.C. being based in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland but playing in the Republic of Ireland's League of Ireland and being allowed to represent the Republic of Ireland in UEFA competitions. [8] The decision was overturned, and UEFA stated that they would regard TNS and Park Hall as Welsh for UEFA purposes if they moved to Park Hall. [7] [9] [10] Park Hall was purchased from the council by Mike Harris with a view to renovating it. [11]
Following the merger, plans were drawn up to rebuild Park Hall in a project referred to as "Oswald Park". [12] In 2005, TNS started to rebuild Park Hall with a view to moving there in 2008 [13] because they were unable to improve the Recreation Ground as it was a council-owned recreation ground. [14] Shortly afterwards, Total Network Solutions renamed themselves The New Saints as their sponsorship deal lapsed due to the sponsoring company being bought out by British Telecom. [15] During renovation, Park Hall's pitch was replaced with artificial Ligaturf, as used at the home ground of Red Bull Salzburg. As a result of The New Saints moving to Park Hall and the decreasing number of the team's players who were from Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain, some supporters broke away from The New Saints to form Llansantffraid Village F.C. [16]
In 2007, The New Saints moved into Park Hall permanently. [6] In 2010, The New Saints applied for funding for a new stand, but it was refused by Welsh Grounds Improvement and the team risked losing their licence to compete in the Welsh Premier League. As a result, The New Saints applied to play their home matches at Deva Stadium in Chester and move away from Park Hall. [9] Following the move from the Recreation Ground, between November 2012 and July 2015, The New Saints were unbeaten at Park Hall in all competitions. [17]
Despite the renovations, the ground did not meet UEFA's standards for hosting European football which meant that The New Saints were forced to play their home matches in UEFA competitions away from Park Hall. [18] In 2008, The New Saints hoped to be able to host their UEFA Cup match against FK Sūduva Marijampolė in their first European match at Park Hall, however they missed the UEFA deadline to increase capacity. [19] [20] In 2009, following construction of a new stand, Park Hall was able to be used by The New Saints in UEFA competition as it reached the 1,000 seated capacity requirement. [21] The New Saints still sometimes move their home matches away from Park Hall for capacity and financial reasons. [22]
Park Hall has hosted international matches following its renovation. In 2015 it hosted Group 3 of the 2016 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualification tournament, where Wales were designated as the host nation and chose Park Hall despite it being in England. [23] Park Hall was used by England schools' football team as their home ground for a match in April 2016 against the Republic of Ireland. [24]
Park Hall is also used to host European matches for other Welsh Premier League teams whose own grounds do not meet European requirements. Cefn Druids used the ground in 2018 to host a Europa League qualifier, [25] and Bala Town played a Europa Conference League qualifying match at Park Hall on 8 July 2021. [26]
During redevelopment at a cost of more than £3 million, The New Saints were awarded a £445,000 grant from the Football Foundation with the intention of Park Hall housing a leisure development with improved facilities including a ten-pin bowling alley. [27] Park Hall is also used as the home ground of Oswestry Boys Club and Oswestry Town Lions of the Shropshire Alliance. [28]
Oswestry is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.
The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 2002, the league was known as the League of Wales (LoW), but changed its name as part of a sponsorship deal to the Welsh Premier League. The league was rebranded as the Cymru Premier for the 2019–20 season.
Oswestry Town Football Club was a football club from Shropshire, playing at Victoria Road. They joined the Birmingham League in 1924 and switched to the Cheshire County League in 1959. In 1975 they made the move to the Southern League before transferring to the Northern Premier League in 1979.
The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. Despite being an English team, they are the most successful club in the Welsh league structure, with 15 league titles to their name. Since the 2001–02 season, they have finished as champions or runners-up in every season, apart from 2008–09, where they finished third in the league.
Association football is organised on a separate basis in each of the four constituent countries that make up the United Kingdom (UK), with each having a national football association responsible for the overall management of football within their respective country. There is no United Kingdom national football team. Football has been the most popular sport in the UK since the 1860s. Rugby union, rugby league and cricket are other popular sports.
Deva Stadium is an association football stadium which is the home of Chester F.C., the effective successor club to the liquidated Chester City. The stadium straddles the England-Wales border at Sealand, on the outskirts of Chester.
Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain is a large village in Powys, Mid Wales, close to the border with Shropshire in England, about 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Oswestry and 8 miles (13 km) north of Welshpool. It is on the A495 road and is at the confluence of the River Vyrnwy and the River Cain. The population as of the 2011 UK census was 1,415. The community includes the village of Deuddwr and several hamlets.
New Meadow, also known as The Croud Meadow for sponsorship purposes, is a stadium situated on the southern outskirts of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, between the districts of Meole Brace and Sutton Farm, and close to the A5. It serves the home ground of English football club Shrewsbury Town.
Latham Park is a multi-purpose stadium in Newtown, Wales. It is currently used for football matches and is the home ground of Newtown A.F.C. The stadium holds 5,000 people and is named after Wales international footballer George Latham (1881–1939), who began his footballing career at the club.
The Recreation Ground, usually referred to as Treflan, is a football stadium in Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain, Powys, Wales and is the home of Mid Wales League Division One club Llansantffraid Village. The Recreation Ground was the home of Welsh Premier League team The New Saints until they moved to Park Hall in nearby Oswestry, England, the former home of Oswestry Town.
Steven James Evans is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer who is currently manager of Cymru Premier side Colwyn Bay.
Andrew Mulliner is an English-born Welsh former football goalkeeper who is the academy lead goalkeeper coach at Manchester City.
Craig Jones is retired footballer who played as a midfielder. Previously, he was club captain at Bury. He is a three times Welsh Premier League champion. He previously played for Welsh clubs Airbus UK Broughton, Aberystwyth Town, Rhyl, TNS and Connah's Quay.
Scott Ruscoe is a Welsh former professional footballer and manager who is a Player Development Phase Coach at EFL League One club Port Vale.
Football Club Oswestry Town was a football club based in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. The club played at Park Hall and were affiliated to the Shropshire Football Association.
Scott David Quigley is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for National League club Eastleigh.
Connell Patrick Rawlinson is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a defender for EFL League Two club Notts County.
Wem Town Ladies Football Club is a women's semi-professional association football club from Wem, and affiliated to the men's team of the same name. They play in the Butler Sports Center. The club are a part of The New Saints F.C. foundation and share close links with the other sections of the club. Until 2020, they were known as The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Ladies Football Club due to their partnership with the Cymru Premier side.