Oldest stadiums in the world
Rugby stadiums are generally not just about the structure and size of the ground in question.
There’s also the atmosphere a place generates, the intimidation factor, the history and tradition, as well as capacity and location. It could even be a special memory.
We take a look at the oldest stadiums around and focus on the oldest two, namely Lansdowne Road in Dublin and Newlands in South Africa.
Lansdowne Road in Dublin was first used for rugby matches in 1872 after an individual known as Henry Wallace Doveton Dunlop decided to set up Lansdowne Football Club. Wanderers Football Club joined Lansdowne at the site in 1869 and the two sides still use the new Aviva Stadium.
Newlands in Cape Town, South Africa has hosted rugby matches since Stellenbosch faced Villagers on 31st May 1890.
There are a number of clubs who have been using the same grounds since the late Victorian period. In terms of English Premiership teams, Bath has played at the Recreation Ground since 1894, Leicester Tigers have played at Welford Road since 1892, Northampton Saints moved into Franklin’s Gardens in the late 1880s and Gloucester’s Kingsholm opened in 1891, to name but a few.
In Wales, Llanelli’s Stradey Park was sadly demolished in 2010 having been used for rugby matches since 1879. The Scarlets now play at purpose-built stadium ‘Parc y Scarlets’.
Let’s take a look at the two oldest rugby stadiums in the world.
Lansdowne Road (Aviva Stadium)
The Aviva Stadium was opened in 2010 on the same site as the previous Lansdowne Road Stadium that was demolished in 2007. It will be used by both the Irish Rugby Football Union and the Football Association of Ireland for all of their home internationals and will have a capacity of 50,000.
The first rugby match to be played at the Aviva was a special exhibition game between a combined Leinster/Ulster and Munster/Connacht sides on Saturday July 31 and its first competitive international saw South Africa win 23-21 over Ireland.
In March 2011, England saw their grand-slam hopes shattered at the Aviva Stadium as Ireland defeated them in the final game of the 2011 Six Nations 24-8.
In June 2011 it was announced that the stadium will host the 2013 Heineken Cup Final.
There had been criticism levelled at the capacity of the ground, particularly in light of sell-out crowds of over 80,000 at the GAA’s headquarters Croke Park – Ireland’s temporary home during the construction of the new stadium.
Newlands
Ask any rugby-mad South African where the home of rugby is and they will tell you it is Newlands Stadium, or more correctly, DHL Newlands.
It was at this stadium, in the leafy Cape Town suburb of the same name, that the 1995 Rugby World Cup kicked off, a tournament which South Africa went on to win.
It holds a special place in the heart of not just Cape Town locals, but all South Africans, the grand old dame of local rugby.
At 123 years old, it is the oldest rugby stadium in South Africa and the second-oldest rugby stadium in the world.
The Western Province Rugby Football Union made the decision to buy the ground on which the stadium now stands in 1888. The first official rugby match at Newlands took place on 31 May 1890, in front of a crowd of around 2 400.
The first permanent concrete stands were only erected almost 30 years later – in 1919.
It had a capacity of 51 900, including some standing. But Newlands Rugby Stadium has been left empty following Western Province Rugby Football Union’s move to the Cape Town Stadium in February 2021.
There are many very good reasons for Western Province Rugby to move away from the place it has called home for over a century, but the decision still does not sit well with the faithful and has also irked many neutrals.
Logistically, Newlands was hamstrung by its physical position in a leafy and largely residential suburb of Cape Town, under the shadow of table mountain. The infrastructure surrounding and feeding Newlands has long been a problem for residents and the stadium alike, and the construction of the Cape Town Stadium for the 2010 football world cup set the clock ticking for a move away from the suburbs and into the City itself.
Newlands still has a special place in the hearts of rugby fans but that sentiment isn’t something you can put a price tag on and in recent years the land that the famous stadium stands on has become incredibly valuable.
Unfortunately, since the Western Province Rugby Union decided to move to the new modern Cape Town Stadium, Newlands has deteriorated and is now a shell of the former grand stadium it used to be.
