Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F. C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixtures with over 60,000 spectators in attendance. At the time of its closure in 2009, it had a capacity of 21,508. The ground was also used as the home stadium for the Wales national football team from 1911 until the late 1980s. The Welsh national side holds the record attendance for a match at Ninian Park; 62,634 fans watched a fixture against England on 17 October 1959. Cardiff City’s club record attendance of 57,893 came at the stadium during
About Ninian Park in brief
Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F. C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixtures with over 60,000 spectators in attendance. At the time of its closure in 2009, it had a capacity of 21,508. The ground was also used as the home stadium for the Wales national football team from 1911 until the late 1980s. The Welsh national side holds the record attendance for a match at Ninian Park; 62,634 fans watched a fixture against England on 17 October 1959. Cardiff City’s club record attendance of 57,893 came at the stadium during a Football League fixture against Arsenal on 22 April 1953. It hosted its last match on 25 April 2009 against Ipswich Town and was demolished soon after, being replaced by the adjacent newly constructed Cardiff City Stadium. The site was converted into a residential housing estate which was completed in 2010. The stadium was named after Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, who had acted as a financial guarantor for the build. The club had originally been playing home fixtures at Sophia Gardens but the lack of facilities at the ground had prevented them from joining the Southern Football League. To combat this, club founder Bartley Wilson secured a plot of land from Cardiff Corporation that had previously been used as a rubbish tip and construction of a new ground began in 1909. To capitalise on growing interest, Cardiff organised friendly matches against Crystal Palace, Bristol City and Middlesbrough that were held at Cardiff Arms Park and the Harlequins Ground, part of Cardiff High School.
To secure the site, the club was required to provide two or more guarantors to back the deal. One of the guarantors who had initially agreed to support the project later pulled out during development. The other four guarantors for the site were David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, Charles Wallda Hrdda, Jondda Harrison and John Patrick Cian A third Marquess of Bute. The original planned name for the ground was Sloper Park, replacing the original name of Ninian park, but the name was later changed to Ninian Park, replacing Sloper Sloper Park in honour of Lord Crichton Stuart and his son John Patrick Cian St Stuart. The ground was originally constructed with asingle wooden stand and three large banks made of ash, but gradual improvements saw stands constructed on all sides of the pitch. The four stands were named the Canton Stand, the Grange End, the Popular Bank and the Grandstand. They were offered the ground on an initial seven-year lease with a yearly rent of £90. This was to be supported by guarantors should the club have financial difficulties and be unable to maintain payments. Safety concerns led to the ground’s capacity being drastically reduced and Cardiff Arms Park replacing the stadium as the preferred home venue for the national side.
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