Abbeydale Park

Abbeydale Stadium
Location	Dore, South Yorkshire, England
Coordinates	53°19′35″N 1°31′14″W / 53.32639°N 1.52056°W
Capacity	3,200 (100 seats)
Opened	1921; 103 years ago
Tenants
	Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club; Sheffield RUFC; Sheffield F.C. (1921–1988); Derbyshire County Cricket Club (1946–1947); Yorkshire County Cricket Club (1974–1996)

Abbeydale Park is a sports venue in Dore, South Yorkshire, England. It is unusual in having hosted home games for two different county cricket teams.

History

The Park first opened for

first-class matches

there in 1946 and 1947.

With the closure of Bramall Lane to cricket, Yorkshire County Cricket Club began playing at the venue in 1974, and continued regular matches until 1996.^[2] In 2007, the club returned to the ground for some second team games.

In addition to cricket, football was also played at the Park, with

1966 World Cup.^[3]

The park is now home to a variety of sports, including

racketball, bowls, and rugby

in addition to cricket.

Rugby ground

Abbeydale Park is home to Sheffield RUFC (formed 1902) who have been based in the area since 1919.^[4] The rugby club are situated in the southern half of the complex and share their facilities with the cricket teams. Facilities include a large club-house and bar, pitches for both cricket and rugby union, a stand and floodlights to ensure matches can be played throughout the winter. There is also a choice of two car parks at the complex.^[5]

In terms of capacity, the rugby ground has space for around 3,200 spectators, a figure that includes 100 seated in the stand. The ground was host to Rotherham Titans semi-final play-off games in the RFU Championship in 2014 and 2015 and saw attendances of 3,267 and 3,227 respectively.^[6]^[7] In recent years Sheffield achieved an attendance of 1,820 for their derby game in National League 2 North against city rivals Sheffield Tigers on 23 December 2017.

Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club

Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club have been playing cricket at Abbeydale Park since 1921. The cricket club was a mainstay of the Yorkshire Cricket League before its dissolution in 2014, it has since played in the

Yorkshire South Premier League. The club is notable for producing two England Cricket captains, Joe Root and Michael Vaughan

.

References

^ History of SCCC: Chapter 5 - Abbeydale Park Archived 10 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club
^ Sheffield Abbeydale Park, Cricinfo
^ Sheffield F.C.: celebrating 150 years of the world's first football club, pp.52–53
^ "History". Sheffield RUFC (Pitchero). Retrieved 8 January 2017.
^ "Facilities". Sheffield RUFC (Pitchero). Retrieved 8 January 2017.
^ "Rugby union: Heroic Titans lose out to big-spending Bristol". Sheffield Telegraph. 19 May 2014.
^ "Rotherham Titans 16 Bristol 24 (agg 36-56): Titans bow out despite reducing deficit to just two points at one stag". The Star. 11 May 2015.

53°19′35.21″N 1°31′14.26″W / 53.3264472°N 1.5206278°W / 53.3264472; -1.5206278

[1] History of SCCC: Chapter 5 - Abbeydale Park Archived 10 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club

[2] Sheffield Abbeydale Park, Cricinfo

[3] Sheffield F.C.: celebrating 150 years of the world's first football club, pp.52–53

[4] "History". Sheffield RUFC (Pitchero). Retrieved 8 January 2017.

[5] "Facilities". Sheffield RUFC (Pitchero). Retrieved 8 January 2017.

[6] "Rugby union: Heroic Titans lose out to big-spending Bristol". Sheffield Telegraph. 19 May 2014.

[7] "Rotherham Titans 16 Bristol 24 (agg 36-56): Titans bow out despite reducing deficit to just two points at one stag". The Star. 11 May 2015.

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