Kirklees Stadium
Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Giants | |
Operator | KSDL (Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd.) |
---|---|
Capacity | 24,121[4] |
Record attendance | 24,375 (rugby league)[2] 24,263 (football)[3] |
Field size | 105 m × 69 m (344 ft × 226 ft) |
Surface | Grass with under-soil heating |
Construction | |
Built | 1994 |
Opened | 1994 |
Architect | Populous |
Builder | Alfred McAlpine |
Tenants | |
Huddersfield Town (1994–present) Huddersfield Giants (1994–present) | |
Website | |
www |
Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium)[1][5][6][7] is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of football club Huddersfield Town and rugby league side Huddersfield Giants, both of whom moved from Leeds Road.
The stadium was a venue for the Rugby League World Cup in 1995 ,2000, 2013 and 2021, in addition to the 1999 Rugby Union World Cup. It is owned by both clubs, as well as Kirklees Council. Its naming rights have passed from constructors Alfred McAlpine to pharmaceutical company Galpharm International in 2004, then to John Smith's Brewery eight years later.
Stadium
During planning and construction, the stadium was referred to as the Kirklees Stadium which is still its official name. It was built by
The decision to build a new stadium for Huddersfield Town and
When the stadium opened only the two side stands (the Riverside and Kilner Bank stands) were ready. The South Stand was opened in December 1994. Construction on the North (Panasonic) Stand began in 1996 and it was completed in 1998, bringing the overall capacity of the stadium to approximately 24,500. The estimated cost of construction was £40 million.
A ski slope will be built next to the stadium.[10]
Ownership
Initially, the stadium was owned by a consortium made up of Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Huddersfield Town A.F.C. and Huddersfield Giants in a 40:40:20 proportion. Following the purchase of Huddersfield Town A.F.C. from the administrators in 2003, Ken Davy became chairman of both sports clubs, which were owned by companies he controls, Sporting Pride.[11] The present ownership of the stadium is Kirklees Metropolitan Council 40%, Huddersfield Town FC 40%, and Huddersfield Giants 20%. The current Managing director of the stadium company is Gareth Davis[12] who succeeded Ralph Rimmer in 2010. On 24 December 2009, Huddersfield Town announced that 40% of the shares owned by Huddersfield Sporting Pride would be transferred to the football club, owned by current chairman Dean Hoyle, but the deal was delayed due to a rent dispute between Davy and Hoyle. The deal was finally completed on 3 September 2013.[13]
Sponsorship
From 1994 until 2004 the stadium was known as the Alfred McAlpine Stadium.
Layout
North Stand
Capacity – 2,750 (seating)
The North Stand, known as the Big Red Stand for sponsorship reasons, is located behind the goal post at the north end of the ground. It has two tiers and houses 16 hospitality boxes and is completely seated. The lower tier contains temporary seats that can be removed for concerts or other events.
East Stand (Kilner Bank)
Capacity – 7,000 (seating)
The East Stand known as the Kilner Bank Stand or the Chadwick Lawrence Stand for sponsorship reasons is a large single tier stand that runs along the side of the pitch and is completely covered seating. The stand also holds the TV gantry. It gets its name from the fact the stand is built under and partly into the large hill named Kilner Bank behind it.
South Stand
Capacity – 4,054 (seating)
The Magic Rock Brewing Stand as it is known for sponsorship reasons is an all seated stand built into a bank and is completely covered as well as having the big screen. The stand is generally the away stand for visiting fans in both football and rugby, for football, it used to be completely for away fans but it is now shared with home fans with segregation netting. From 2017–18 a new segregation system was implemented with away fans given 2,500 tickets instead of 2,000.
West Stand (Riverside)
Capacity – 10,365 (seating)
The West stand is the main stand and is known as the Core Stand[15] for sponsorship or Riverside Stand. It has two tiers and 26 hospitality boxes and incorporates the player changing rooms, tunnel, dug out, ticket office and club shop. It takes its name from the River Colne that passes behind it, a footbridge crosses over the river to the car parks and estates behind the ground.
Events
Football
It hosted its first match on 20 August 1994 when Huddersfield Town lost 1–0 to
On 4 June 1999, it hosted
On 20 August 2017, it held its first Premier League game, with Huddersfield's Aaron Mooy scoring the only goal of a 1–0 win over Newcastle United in front of a crowd of 24,128.[18][19]
The record for a football match is 24,263 for a Premier League match between Huddersfield Town and Liverpool on 20 October 2018.[20]
Rugby League
On 29 January 2019, it was announced that the John Smith's Stadium would play host to a quarter-final of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.
The results of international matches are as follows;
Date | Winners | Result | Runners-up | Attendance | Part of |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
31 October 1998 | Great Britain | 22–16 | New Zealand | 18,500 | 1998 New Zealand tour of Great Britain |
11 November 2001 | Great Britain | 20–12 | Australia | 21,458 | 2001 Ashes Series
|
16 November 2002 | Great Britain | 14–14 | New Zealand | 23,604 | 2002 New Zealand tour of Great Britain and France
|
22 November 2003 | Australia | 18–12 | Great Britain | 24,126 | 2003 Ashes Series
|
6 November 2004 | Great Britain | 22–12 | New Zealand | 20,372 | 2004 Tri-Nations |
12 November 2005 | Great Britain | 38–12 | New Zealand | 19,232 | 2005 Tri-Nations |
27 October 2007 | Great Britain | 20–14 | New Zealand | 16,522 | 2007 All Golds Tour |
7 November 2009 | England | 20–12 | New Zealand | 19,390 | 2009 Four Nations |
4 July 2012 | Exiles RL | 32–20 | England | 7,865 | 2012 International Origin series |
2 November 2013 | England | 42–0 | Ireland | 24,375 | 2013 Rugby League World Cup |
29 November 2016 | New Zealand | 17–16 | England | 24,070 | 2016 Four Nations |
The stadium has held semi-finals of the
Rugby Union
Despite Huddersfield not being a strong rugby union area, the stadium has been used for four full cap international rugby union matches. It hosted three qualifying matches for the 1999 Rugby World Cup and one match in the pool. Two of the matches saw teams pass 100 points: England beat the Netherlands 110–0 in a qualifier and New Zealand defeated Italy 101–3 in the pool.[25]
Concerts
The first concerts at the stadium were on 25 and 26 July 1995 by American band R.E.M., attended by around 80,000 people and providing a £3 million boom to local businesses.[26] The Eagles,[27] Bryan Adams and the Beautiful South also performed there in the 1990s,[28] followed four years later by Bon Jovi in June 2001.[29]
After three years with no performances,
References
- ^ a b "Stadium History". The John Smith's Stadium. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ^ 2013 RLWC – England vs Ireland Rugby League Project
- ^ "Huddersfield Town v Liverpool Stats". Premier League. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- ^ "VIEWING PLATFORM FOR AWAY SUPPORTERS". Huddersfield Town AFC. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
- ^ "New deal signed for naming rights for John Smith's Stadium". Examiner Live. Reach. 13 December 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ^ "Are you coming to the John Smith's Stadium? Here are the best ways for you to get to the match!". Huddersfield Town AFC. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ^ "Matchday information". Huddersfield Giants. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ^ "Galpharm Stadium at AJ Specification database". Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ Engineering giant Stadia Archived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine Ingenia Magazine, March 2005
- ^ "England: Huddersfield stadium to get... a ski slope". stadiumdb.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ Conn, David (5 May 2009). "David Conn: Huddersfield Town's community stadium dream sours in ownership wrangle". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
- ^ Live, Examiner (8 October 2010). "Gareth Davies is new boss of Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd". Huddersfield Examiner. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ Shaw, Martin (3 September 2013). "Dean Hoyle hails 'landmark' deal to restore Huddersfield Town stadium shares". Huddersfield Examiner. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ Zientek, Henryk (13 December 2016). "New deal signed for naming rights for John Smith's Stadium". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ Stadium Map
- ^ Thomson, Doug (27 August 2011). "Huddersfield Town nostalgia: Wycombe Wanderers spoil the new stadium party in 1994". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ "Sweden v England background". UEFA. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ Robinson, Andrew (26 August 2017). "Can the capacity at the John Smith's Stadium be increased? Here's what Town had to say". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
- ^ Chowdhury, Saj (20 August 2017). "Huddersfield Town 1–0 Newcastle United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
- ^ "Huddersfield Town v Liverpool Stats". Premier League. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- ^ "John Smith's Stadium International rugby league matches". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
- ^ Hirst, Andrew (19 October 2013). "World Cup fever means sell-out at John Smith's Stadium for England's clash with Ireland". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ Sutcliffe, Richard (20 February 2017). "Haven't we met before? Huddersfield Town's Jon Gorenc Stankovic gets upper hand over Manchester City's Leroy Sane". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ "Super League XIII 2008 – Round 1 – Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ "Rugby Union – ESPN Scrum – Statsguru – Test matches – Team records". ESPN scrum. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ Gildea, Samantha (21 May 2014). "REM rock Huddersfield: we look back to the band's gig at the McAlpine in July 1995". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ Gildea, Samantha (26 August 2014). "The Eagles flew into the McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield in July 1996 – were you there?". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ Gildea, Samantha (13 June 2014). "Were you there? The Beautiful South, Cast and the Lightning Seeds rock the McAlpine in 1997". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ Gildea, Samantha (12 August 2001). "One Wild Night: Bon Jovi rock Huddersfield's McAlpine Stadium in June 2001". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ "Blue to reveal stadium's name". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 7 June 2004. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ Richardson-Hudd, Sam (19 December 2013). "Did you go? Bryan Adams rocked Huddersfield's Galpharm Stadium in 2006 – relive it here". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ Douglas, Joanne (28 November 2017). "Little Mix in Huddersfield: Tickets, times and prices". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
- ^ Ankers, Wayne (4 June 2019). "Every picture from Take That in Huddersfield 2019". Huddersfield Examiner. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ Ballinger, Lauren (10 September 2019). "Green Day, Weezer and Fall Out Boy to play at John Smiths Stadium". Huddersfield Examiner. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ "MUSE – Tues 20th June 2023 – Frequently Asked Questions". John Smith's Stadium. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
External links
53°39′15″N 1°46′6″W / 53.65417°N 1.76833°W