Rugby Park - WikiHQ

Rugby Park, also known as The BBSP Stadium Rugby Park for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium which is the home of Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock F.C. and is situated in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock. With a capacity of , it is the 7th–largest football stadium in Scotland, and was first used in 1899, also having been used for concerts, rugby union and international football fixtures. The stadium underwent a major redevelopment in 1994–1995, becoming an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 18,128. The renovated stadium opened on 6 August 1995, with a friendly match against Blackburn Rovers F.C. In August 2010, the West Stand was renamed the Frank Beattie Stand in honour of former player Frank Beattie who captained Kilmarnock to their Scottish League Championship victory in 1965.

As well as football matches, Rugby Park has also hosted rugby matches, most recently between Scotland and Georgia in July 2016. The venue has also hosted four international football matches for the Scotland national football team in 1894, 1910 and two most recently in 1997. This was not the precise site of the present stadium, as the field is now covered by Charles Street. While is initially unclear the exact place in which Kilmarnock F.C. played their first match, Recreation Ground, also known as Barbadoes Green, was situated across from Dundonald Road where a much larger area known as Wards Park was situated. In the late 1860s, Wards Park consisted of rough grassland, and is considered the earliest site of both Kilmarnock F.C. and Rugby Park.

The first stadium known as Rugby Park after being officially named as such in November 1872 was situated on Dundonald Road. In April 1874, the club left this ground before returning to approximately the same field in December 1877. The club later played at The Grange between 1874 and 1876, also playing one game at Holm Quarry in April 1874, 1876 and 1877. The club left The Grange in 1876, but returned between September–November 1877. The grandstand was extended in 1914 and was extensively re-modelled and re-roofed in 1961. The clubs board of directors "reluctantly" agreed to the requisition of the stadium, announcing the suspension of playing "for the duration". Work commenced on repairing the stadium, with Italian prisoners of war being used to build up the terracing. A new grandstand was built in 1961, with space to accommodate 4,000 spectators. Kilmarnock manager Willie Waddell commented on the developments at Rugby Park; "to be a top grade club, you must have top grade accommodation".

1994–1997 reconstruction

Demolition work began at Rugby Park on 8 May 1994, with the stadiums West Stand receiving a major refurbishment including new roofing and floodlights. Both the covered terracing and covered enclosures of the stadium were demolished to make way for the construction of two new stands, the East Stand and the South Stand (the "Moffat Stand"), which were first used on 27 August and 19 November 1994 respectively. During the 1994–95 season the capacity was significantly reduced as three new stands were constructed; the Moffat Stand, the Chadwick Stand and the East Stand. Their completion brought the capacity of the stadium to 18,128.

Contemporary history

An artificial playing surface was installed in the summer of 2014. This was later replaced by an artificial hybrid surface during the 2019 close season. In November 2023 the club announced their intention to replace the artificial surface with natural grass in 2025, if work on a separate training facility can be completed.

In February 2019 Kilmarnock received approval to install a new safe-standing section in areas of the East and Moffat stands. The installation process was completed in early December of that year. In 2020, plans were unveiled revealing details of plans for further renovations at Rugby Park, creating a new entrance, changing facilities and community resources, including a memorial garden. During the 2021–22 season offices were installed in the upper deck of the Moffat Stand, which reduced the seating capacity of the stadium to 15,552. The match against Tonga was the first rugby union international match featuring a tier 1 nation to be played on artificial surface.

In popular culture

In August 1999, Rugby Park was used for a fictitious Scottish Cup semi-final in the Robert Duvall film A Shot at Glory. The film also starred former Kilmarnock striker Ally McCoist.

Concerts

Rod Stewart performed live at Rugby Park in 2016. Elton John performed live at Rugby Park in June 2005.

International football

International matches

Four Scotland international matches have been played at Rugby Park. Normally, Scotland matches are played at Hampden Park, but two matches were played at Rugby Park while the south stand at Hampden was being rebuilt. During the 1997 match against Wales, Kilmarnock were able to parade the Scottish Cup at half time, having captured the trophy at Ibrox on the previous Saturday.

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References

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External links

Stadium Tours at Kilmarnock Football Club official website
Rugbypark.co.uk (not associated with Kilmarnock Football Club)
Rugby Park at KillieFC.com