Murrayfield Stadium
Encyclopedia
Murrayfield Stadium is a sports stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

 located in the west end of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, the capital of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Its all-seater capacity was recently reduced from 67,800 to 67,130 to incorporate the largest permanent "big screen" in the country though it still remains the largest stadium in Scotland and one of the largest in the United Kingdom overall.

The stadium is the home of the Scottish Rugby Union
Scottish Rugby Union
The Scottish Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. It is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873, as the Scottish Football Union.-History:...

 (SRU), and is primarily used as a venue for rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 and hosts most of Scotland's
Scotland national rugby union team
The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...

 home test matches, as well as the Edinburgh Sevens
Edinburgh Sevens
The Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens, also known as the Edinburgh 7s and Scotland Sevens, is a rugby union sevens tournament, part of the IRB Sevens World Series, held at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scotland. It will have the honour of being the last event in each season's IRB Sevens...

, the Scottish Hydro Electric Cup final, as well as Magners League and Heineken Cup
Heineken Cup
The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,...

 matches.

Although mainly a rugby union stadium, Murrayfield has in the past hosted American football
Scottish Claymores
The Scottish Claymores were an American football team from Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh and latterly sharing home games with Hampden Park, Glasgow...

, rugby league
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....

 and association football matches and music concerts. One of the most notable of the latter was the Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push concert as part of Live 8
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...

.

Location

Murrayfield is located next door to Murrayfield Ice Rink
Murrayfield Ice Rink
Murrayfield Ice Rink is a 3,800-seat multi-purpose arena in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland, right next door to Murrayfield Stadium. It was built between 1938 and 1939. It is home to the Edinburgh Capitals ice hockey team...

, Murrayfield Curling Rink, and close to the Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo, formally the Scottish National Zoological Park, is a non-profit zoological park located in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland...

. It is named after the area of Edinburgh it is located in, Murrayfield
Murrayfield
Murrayfield is an affluent area in the west of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and west of Roseburn. The A8 road runs east-west through the north of the area....

.

It has good public transport links, being particularly well-served by bus links along the Corstorphine Road. Despite the line running adjacent to the stadium, its nearest railway station is Haymarket
Haymarket railway station
For the Tyne and Wear Metro see Haymarket Metro station.Haymarket railway station is in Haymarket, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is Edinburgh's second largest station after Waverley, a major commuter and long-distance destination, located quite centrally near the West End...

, which is a 1-mile walk from the stadium.

History

The SRU bought some land and built the first Murrayfield which was opened on 21 March 1925. Previously internationals had been played at Inverleith
Inverleith
Inverleith is an inner suburb in the northern part of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the fringes of the central region of the city. It is an affluent suburb. Its neighbours include Trinity to the north and the New Town to the south, with Canonmills at the south-east and Stockbridge at the south-west...

. The first visitors were , whom beat to win their first Five Nations Championship
Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

 Grand Slam
Grand Slam (Rugby Union)
In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship manages to beat all the others during one year's competition...

.

During the Second World War the ground at Murrayfield was offered to the nation and was taken over by the Royal Army Service Corps
Royal Army Service Corps
The Royal Army Service Corps was a corps of the British Army. It was responsible for land, coastal and lake transport; air despatch; supply of food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores such as clothing, furniture and stationery ; administration of...

 and used as a supply depot. During the war years the armed forces
British Armed Forces
The British Armed Forces are the armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Also known as Her Majesty's Armed Forces and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown, the British Armed Forces encompasses three professional uniformed services, the Royal Navy, the...

 sports authorities managed to arrange two Scotland v. England services internationals each year, on a home-and-away basis. Scotland's home matches were played at Inverleith for the first two years with a return to Murrayfield in 1944 after that ground's derequisition. In 1994 Murrayfield completed a 50 million pound renovation where floodlights were installed for the first time in its history. It once held the record for the largest ever attendance for a rugby union match, and still the biggest in the United Kingdom, with 104,000 watching Scotland play Wales in 1975 in a Five Nations match.

Present

Currently Murrayfield is used for most Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 international rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 matches, with all Scotland's Six Nations
Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

 home games being played here. The stadium also hosts Edinburgh Rugby, one of Scotland's two professional sides in the Magners League
Celtic League (rugby union)
The Celtic League is an annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

 that features teams from Ireland
Rugby union in Ireland
Rugby union is a popular team sport played in Ireland. The sport is organised on an all-Ireland basis with one team, governing body and league for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland...

, Wales
Rugby union in Wales
Rugby union is the national sport of Wales and is considered a large part of national culture. Rugby is thought to have reached Wales in the 1850s, with the national body, the Welsh Rugby Union being formed in 1881...

 and Italy. (For Magners League matches, only the lower tier of the West Stand is typically used.) Since 2007
2006-07 IRB Sevens World Series
2006–07 IRB Sevens World Series was the eighth of an annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999-2000.New Zealand won the 2006-07 series by winning the final tournament in Edinburgh...

, Murrayfield has hosted the Edinburgh 7s
Edinburgh Sevens
The Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens, also known as the Edinburgh 7s and Scotland Sevens, is a rugby union sevens tournament, part of the IRB Sevens World Series, held at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scotland. It will have the honour of being the last event in each season's IRB Sevens...

, the final event in the annual IRB Sevens World Series
IRB Sevens World Series
The IRB Sevens World Series, known officially as the HSBC Sevens World Series as of the 2010-11 season, through sponsorship from banking group HSBC, and also sometimes called the World Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby union sevens tournaments organised for the first time in the...

 in rugby sevens
Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by the International Rugby Board , the body responsible for rugby union worldwide...

. Murrayfield hosted select matches from the 2007 Rugby World Cup
2007 Rugby World Cup
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003,...

. The stadium also hosted the Heineken Cup
Heineken Cup
The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,...

 Final in 2005
2004-05 Heineken Cup
The 2004-5 Heineken Cup was the tenth edition of the Heineken Cup. Competing teams, from England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other...

, when Toulouse
Stade Toulousain
Stade Toulousain, also referred to as Toulouse, is a French rugby union club from Toulouse in Midi-Pyrénées. Toulouse is one of the finest rugby clubs in Europe, having won the Heineken Cup four times – in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010. They were also runners-up in 2004 and 2008 against London Wasps...

 beat Stade Français by 18 points to 12, and again in 2009
2008-09 Heineken Cup
The 2008–09 Heineken Cup was the fourteenth edition of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started in October 2008 and ended on 23 May 2009 at Murrayfield in Edinburgh...

, with Leinster defeating Leicester by 19 points to 16.

Murrayfield also hosts football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 matches. The first football match played on Murrayfield was played between the local Scottish Premier League
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...

 side Heart of Midlothian F.C.
Heart of Midlothian F.C.
Heart of Midlothian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Gorgie, in the west of Edinburgh. They currently play in the Scottish Premier League and are one of the two principal clubs in the city, the other being Hibernian...

 (Hearts) and the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 Sporting Braga in September 2004. In 2006, Hearts selected Murrayfield as their home venue for their European campaign in the 2006/2007 season, as Tynecastle
Tynecastle Stadium
Tynecastle Stadium is a football stadium situated in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premier League club Hearts. Tynecastle has a seating capacity of 17,420, which makes it the seventh largest football stadium in Scotland...

 did not meet the UEFA
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....

 criteria for hosting European football matches. This has seen clubs such as Ferencvaros
Ferencváros
Ferencváros is the 9th district of Budapest , Hungary.- Name :The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary.- History :The development of Ferencváros began in the late 18th century....

, Schalke 04 and AEK Athens playing at Murrayfield. Additionally, Hearts hosted a preseason friendly on July 28, 2007 against FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....

 in front of a crowd of nearly 58,000.

Although a union stadium, Murrayfield hosted the rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 Rugby League Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....

 finals in 2000 and 2002 and 2003. The stadium will host rugby league's Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...

 Magic Weekend
Magic Weekend
The Magic Weekend, previously Millennium Magic, is a concept by the Rugby Football League to stage an entire round of Super League matches in prestigious and exciting cities to showcase the sport....

 as of 2009, taking over from the Millennium Stadium.

Murrayfield has played host to American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 and was one of two home venues for the now defunct Scottish Claymores
Scottish Claymores
The Scottish Claymores were an American football team from Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh and latterly sharing home games with Hampden Park, Glasgow...

 in the NFL Europa between 1995 and 2004, the other being Hampden Park
Hampden Park
Hampden Park is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The 52,063 capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland...

 in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. Additionally, it hosted World Bowl IV
World Bowl IV
World Bowl '96 , the championship game of American football's WLAF, took place at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 23, 1996. The 7-3 Scottish Claymores defeated the 7-3 Frankfurt Galaxy 32-27 and, led by head coach Jim Criner, completed the league's first ever worst to first...

 on 23 June 1996. It has been mentioned as a potential future host site for the NFL International Series
NFL International Series
Beginning with the 2005 season, the National Football League has hosted regular season American football games held outside the United States in a series known as the International Series.-Background:...

, should the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 add future games outside the series' current permanent home, Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

In July 2005, Murrayfield hosted the final Live 8
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...

 concert, Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push, with performances from the likes of James Brown, Texas
Texas (band)
Texas are a Scottish pop band from Bearsden, near Glasgow, Scotland. They were founded by Johnny McElhone in 1986 and feature Sharleen Spiteri on lead vocals. Texas made their performing debut in March 1988 at Scotland's University of Dundee...

 & The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid . They are probably best known for the songs "Letter from America", "I'm On My Way" and "I'm Gonna Be ". The band tours extensively throughout Europe and other continents...

.

British rock group Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

 played a sold-out show on 17 June 2009, as part of their world tour. This was the last time they would play a gig in Scotland and the second time they had played the stadium, the first being on their Standing on the Shoulder of Giants Tour
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants Tour
The Standing on the Shoulder of Giants World Tour was a concert tour by English band Oasis, which took place in 2000. The tour was in promotion of their record Standing on the Shoulder of Giants.-Set list:The band's typical set list was:...

 in 2000. In June, 1999, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

 played at Murrayfield on their "Bridges To Babylon" tour.

It has a 100 m running track by the main stand.

The Bill McLaren
Bill McLaren
William Pollock "Bill" McLaren CBE was a Scottish rugby union commentator, teacher, journalist and one time rugby player. Until his retirement in 2002, he was known as 'the voice of rugby'...

 Press Gallery is located at Murrayfield Stadium and the Bill McLaren Foundation
Bill McLaren Foundation
The Bill McLaren Foundation has been set up in Bill McLaren’s name, with the support of his family, to serve three purposes :* To develop and promote the sport of rugby union and its values* To encourage and provide sporting opportunities for young people...

 was launched there on 4 March 2010.

The seats incorporate the letters "SRU" as well as a tartan pattern. This tartan is the official tartan of the SRU.

Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...

 performed at the stadium 22 June 2011 as part of their tour.

See also

  • Rugby union in Scotland
    Rugby union in Scotland
    Rugby union is a popular team sport in Scotland. The national side today competes in the annual Six Nations Championship and the Rugby World Cup. The first ever international rugby match was played on March 27, 1871, at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh, when Scotland defeated England in front of 4,000...

  • Sport in Scotland
    Sport in Scotland
    Sport plays a central role in Scottish culture. The temperate, oceanic climate has played a key part in the evolution of sport in Scotland, with all-weather sports like association football, rugby union and golf dominating the national sporting consciousness...

  • Scottish Rugby Union
    Scottish Rugby Union
    The Scottish Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. It is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873, as the Scottish Football Union.-History:...

  • Scotland national rugby union team
    Scotland national rugby union team
    The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...

  • Scottish Women's Rugby Union
    Scottish Women's Rugby Union
    The Scottish Women's Rugby Union is the national governing body for women's rugby union in Scotland. It is responsible for the governance of women's rugby union within Scotland. Its role is all encompassing...


External links

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