Central Park is a multi-use

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 18 ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Scotland, used for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

. It is situated in the centre of the town, just off the High Street, and has a capacity of . The pitch size is 107 x 66 yards. Central Park has been the home ground of

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...

team

Cowdenbeath F.C. Cowdenbeath Football Club ( ) is a Scottish semi-professional football team based in Cowdenbeath, Fife. They are members of the Lowland Football League, the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system after their relegation from Scottish L ...

since it opened in 1917. Stock car racing has taken place at the ground since 1970, and takes place on a tarmac racetrack surrounding the football pitch. Central Park was also previously a venue for

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

between 1928 and 1965.

History

Cowdenbeath F.C. played at Jubilee Park until 1888, and then at

North End Park North End Park, also known as Colliers Den, is a disused playing field in Cowdenbeath. Between 1888 and 1917 the site was a football ground and the home venue of Cowdenbeath F.C. It was later the home ground of Fife amateur club Hearts of ...

. The club moved to Central Park when it was opened in 1917. A main stand was built in 1921. A record crowd of 25,586 attended a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

tie against Rangers in 1949. Floodlights were first used in 1968, in a match against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. Central Park was also used for

and

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

. It became a

track in 1970, and has since hosted several world championships. Half of the main stand was destroyed by a fire in 1992. The surviving section of this stand is called the West Stand, or the Old Stand. Beside this the ' Alex Menzies Stand' (or New Stand) was opened in March 1995, giving a total seated capacity of 1,622. Along with this the club built new dressing rooms, a board room, function suite, and office facilities. Both stands have a row of floodlight pylons in front of them, which can obstruct supporters views. Three sides of the ground are uncovered terraces.

Greyhound racing

Greyhound racing around Central Park started on 7 July 1928. A 400-yard circumference track had an inside hare and both handicap and level start racing took place. It was an all grass track and distances raced were 289 and 489 yards. Greyhound racing ceased in 1965.

Future

In 2011, there were plans for Cowdenbeath to move to a new stadium, to be located on the outskirts of Cowdenbeath.Cowdenbeath take step towards new stadium

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 11 April 2011

Transport

Cowdenbeath railway station Cowdenbeath railway station is a railway station in the town of Cowdenbeath, Fife, Scotland. The station is managed by ScotRail and is on the Fife Circle Line, north of . The station can be accessed via two steep ramps from either the east si ...

is five minutes' walk from Central Park. The

M90 motorway The M90 is a motorway in Scotland. It runs from Junction 1A of the M9 motorway, south of the Queensferry Crossing, to Perth. It is the northernmost motorway in the United Kingdom. The northern point goes to the western suburbs of Perth at ...

passes near Cowdenbeath, with Central Park reached by leaving the motorway at junction 3, taking the A92 for

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

. The A909 road then leads into Cowdenbeath and free car parking is provided at the ground.

References

; Sources * {{Football in Fife Cowdenbeath F.C. Football venues in Scotland Motorsport venues in Scotland Sports venues in Fife Stock car racing venues Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Scottish Football League venues Scottish Professional Football League venues Sports venues completed in 1917 Greyhound racing in Scotland 1917 establishments in Scotland