City Park was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

ground in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. The ground was used by several clubs, including Edinburgh City, Ferranti Thistle, Hibernian reserves,

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

and Craigroyston.

History

Edinburgh City moved to City Park in 1935 from their Marine Gardens ground.Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) ''The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005'', Yore Publications, p163 The ground was initially an open field, but embankments were built around the pitch, with a grandstand erected on the eastern side. Edinburgh played their first league match at the ground on 12 August 1935, a 3–1 defeat by

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

in front of 1,000 spectators. The record attendance of 5,740 was set for a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () 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 1890. According to a 20 ...

later in the season on 25 January 1936, with the away team winning 3–2. The

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

(SFL) was suspended due to World War II in 1939, and at the end of the war City did not return to the league. The final SFL match at the ground was played on 26 August 1939, a 3–0 win over Morton. After City folded in 1955 due to Edinburgh Corporation refusing to extend their lease, the ground was used by several other clubs. Ferranti Thistle moved to City Park in 1969 after Edinburgh Corporation announced that a new college would be built on their Crewe Toll ground. Ferranti built a new changing room block, and were joined at City Park by Hibernian reserves the following year. However, Ferranti left in 1974 to move to the

Meadowbank Stadium Meadowbank Stadium (officially the Meadowbank Sports Centre) is a multi-purpose sports facility located in the Meadowbank, Edinburgh, Meadowbank area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Built on the site of the earlier New Meadowbank and Old Meadowbank spo ...

after being elected to the SFL, as the ground was no longer deemed fit for the league. In 1976

moved to City Park. Their record attendance at the ground was 3,346, set for a Scottish Cup fourth round match against St Mirren on 5 February 2006. Three years later the club left to move to nearby Ainslie Park. Their final match at the ground was played on 16 May 2009, an

East of Scotland Football League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior association football, football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowlan ...

match against the reformed Edinburgh City. During Spartans' tenure, the ground was also shared with Craigroyston until 1998, before they moved to St Mark's Park. After Spartans left the ground, the site was used for housing despite opposition from local residents who had formed a "Save City Park" group.Green light for City Park development
North Edinburgh News, 26 June 2013

References

{{Football venues in Scotland Defunct football venues in Scotland Edinburgh City F.C. (1928) Livingston F.C. Hibernian F.C. The Spartans F.C. Scottish Football League venues Sports venues in Edinburgh Football venues in Edinburgh