Cliftonhill Stadium, commonly known as Cliftonhill and currently 'The Reigart Stadium' for sponsorship purposes, is a
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 ...
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 ...
in
Coatbridge
Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbrid ...
Scottish Professional Football League
The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As ...
Rovers moved from Meadow Park to Cliftonhill in 1919, with the new ground opening on 25 December. The Main Stand sits high on a rise above Main Street and was built in the same season as their only
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rangers. Floodlighting was installed at the ground in October 1968.
During the 1990s it looked likely that Albion Rovers would leave Cliftonhill to share a stadium with local rivals
Airdrieonians
Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...
. However opposition from Rovers fans, the local population and others, saw that move fall through. The club considered other options to sell the ground and build a new stadium elsewhere in the town, but these were not taken forward for a variety of reasons, including an unsympathetic local authority, and the club currently has no plans to leave Cliftonhill. The original floodlighting system came from
Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...
, when it was demolished to make way for the
Millennium Stadium
The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national r ...
. In 2006 the front entrance and main stand featured in a UK television advert for Flash. Currently, it contains a club shop which opens one hour prior to home first team matches.
In 2007, Cliftonhill was subject to repeated vandalism.
At the start of the 2016–17 season, Rovers announced a deal with local IT and communications firm Exsel Group that would see the stadium re-branded as the 'Exsel Group Stadium' for at least one season.
Structure and facilities
The Main Stand and paddock, and a terracing behind the goal of the 'Airdrie End' of the ground (the latter installed in 2015), are the only parts of the stadium normally available for spectators. The sizeable, partly covered terrace on the opposite side of the main stand is currently closed to all fans. The capacity of the stadium rose to 1,572 when the Airdrie End terracing was installed.
The dimensions of the pitch are .
Other uses
In addition to football, Cliftonhill has in the past staged speedway,
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. Tr ...
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 or ...
.
Speedway
The stadium, which had been identified as a potential venue in the 1950s, became the home of Edinburgh Monarchs speedway team in 1968. The renamed Coatbridge Monarchs raced in 1969 but closed when the track licence was sold to
Wembley Lions
The Wembley Lions were an English ice hockey team.
History
The team were founded in 1934 but showed a continuity with the London Lions team which had played at various venues since 1924. The Wembley team were based at the newly built Empire ...
. The stadium hosted Glasgow Tigers from 1973 to mid season 1977 when the promotion moved to
Blantyre Greyhound Stadium
Blantyre Greyhound Stadium was a greyhound racing and speedway stadium in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, near Glasgow.
The track opened on 6 October 1933 as an independent (unlicensed) track and was popular with the miners from the pit well an ...
. The move prompted by a desire to replace the speedway track with a greyhound track.
The original speedway track was unusual as the bends were laid out on the terracing at either end giving the track extremely banked bends.
Greyhound racing
Cliftonhill was first used for greyhound racing on 11 December 1931. The racing was independent (unlicensed) and a greyhound called Song of Love was the first ever winner over 380 yards. The track closed in the mid-fifties before opening again twenty years later during September 1977. The new circumference was 400 metres and race distances were 300, 500 and 700 yards, the main race was the Coatbridge Derby. Greyhound racing ceased for good during 1988.