The Hazelwood Centre is a rugby union ground and sports facility in Sunbury-on-Thames in the English county of Surrey. The facility serves as the home of

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

with the clubs' administrative offices being based here. The professional side use the facility for training, Premiership Rugby Shield matches and pre-season friendlies. London Irish Amateur Rugby Football Club train and play all home games here.

History and setting

Having replaced the facility at

The Avenue The Avenue was a rugby union stadium and training pitches in Sunbury-on-Thames that belonged to the English club London Irish since 1931 when the team bought its . The team moved one season to the Stoop Memorial Ground thereafter to Madjeski ...

, the fields sit in the club's natural green-buffered 63-acre holding. The previous owner of this parcel of

Metropolitan Green Belt The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a s ...

was a golf club (supporting its driving range and nine hole-course). A remnant of its landscaping is a small, professionally-planted pondside reserve.

Facilities

Overview

The site has four full-size grass pitches, one full size synthetic (4G) pitch and twelve junior pitches plus a long clubhouse. The northern end of the clubhouse contains changing facilities for the amateur clubs plus a function room and conference room. The southern end of the clubhouse is used by the professional side and features their changing room, gym and administrative facilities. A shop for amateur team merchandise is within the building.

Wider training use

The facilities have been built to world-class specification and are regularly used by community groups including the GAA. It was also an approved training based for the 2015 Rugby World Cup being used by

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, Fiji,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The New York Jets,

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

and Arizona Cardinals,

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

and Houston Texans NFL teams also trained here ahead of their NFL London Games in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively; London Irish reciprocated the Jets' agreement by using their facilities ahead of their premiership match in the United States in 2016.

Events

Hospitality, including the bar, is open to local residents for much of the week. Fireworks annually and fundraising events are held during the year, including comedy nights. On Saturday mornings green verges around the pitches host the local

Parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

References

{{coord, 51.407071, N, 0.420020, W, display=title Sports venues in Surrey Rugby union stadiums in England