Jenner Park is the premier sports stadium in

Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Barry ( cy, Y Barri; ) is a town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, on the north coast of the Bristol Channel approximately south-southwest of Cardiff. Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the resurrected Bar ...

, Wales and traditional home of

football club A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...

, Barry Town United.

Overview

Jenner Park occupies the space of land between

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

's Gladstone Road and Barry Road and has been the setting for the evolution of Barry's senior football club for more than 100 years, as well as hosting

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

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 ...

and other attractions over the decades. Named after the Jenner family, who donated the land, the ground was built by the Barry football enthusiasts for their representative side to compete at the highest possible level and was completed between the landmark meeting of 1912 and the opening fixture of 1913–14. Among the most notable Barry matches played at Jenner Park have been European ties, domestic cup finals, major semi-finals and quarter-finals,

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

fixtures, televised matches, testimonials, high-scoring thrillers and friendlies against high-profile opposition. The final of the

2018–19 Welsh League Cup The 2018–19 Welsh League Cup (known for sponsorship purposes as The Nathaniel MG Cup) was the 27th season of the Welsh League cup competition, which was established in 1992. Played under a regionalised, knock-out format, the 2018–19 competit ...

was played at the ground between

Cardiff Metropolitan University , image_name = Shield of Cardiff Metropolitan University.svg , image_size = 150px , motto = cy, Gorau Meddiant Gwybodaeth , mottoeng = The most valuable possession is knowledge , established = 2011 – Car ...

and Cambrian & Clydach Vale B. & G.C. with the Mets winning 2–0. Comprised initially of two wooden stands, popular bank terracing was added in 1923 and floodlights added in the 1940s, allowing Jenner Park to host Wales' first ever floodlit football match between

and Newport in 1949–50. During the 1980s, the local council rebuilt

Jenner Park Jenner Park is a central district of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan 14 miles outside Cardiff in South Wales. It is home to the Jenner Park Stadium, which is the football ground of Barry Town F.C. Barry Town United Football Club ( cy, Clw ...

, installing a synthetic running track, a new all-seater stand and improved floodlights. Then, to bring

up to

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

standards, a second covered stand was built in the mid-1990s, boosting the

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

to 2,500. This was increased to over 6,000 for the visits of

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and

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in 1996 with the use of temporary

bleachers Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a row ...

behind each goal; a practice no longer permitted. Recent years have seen the addition of a special viewing area for wheelchair users in the grandstand (known colloquially as the 'Old Stand'), accessible via the stadium's Devon Avenue entrance. Most recently, August 2015 saw work undertaken on installing a new, state-of-the-art

3G pitch Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commerc ...

, completed in October 2015. Wales manager Chris Coleman was on hand for the official opening.

Greyhound racing

In 1928 the football club attempted to bring greyhound racing to Jenner Park, but the council rejected the plans put in by Alderman Councillor C.B. Griffiths OBE. However, on 26 August 1932, the plans were finally passed despite opposition from the local clergy. The first meeting took place on 3 September 1932. The profits created by the racing enabled the survival of the football team during a lean spell for the club before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war Jenner Park was bought by the Welsh Greyhound Association (WGA) £5,000 with the proviso that football could continue. The football team were given free tenancy and a Saturday slot for their matches. The ownership switched to the Aberdare Greyhound Association in July 1955, and during the same year the council acquired the ground and put an end to the greyhound racing.

References

External links

* {{Welsh greyhound tracks Buildings and structures in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Football venues in Wales Stadiums in Wales Athletics (track and field) venues in Wales Sports venues completed in 1913 1913 establishments in Wales Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Greyhound racing in Wales

Overview

Greyhound racing

See also

References

External links