The John Charles Centre for Sport is a sports facility in South

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. It consists of the South Leeds Stadium, Aquatics Centre, Indoor Athletics Centre and Tennis Centre. It was previously named the South Leeds Stadium (although the actual stadium is still known by this name) and was renamed to honour

John Charles William John Charles (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004) was a Welsh footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United and Juventus, he was rated by many as the greatest all-round ...

(1931–2004), the former

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

footballer. It is located to the south of

city centre roughly on the border of Beeston, Belle Isle and

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

. The sports centre opened in 1996, with the Aquatics Centre opening in 2007. The stadium has been used by

for reserve matches, and since November 1995 by rugby league club

. It is the principal athletics stadium in the Leeds area and is the home of Leeds City Athletics Club. The sports complex also includes a

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

centre and indoor

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

and athletics centre. The stadium is one of the best available to clubs at Hunslet's level. The complex is comparable with the

Gateshead International Stadium Gateshead International Stadium (GIS) is a multi-purpose, all-seater venue in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Originally known as the Gateshead Youth Stadium, the venue was built in 1955 at a cost of £30,000. It has since been extensively r ...

Layout

Stadium

The stadium was the first part of the sports centre to be built. It has a two tier stand at the west end of the ground which has a capacity of 4,000. It also houses the changing rooms, corporate boxes and the Phoenix Bar. The stadium has a running track as well as a pitch and is mainly used for rugby league and athletics.

Aquatics Centre

The Aquatics Centre opened on 29 October 2007. The

Olympic size swimming pool An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...

replaced previous facilities at the 40-year-old

Leeds International Pool The Leeds International Pool often referred to as the Leeds International Baths, was a swimming facility in Leeds city centre, West Yorkshire, England. The pool was situated at the lower end of Westgate and was notable for its brutalist architec ...

. Two submersible booms built into the main pool enable it to be divided into three pools of different sizes and depths, allowing a flexible daily swimming programme. A floating floor allows the depth of the diving pool and ⅓ of the main pool to be varied from two metres to shallow water for teaching and 0–5 metres for the diving pool. The centre is also suitable for national and international swimming and diving, with seating for 950 people overlooking the main pool and for 150 overlooking the diving area. The £16.5m centre also includes an

aerobics Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness (flexibility, muscular strength, and cardio-vascular fitness). It ...

studio and multi-use rooms. The movement of the city's main public swimming facilities to South Leeds attracted criticism. It left the city centre deprived of facilities and the new centre is difficult to reach for people without the use of a car. The South Leeds Stadium is also remote for people in north Leeds and outlying villages and towns, although other public sport facilities are available throughout Leeds.

Tennis Centre

The tennis centre at John Charles Centre for Sport consists of 6 indoor courts and 6 outdoor courts. There is also a spectator balcony, changing facilities, meeting room, and cafeteria. The courts are available to hire on a pay and play basis and can be booked up to seven days in advance or eight days in advance by LEEDSCard holders. There are a wide range of tennis sessions available to adults and youths including coaching, individual lessons, social tennis, and competitive league opportunities.

Indoor bowls

The centre has a large indoor bowls complex, this features eight bowls rinks and hosts bowls leagues and tournaments. It is the home venue of Leeds and District Indoor Bowls Club.

Usage

Stadium

Rugby League

The stadium has been home to

since it was opened in 1996. Although the ground is not located in

it is just over the motorway from the club's original home at Parkside. The stadium has also held other rugby league events.

Gaelic Football

The stadium is also used for Gaelic matches for time to time. Teams from all over Yorkshire, Manchester and Ireland compete for a trophy every year.

American Football

Since 2016 the stadium has been home of English American Football club

Yorkshire Rams The Yorkshire Academy Rams (previously the Yorkshire Rams) are an English American football club, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. They are currently playing in BAFANL NFC 1 Central. History The club was founded in 1986 as the Wakefield Wasps ...

. The stadium has also hosted the Championship Games of the

BAFA National Leagues The BAFANL (BAFA National Leagues) are the primary American football domestic League competition in Great Britain. The League is run by the British American Football Association to coordinate contact football within England, Scotland and Wales. ...

Divisions 1 and 2 since 2015.

Aquatics Centre

Swimming

Since April 2008, the City of Leeds Synchronised Swimming Club adopted the facilities as their main centre for training and administration. The club are a regional club which consist of competitive swimmers throughout the whole of the North East. In May 2012, the Dutch and Chinese Olympic Swimming Teams announced that they would train at the centre in the lead up to the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Diving

The centre is the primary training facility for the ''City of Leeds Diving Club'' and is responsible for producing some of the best divers in the country who have been chosen to compete at an international and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

level. The club has trained a number of successful athletes including

Rebecca Gallantree Rebecca Gallantree (born 19 August 1984 in Chelmsford, Essex) is a British diver. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's synchronized 3 metre springboard. With Alicia Blagg Alicia Jane Blagg (born 21 October 19 ...

Alicia Blag Alicia may refer to: People * Alicia (given name), list of people with this name * Alisha (singer) (born 1968), US pop singer * Melinda Padovano (born 1987), a professional wrestler, known by her ring name, Alicia Places * Alicia, Bohol, Ph ...

Dan Goodfellow Daniel Goodfellow (born 19 October 1996) is a British diver, two-time Commonwealth champion and Olympic bronze medalist. He first represented Great Britain as a senior at the 2013 European Diving Championships in the 10 m platform event and ...

and

Matty Lee Matthew Lee (born 5 March 1998) is a British diver and Olympic gold medallist. Adept in both individual and synchronised diving, and across both 3-metre springboard and platform, Lee won the gold medal in 10-metre platform at the 2015 Europ ...

as well as Great Britain's first ever diving gold medallists

Jack Laugher Jack David Laugher ( ; born 30 January 1995) is a British diver competing for Great Britain and England. A specialist on springboard, he competes in individual springboard events, and in synchronised events with Chris Mears, Daniel Goodfello ...

and Chris Mears.

Underwater Hockey

The Aquatics Centre hosted the 2022

British Octopush Association British Octopush Association (BOA) is the governing body for underwater hockey (also known as Octopush) in the United Kingdom (UK). Organisation The BOA is an organisation based on individual members rather than on clubs. It is managed by a comm ...

Student Nationals won by the

University of Plymouth The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

.https://m.facebook.com/events/159356375490827/

2010 election

The centre was used as the venue to count the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

votes in 2010 for all Leeds constituencies. Previously

Leeds Town Hall Leeds Town Hall is a 19th-century municipal building on The Headrow (formerly Park Lane), Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Planned to include law courts, a council chamber, offices, a public hall, and a suite of ceremonial rooms, it was built be ...

was used for this purpose. In

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

this function was moved to the

First Direct Arena The First Direct Arena (also known as the Leeds Arena) is an entertainment-focused indoor arena located in the Arena Quarter of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is the first in the United Kingdom to have a fan-shaped orientation. The arena o ...

Map

References

External links

Yorkshire Rams homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:John Charles Centre For Sport Rugby league stadiums in England Hunslet R.L.F.C. Leeds United F.C. Football venues in England Swimming venues in England Athletics (track and field) venues in England Sports venues in Leeds Sports venues completed in 1996 American football venues in the United Kingdom 1996 establishments in England

Layout

Stadium

Aquatics Centre

Tennis Centre

Indoor bowls

Usage

Stadium

Rugby League

Gaelic Football

American Football

Aquatics Centre

Swimming

Diving

Underwater Hockey

2010 election

Map

See also

References

External links