Morton Stadium, or the National Athletics Stadium, is an athletics stadium in

Santry Santry () is a suburb on the northside of Dublin, Ireland, bordering Coolock, Glasnevin, Kilmore and Ballymun. It straddles the boundary of Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council jurisdictions. The character of the area has changed ...

Demesne,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Often called Santry Stadium, it is the centre for athletics events in Dublin city and the home track of

Clonliffe Harriers {{Use Irish English, date=February 2022 Clonliffe Harriers is a Dublin-based athletics club. They were founded in 1886, and are the oldest athletic club in Ireland. They have been based in Morton Stadium since the 1950s. The club has top-class int ...

. It has also been the home ground for several Irish association football clubs including Shamrock Rovers and Dublin City. The modern capacity of the ground is 8,800, with a single 800-seat covered stand.

History

1958–1970

Athletics

The stadium was opened in 1958 with a cinder track. An inaugural series of meetings was held, and on 6 August 1958, Australian

Herb Elliott Herbert James Elliott (born 25 February 1938) is a former Australian athlete and arguably the world's greatest middle distance runner of his era. In August 1958 he set the List of world records in athletics, world record in the mile run, clock ...

shattered the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

for the

mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...

with a time of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds. This was the first race in which five athletes had run a

four-minute mile A four-minute mile is the completion of a mile run (1609 m) in four minutes or less. It was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister, at age 25, in 3:59.4. As of April 2021, the "four-minute barrier" has been broken by 1,663 athletes, and is n ...

Cycling

Billy Morton, the businessman and administrator who started the track development for running, decided to arrange a cycling event in 1959, inspired by the progress of Ireland's first continental racing star, and only professional cyclist, Shay Elliott. He persuaded

Lord Moyne Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, Distinguished Service Order, DSO Medal bar, & Bar, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (29 March 1880 – 6 November 1944), was an Anglo-Irish politician and businessman. He served as the Br ...

, then Chairman of

Guinness plc St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...

to pay for a banked cycle racing track, in tarmac, in celebration of the company's 200th anniversary. He then secured contractors to build it in just six weeks, after Lord Moyne turned the first sod on 1 May. The track was built around the running track, 515 yards long and 25 feet wide. Morton, with help from the CRE, also arranged for a small number of European cycling professionals to come for the headline race, with an "undercard" of Irish amateur riders. His achievements saw him voted as one of Ireland's "ten most popular public figures" by readers of the

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

. The professional race featured was headlined by

Fausto Coppi Angelo Fausto Coppi (; 15 September 1919 – 2 January 1960) was an Italian cyclist, the dominant international cyclist of the years after the World War II, Second World War. His successes earned him the title ''Il Campionissimo'' ("Champio ...

, as well as Elliott, Brian Robinson, André Darrigade, Albert Bouvet and Roger Hassenforder. At 4 a.m. on 15 June, the stadium was damaged when a bomb exploded across the road; the Republican movement denied responsibility, stating "no member of the movement was involved in this affair" and some blamed the longstanding feud between the internationally-recognised CRE and another cycling group, the NCA. The stadium was repaired and the race meeting proceeded the same day, with Elliott winning the sprint, Darrigarde the points race, and then Elliott and Coppi facing off for the 4000m individual pursuit, which Elliott won at a time of 5:07. Christy Kimmage won among the amateurs. The cycling track had fallen into disrepair by the late 1960s, and was later removed.

1970–present

In 1978 the stadium was resurfaced with a

tartan track Tartan Track is a trademarked all-weather synthetic track surfacing made of polyurethane used for track and field competitions, manufactured by 3M. It lets athletes compete in bad weather without serious performance loss and improves their resu ...

, making it the second such facility in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, after the now-defunct UCD track at Belfield. In the early 1990s it was renamed after Billy Morton, the administrator who had initiated the original track and who brought famous athletes to compete in the stadium. It hosted the athletics events of the

Special Olympics World Games The Special Olympics World Games also known as Special Olympiad are an international sporting event for participants with intellectual disabilities, organized by the IOC-recognised Special Olympics organization. Principles Although local Speci ...

in 2003. On 25 July 2008, a special event was held in the stadium, the Morton Memorial Meeting, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the aforementioned world mile record in an event promoted by Billy Morton. The event website is www.mortonmemorial.com where there are photos of the 1958 event. The track (both indoor and outdoor) was re-laid in late 2010. The indoor track is now blue.

Facilities

The stadium consists of a small covered

stand Stand or The Stand may refer to: * To assume the upright position of standing * Forest stand, a group of trees * Area of seating in a stadium, such as bleachers * Stand (cricket), a relationship between two players * Stand (drill pipe), 2 or 3 ...

with 800 seats and three sides of open terracing, bringing the total capacity up to 4,000. The stand encompasses dressing rooms and other facilities; there are also separate clubhouses for the associated clubs. The stadium complex also has

indoor athletics Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

training facilities.

Usage

Morton Stadium is the centre for athletics events in Dublin city. It is also the home track for the

athletics club. The stadium hosts

Shelbourne Ladies F.C. Shelbourne Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Shíol Bhroin) is an Irish association football club based in Northside, Dublin. It is the women's section of the League of Ireland club Shelbourne FC. The senior women's team currently plays in the ...

and

Drumcondra F.C. Drumcondra Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Drumcondra, Dublin. Once one of the most successful clubs in Ireland in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, with a strong rivalry with Shamrock Rovers since the 1920s, they fell ...

, and has also been home ground for

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

(from 1999–2001), Dublin City, Raheny United F.C. and the now-defunct Sporting Fingal F.C. American Football games have also been held here. ;Rugby League

References

External links

Morton Stadium
from Clonliffe Harriers websiteThe domain clonliffeharriers.com is currently (6 Jul 2020) for sale, and is effectively a dead link for this purpose {{coord, 53.401179, -6.245063, type:landmark, display=title Shamrock Rovers F.C. Athletics (track and field) venues in the Republic of Ireland Association football venues in the Republic of Ireland Sports venues in Fingal Drumcondra F.C. Association football venues in County Dublin Raheny United F.C. 1958 establishments in Ireland Sporting Fingal F.C. American football venues in the Republic of Ireland