The Salford Community Stadium is a rugby stadium in Barton-upon-Irwell, England, built to replace Salford rugby league club's ground

the Willows The Willows may refer to: Places * The Willows, El Paso, Texas, USA * The Willows, Queensland, a town in Australia * The Willows, Salford, home of Salford Rugby League club in Salford, England, UK * The Willows, Saskatoon, a residential community ...

for the 2012 season.

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

rugby union club have also played at the stadium since the 2012–13 season.

Development and financing

In 2005, Salford City Council approved plans for the Reds to move from the Willows to the

brownfield site In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

at Barton. The stadium was originally to be developed by Red City Developments, with construction to be complete for the start of the 2009 season. However, RCD went into administration in July 2008. Salford City Council formed a joint venture company with Peel Group to develop and deliver the £16 million stadium, which is part of the a £26 million development close to the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the river ...

and the M60 motorway. Planning permission was granted in March 2010 for a 15,000-capacity stadium. Sale Sharks confirmed their move to the stadium in April 2012, signing a 25-year lease. In 2013, Peel Group and Salford City Council each lent £600,000 in emergency funding to the stadium. The council is still owed £20 million for building the stadium, and is already owed £1.5m by the Salford City Reds who play at the stadium. In 2014, SCC and Peel lent a further £410,724 to the stadium.

AJ Bell Stadium

On 13 September 2013, it was announced that investment platform

AJ Bell AJ Bell is a British public limited company that provides online investment platforms and stockbroker services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company was formed in Manchester ...

had secured a nine-year stadium naming rights partnership with Sale Sharks Rugby Club. The deal saw Salford City Stadium re-branded and renamed AJ Bell Stadium. The deal concluded following the 2022-23 rugby union season, and the stadium has since reverted to its original name.

Facilities

The stadium capacity (since inception} has accommodated a crowd of 12,000. However, with further construction, the space exists to expand the capacity to 20,000 spectators.. The stadium has areas designated for standing supporters. This partial-standing design is similar to the Halliwell Jones Stadium, home of Warrington RLFC. Salford City Stadium - Home of Salford Reds RLFC - geograph

Salford City Stadium - Home of Salford Reds RLFC - geograph

There are four stands: *West Stand (main stand) including changing rooms, media centre, hospitality boxes, banqueting suite; capacity 4,500 *Places2Be Stand (North) – all-standing, usually the away end; capacity 2,500 *Printerland.co.uk Stand (East) - all seating, capacity 2,500 *AO Stand (South/THE SHED)– all-standing, home to hardcore Reds fans; identical to the North Stand, capacity 2,500 The seats in the West and East Stands are red (for Salford) and blue (for Sale). The development also includes offices, player facilities, concessions, community resources and two community outdoor sport pitches, a gym and the Sale Sharks Club Shop.

Events

Rugby league

The Reds played their first league game at the new stadium against Castleford on 4 February 2012; Castleford won 10–24. The 2012

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

Semi Final was held at the stadium on 15 July 2012 – Warrington beat Huddersfield 33–6. The

2012 Autumn International Series The 2012 Autumn International Series is a rugby league tri-series between England, France 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 ...

Final took place at the stadium on 11 November 2012, attendance was 7,921. On 7 November 2013 the stadium hosted the

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was ...

match between Scotland and

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. A crowd of 6,041 watched Scotland beat the USA 22 – 8. Summary List of test and International tournament matches played at AJ Bell Stadium since its opening in 2012.

Rugby union

Sale Sharks' first game at the stadium was a friendly on 24 August 2012 against

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

, which ended 10–10. Their first competitive game was against

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

on 8 September 2012. The score was Sale 16–23 Saracens and the attendance was 7,451. The stadium served as one of the two venues for the

2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the ninth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in England by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations took part in the tournamen ...

. England beat Ireland 45-21 in the final at the stadium.

2025 Rugby World Cup

In August 2023, the stadium was confirmed as one of eight host venues for the

2025 Rugby World Cup The 2025 Rugby World Cup will be the tenth edition of the women's Rugby World Cup, as organized by World Rugby. It is scheduled to be held in England. It will be the second women's Rugby Union World Cup to be hosted by England, after the 2010 ed ...

. During the tournament, it will be known as The Salford Community Stadium.

Other sports

American football

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. ...

side

Manchester Titans The Manchester Titans are an American football team based in Manchester, England, that competes in the BAFA National Leagues Premier Division North, the highest level of British American Football. The team operate from the National Speedway St ...

held a trial game at the Stadium against

Crewe Railroaders The Crewe Railroaders are an American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field w ...

on 1 June 2014. It was stated that they could hold future fixtures inside the stadium if the trial was successful. The Titans beat the Railroaders 69–0 and the attendance was 1,349.

Association football

For the 2013–14 season,

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

have announced their under-21 team will be playing all their home games at the stadium. The stadium also hosted

England women The England women's cricket team represents England and Wales in international women's cricket. Since 1998, they have been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by the Women's Cricket Association ...

's Euro 2013 qualifying match against the Netherlands on 17 June 2012.

Attendances

Notes

References

External links

AJ Bell Stadium official website

Salford City Reds get new Barton stadium go-ahead
BBC Sport, 19 August 2010
2012 – The Future of History
Salford City Reds {{DEFAULTSORT:AJ Bell Stadium Sports venues in Salford Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Kingdom Salford Red Devils Rugby union stadiums in England Rugby league stadiums in England Rugby League World Cup stadiums The Peel Group Sale Sharks American football venues in the United Kingdom Ship canals