The Showgrounds is a stadium in Sligo, which has been home of

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

since Rovers were formed in 1928.

Overview

The Showgrounds was leased until 1968 when it was then purchased for Sligo Rovers by a trust foundation representing the people of

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

. Under the terms of the purchase it can never be mortgaged, sold or used for any commercial purposes other than sport and leisure. The Showgrounds is a 12 acre (49,000 m²) site with the stadium capacity of 3,873

seats A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair equ ...

. On 8 November 1978 Sligo opened their new covered accommodation on the Jinks Avenue in a

FAI League Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited ...

semi final against

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 ...

. In November 2001 the new main stand was opened to the public for the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

fixture with St. Patrick's Athletic. The stand accommodates 1,853 seats, although there is available capacity for further seating. It has been built in cantilever style to ensure there is no obstructed view. The Showgrounds was revamped in winter 2006 with the demolition of the ground's most famous "Shed". This was followed by the demolition of the ground's old famous turnstiles. New state of the art turnstiles were built along with front offices. In March 2009 work was finished on a new club shop which is open on match nights. This is situated on the Tracey Avenue Stand side. In May 2009 the Showgrounds had some major upgrading work done to enable the club to compete in the 2009-10 UEFA Europa League. This work included the building of a new fully tarred car park, along with upgrading work to both all seater stands. An extra 200 seats were added to the Red Stand and also new seating was put into the jinks side of the ground. This work brought the seating capacity of the ground up to 2,700 which was required for competing in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. In July 2012 a new stand was completed at the Railway End consisting of 1,323 seats. In the 2016 domestic league season, the

drew an average home attendance of 2,087, the fourth-highest in the league. As of 18 May 2021.

Future development

In the future there are plans to demolish the Jinks Avenue Stand and build a new 2,000 seater stand in its place. There are also plans to add a roof to the new Railway End and replace the old shed end with a new stand, though these plans are only in the pipeline. In May 2021 Rovers unveiled a €17 million plan to redevelop Showgrounds into a 6,000 capacity seater stadium, upgrading the facility to UEFA category 3. The redevelopment plan included a provisional agreement, which would see

Connacht Rugby Connacht Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Connachta) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Con ...

also use the ground for competitions. Sligo Rovers FC stadium and Knappagh Road - geograph

Record attendance

*13,908 FAI Cup semi-final replay: Sligo Rovers v

Cobh Ramblers Cobh Ramblers Football Club (CRFC) ( ga, Cumann Peile Chóstóirí Chóbh) is an Irish football club. The club, founded in 1922 and elected to the League of Ireland in 1985, hails from Cobh, County Cork and play their home matches at St. Colm ...

, 17 April 1983

Other uses

The Showgrounds hosted

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 ...

from c.1934 - c.1947, which was initially run by the Sligo Greyhound Racing Company. The North-Western Greyhound Association applied for a licence in September 1945 which was granted by the Irish Coursing Club to James Costello. The racing seems to have ended during 1947.

References

External links

The Showgrounds
Irish Football Grounds
The Showgrounds History
Sligo Rovers FC
The Showgrounds: Home of Sligo Rovers FC
Independent and unofficial website of Sligo Rovers FC {{Greyhound stadiums in Ireland Association football venues in the Republic of Ireland Sligo Rovers F.C. Sports venues in County Sligo Sport in Sligo (town) Defunct greyhound racing venues in Ireland