Twickenham Stoop Stadium (informally referred to as The Stoop) is a sports stadium located in south-west London, England. The stadium is home to Harlequins rugby union team, who play in the Gallagher Premiership. The stadium has a capacity of 14,800 and is situated just across the road from

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team play ...

History

Harlequins before the Stoop

In 1906, Harlequins were invited by the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

to use the new national stadium in Twickenham. In those early days, only one or two internationals at most were played there during the season, and it wasn't long before the RFU ground became the headquarters of the Harlequin Football Club.

Early days

In 1963, Harlequins acquired an athletics ground with 14 acres (57,000 m²), sited just across the road from the RFU ground, which became the Harlequins training pitch. The ground was for many years named the Stoop Memorial Ground after

Adrian Stoop Adrian Stoop (27 March 1883 – 27 November 1957)
Scrum.com was an

, a former

England international The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...

, longtime Harlequins player, and club president. In 2005, the club formally renamed it as Twickenham Stoop Stadium, but it is colloquially known simply as The Stoop, with even the Harlequins' official website frequently using the informal name.

The stadium today

Aerial view of Twickenham Stadium and Twickenham Stoop 2016-05-23

Charles Stanley Stand

Constructed for the start of the 2005–06 season, the Charles Stanley Stand (West Stand) is the Stoop's main stand, with a capacity of approximately 4,000. This stand has the changing rooms, a row of executive boxes across the top of the stand, a Members' Bar, the club's offices, toilets and a club shop. At the top of the stand under the roof there is also a scoreboard and a gantry where the television cameras populate.

DHL Stand

The

DHL DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. DHL ...

Stand (East Stand) has a capacity of approximately 4,000 and has a row of corporate boxes across the top. The East Stand was the first to be constructed as part of the 1997 redevelopment of The Stoop. A score board also hangs under the roof. The stand has toilets, the main public bar, Debenture Lounge and Players' Lounge. The area is also home to the "Mighty Quins Village" which is an area for children which consists of bouncy castle and face painting. The main public bar also has a stage where a live band performs after matches.

South Stand

The South Stand was opened for the 2009–10 season. It has new toilets, a real ale bar, the Quins Head, which sells Greene King IPA and guest ales and a club shop. The back of the stand also has a clock for the match.

North Stand

The North Stand is a temporary structure with an estimated life of 10 years, and is the most recent to be developed for the 2011–12 season. It houses approximately 2,000 and is the only stand with supporting pillars. There is a time clock to the top left of the stand. The corner of the North and IG Stand has a memorial for

Nick Duncombe Nick Duncombe (21 January 1982 – 14 February 2003) was an English rugby union footballer who played for Harlequins and England. Earmarked as a promising youngster since his time in the England youth teams, Duncombe was the England senior t ...

who was a promising scrum half for Harlequins and won two caps for England. He also played for the England Sevens team in the 2002 Commonwealth Games. He died of meningitis in 2003.

Redevelopment

The ground's official name changed in July 2005 from the Stoop Memorial Ground to Twickenham Stoop Stadium. The club owns the ground freehold through its subsidiary Harlequin Estates (Twickenham) Limited. According to the 2012 annual report submitted by the club's operating company to

Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are i ...

, in 2010 external valuers placed the combined value of the land and buildings at £27.19 million on a depreciated replacement cost basis. In an interview with the fans website on 23 April 2012, the Chief Executive, David Ellis confirmed that an architect has visited the club and given ideas on possible improvement and further expansion of The Stoop which will be further considered if Harlequins can sell out nine or ten games a season in comparison with the six games sold out in the 2011–12 season. David Ellis also said there are some immediate concerns for development such as increasing the size of the debenture lounge and the members bar. He also mentioned the queues for drinks at the bars are too long so that will be looked into as well. On 5 September 2012 Harlequins announced that they had begun a programme of significant investment in upgrading Twickenham Stoop Stadium. All four of the stands have been deep cleaned, this has included the installation of anti-roosting netting that features an unobtrusive fine mesh, secured high in the stands that will prevent damage to the seats and decking caused by the local

pigeon Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

population. Replacement of the broken or sun-bleached seating has also commenced and eventually all seating will be replaced block by block in a rolling programme over the coming seasons. The public areas of the stands, including the toilets, are also in the process of being decorated and upgraded. Four new turnstiles have been constructed at Gate 3 by the corner of the South and Etihad Stand to improve access and a new PA system to improve sound quality throughout the stadium. The hospitality facilities in the Etihad and LV= Stands have also undergone renovations and redecorations. Among the major improvements about to begin is the resurfacing of the North car park.

Current redevelopment plans

In November 2017, Harlequins unveiled plans to build a new state-of-the-art 25,000-seat stadium on the same Twickenham site. The project is being led by architects Populous, designers of the

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the home of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in north London, replacing the club's previous ground, White Hart Lane. With a seating capacity of 62,850, it is the third-largest football stadium in England and the ...

– the largest club stadium in London. The redevelopment is expected to cost in the region of £50m. Concrete plans have not yet been released, and consultation with the local community and

Richmond Council Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council is the Local government, local authority for the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London, the United Kingdom capital. Richm ...

is currently ongoing.

Rugby League

In 1995–96 and again from 1997 to 1999, the

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

club,

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

, joined Harlequins at The Stoop, and they returned again in 2006–2013, becoming

Harlequins RL The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

. In 2006 the stadium held a Harlequins rugby union match and a Harlequins rugby league game on the same day. The rugby union match was played first, and in just a few hours the stadium was switched over for the Super League match. This involved changing field markings, advertising boardings and such. Between 2006 and 2011, The Stoop hosted the annual

Rugby League Varsity Match The Rugby League Varsity Match is an annual rugby league match between Cambridge University and Oxford University. The first Varsity match took place on Sunday 26 April 1981 at Craven Cottage. Past winners See also * Student Rugby Leagu ...

between Oxford University and Cambridge University. On 24 October 2009 the ground hosted the second match of the

2009 Rugby League Four Nations The 2009 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (officially known as the Gillette (brand), Gillette Four Nations due to sponsorship) was the first Rugby League Four Nations since its expansion from the Rugby League Tri-Nations, Tri-Nations tournamen ...

between world champions

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and defending tournament champions (in Tri-Nations mode),

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

which resulted in a 20-all draw, 12,360 people attended the game making it the largest rugby league crowd at the venue beating the

1997 World Club Championship The 1997 World Club Championship was an expansion of the World Club Challenge concept by Super League. The rugby competition was restructured to include all 22 clubs from the Australasian Super League (Australia), Super League and the Super Leag ...

match between the

and

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

where 7,819 people attended.

Women's International Rugby Union

The ground played host to the final of the

2010 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was the sixth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in England. The International Rugby Board Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limite ...

. 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 ...

, it began hosting what was intended to be an annual event in the

World Rugby Women's Sevens Series The World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby sevens tournaments for women's national teams run by World Rugby. The inaugural series was held in 2012–13 as the successor to the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup held ...

. All matches were held at The Stoop except for the third-place match and Cup final, which were played at Twickenham Stadium. However, the Women's Sevens Series did not return to London for 2015–16. The Stoop has become a regular venue for England Women's games, hosting Six Nations games and Autumn International Series games. On 17 January 2016 The Stoop hosted the Women's Premiership final, for the first time.

Concert venue

In the Summer of 2017, The Stoop hosted its first music concerts, with the aim of diversifying the range of events hosted, establishing itself as a music venue, as well as sports. The Stoop has hosted artists such as

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

and

Little Mix Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ver ...

References

External links

Twickenham Stoop Stadium
at Google Maps.
The Stoop on Worldstadia.comHarlequins Rugby League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoop, The Rugby union stadiums in London Rugby league stadiums in London Sports venues in London Harlequin F.C. Defunct rugby league venues in England London Broncos Sport in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Twickenham Rugby union stadiums in England