The White City Stadium, officially known as the Sloper Road Stadium, and colloquially known as Welsh White City Stadium or Ninian Stadium, was a former

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 ...

and

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

stadium, on Sloper Road in the Grangetown area of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Speedway

History

The

Greyhound Racing Association The Greyhound Racing Association was a UK-based private company founded in 1925 and existed until 2019. It was involved in the management of sports venues, notably greyhound racing stadia. The GRA was responsible for introducing Greyhound racing ...

(GRA) purchased open land on Sloper Road opposite the Ninian Park Primary School and Sevenoaks Park, an area covered today by housing and retail buildings as the site for the stadium. The stadium name White City originated because the GRA surrounded the arena with white concrete walls and raised terracing capable of holding over 40,000 people and the name had already caught on following the success of their sister track

White City White City may refer to: Places Australia * White City, Perth, an amusement park on the Perth foreshore * White City railway station, a former railway station * White City Stadium (Sydney), a tennis centre in Sydney * White City FC, a football clu ...

in London. The GRA (South Wales) erected six kennel blocks under the grandstand capable of housing 180 dogs. The White City Stadium, also known as Sloper Road or the Welsh White City opened on Easter Saturday 1928 but persistent rain fell resulting in only 9,000 spectators turning up. The first hurdle event was declared a no-race because the dogs fought each other and none of them completed the 470 yard trip. Fine weather returned on the Easter Monday and 25,000 people paid either 2s 4d or 5/-to get into the stadium. The track held the prestigious

Welsh Greyhound Derby The Welsh Greyhound Derby was a former classic greyhound competition held in Wales. It was held at the White City Stadium in Cardiff from 1928 to 1937. After the closure of this stadium the race switched to the Cardiff Arms Park from 1945 until 1 ...

which eventually became a classic race in 1971 and formed part of the triple crown along with the

English Greyhound Derby The English Greyhound Derby is the most prestigious race on the British Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, greyhound racing calendar, with a history stretching back to 1927. It was first held at White City Stadium, but moved to Wimbledon ...

and

Scottish Greyhound Derby The Scottish Greyhound Derby was an original classic greyhound competition held at Shawfield Stadium. Held at Carntyne Stadium from 1928 to 1968, after the closure of Carntyne the race appeared at Shawfield from 1970 until 1985. In 1988 the Gre ...

. Mick the Miller appeared at the track in the early years; it was in August 1929 that he lost to local favourite Back Isle in a match race before gaining revenge back in London one week later. Back Isle won the Welsh Derby that year but Mick the Miller arrived one year later for a tilt at the competition. On 29 July 1930 he won his first round and then produced two national records in the semi-finals and final. The GRA realised that they were fighting a losing battle to compete with the rival

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British E ...

that was in a better location in the city and was gaining larger attendances so they decided to put the stadium up for sale. The stadium was sold to the

Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...

steel works in 1937.

Competitions

Track records

References

{{Motorcycle speedway tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct sports venues in Wales Demolished buildings and structures in Wales Greyhound racing in Wales Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom Grangetown, Cardiff Defunct speedway venues in Wales