Riverside Stadium, formerly the YMCA Grounds, was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in Drumahoe,

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It is the former home ground of

Institute F.C. Institute Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional association football club playing in the NIFL Championship. The club, founded in 1905, currently play their home matches at the Brandywell Stadium, Derry. Club colours are sky blue a ...

of the NIFL. The stadium held 3,110 people with 1,540 seated. In 1980, a site at Drumahoe was purchased jointly by the Presbyterian Working Men's Institute (of which Institute was the football team) and the local YMCA. The new football grounds were not opened officially until January 1985, but Institute had been playing at the YMCA Grounds since 1980. The development of a stadium began in 1995 when the club established a committee to plan its development with a view to gaining entry to the Irish League B Division, the top level of intermediate football. The ground was enclosed by a new security fence, and new changing rooms, toilets, facilities for disabled fans, rooms for hospitality and a shop, and two new turnstiles were added and admission to the B Division was achieved in 1996. A second phase of development resulted in the erection of a new 300-seater stand and floodlights. This was enough to gain senior status with admission to the Irish League First Division in 1999. In May 2008, the club secured £800,000 worth of funding for improvements to the ground. In May 2009, the club installed new floodlights at each corner of the ground, and in November 2010, more ground development began, involving the building of a new 800-seater stand at one of the goal-mouths. This work was completed in August 2011.BBC NEWS , Northern Ireland , Foyle and West , £800K stadium boost for Institute
/ref> Severe flooding through the North-West of Northern Ireland on the evening of 22 August 2017 devastated Institute when the ground was destroyed by water reaching as high as 7 foot inside changing rooms and with 5 foot of sediment piled on top of what was left of the playing surface (which would later develop

Japanese Knotweed ''Reynoutria japonica'', synonyms ''Fallopia japonica'' and ''Polygonum cuspidatum'', is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Common names include Japanese knotweed and Asian knotweed. It is ...

). The perimeter fence was ripped out and nearby trees were uprooted, some of which were washed onto the pitch. This resulted in the closure of the stadium and Institute's relocation to their current temporary home Brandywell Stadium.

References

Association football venues in Northern Ireland Sports venues in County Londonderry Institute F.C. Sports venues completed in 1995 {{NorthernIreland-sports-venue-stub