The Carlisle Grounds is a

football stadium Football stadium may refer to: * A stadium used in gridiron football, association football or Australian rules football * A soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sp ...

in Bray, County Wicklow,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Situated directly behind the Bray D.A.R.T. station, it is home to Bray Wanderers A.F.C.

History

The Carlisle Grounds can claim to be the Football Association of Ireland ground with the longest history as a sports venue. Opened in 1862 as the Bray Athletic Ground, it was renamed the Carlisle Cricket and Archery Ground later that year, in honour of the 7th Earl of Carlisle who performed the opening ceremony as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Later it was shortened to the Carlisle Grounds. A new stand seating 985 was constructed in 2006 bring the seating capacity of the ground up to about 2,000. The League of Ireland side Transport F.C. played at the Carlisle Grounds from 1948-1951 before moving to

Harold's Cross Stadium Harold's Cross Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in Harold's Cross, Dublin, owned and operated by the Irish Greyhound Board. Facilities included a grandstand restaurant, carvery, a number of bars, totalisator betting and seating. Racin ...

. In July 2009 a section of the wall around the pitch collapsed after Shamrock Rovers fans rushed down to the wall to celebrate a goal. The following year another section of the wall fell as a result of fans rushing forward, this time while hosting their league promotion playoff against

Monaghan United Monaghan United F.C. ( ga, Cumann Peile Mhuineacháin Aontaithe) is an Irish association football club based in Monaghan currently playing in the Ulster Senior League. The club joined the League of Ireland in 1983 and subsequently went on to pl ...

, prompting an FAI investigation. The Carlisle Grounds hosted a

2011 UEFA Regions' Cup The 2011 UEFA Regions' Cup was the seventh edition of the UEFA Regions' Cup. The final tournament phase was held in Portugal, in the city of Braga. The cup was won by the hosts of the tournament, Braga, who beat Leinster & Munster from the Republi ...

match. The Carlisle Grounds also hosted two match's in the

2015 UEFA Regions' Cup The 2015 UEFA Regions' Cup was the ninth UEFA Regions' Cup. Preliminary round The eight teams in the preliminary round have been drawn into two groups of four. Group A was played in Estonia, while Group B was played in Slovenia. Matches in the p ...

Rugby League

Ireland played against Belgium in an international friendly on Sunday 12 July 2015 winning the match 34–0. 7 November 2015 saw the Carlisle Grounds host the match between Ireland and Wales as part of the

2015 European Cup The 2015 European Cup was an international rugby league football tournament. The tournament took place between 16 October and 7 November in Wales, France, Scotland and Ireland. Scotland were the defending champions. Four teams competed in the 20 ...

References in popular culture

The Carlisle Grounds was used in the filming of the

Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...

scene in the 1996 film ''

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...

''. The ground was also used as a filming location for the music video of singer

Dermot Kennedy Dermot Joseph Kennedy (born 13 December 1991) is an Irish singer-songwriter. He is best known for his 2019 single " Outnumbered", his 2020 single "Giants" and his feature on the 2020 Meduza single "Paradise". He is signed to Interscope Records i ...

's single " Outnumbered".

Future redevelopment

In October 2009, details were released of a planned large scale redevelopment of the ground. This would involve a new stadium being built on the site as well as a major retailer moving in. A scale model of the redevelopment was displayed on the club's website around this time.

Bibliography

References

External links

Official website
of Bray Wanderers A.F.C.

{{Coord, 53, 12, 20.57, N, 6, 6, 10.40, W, type:landmark_region:IE, display=title Bray Wanderers F.C. Buildings and structures in Bray, County Wicklow Association football venues in the Republic of Ireland Sports venues in County Wicklow Rugby league stadiums in Ireland Transport F.C.