Netherdale is a sports complex in

Galashiels Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

, consisting of two adjacent stadiums used for

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

and

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 ...

. The rugby ground is the home of

Gala RFC Gala Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. Founded in 1875, it plays its home games at Netherdale. The team currently competes in Scottish National League Division One, the second tier of Scottish ...

and was formerly used by the professional

Border Reivers Border reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border ...

team. It hosted one match of the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...

. It has also occasionally been used for

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 ...

matches. The football ground is home to Gala Fairydean Rovers and has a

Category A listed This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom. For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland. Key The organization of the lists in th ...

grandstand.

Overview

The Netherdale complex is located on Nether Road towards the east end of Galashiels, near the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water ( gd, Abhainn Thuaidh, sco, Watter o Tweid, cy, Tuedd), is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the R ...

. The Gala rugby ground is in the north-west corner of the site, with the Gala Fairydean Rovers football ground in the south-west; the two grounds are joined end-to-end. The rest of the site is taken up by a number of undeveloped rugby and football fields known as the back pitches. Gala RFC moved to the area in 1912 from their previous ground at Mossilee, initially playing on what is now the football ground before the construction of their present ground – "New Netherdale" – in 1961–62. Gala Fairydean F.C. arrived at Netherdale in 1929, initially playing on an undeveloped pitch called Raid Stane Park, before taking over the old rugby ground. Local amateur club Gala Rovers F.C. also played at the Netherdale complex before the two clubs merged to form Gala Fairydean Rovers in 2013. Since the installation of a 3G pitch in 2011, the Fairydean ground is officially known as the 3G Arena Netherdale and is also used as a community football and rugby facility.

Football ground

Gala RFC had previously played at the Public Park and Mossilee before moving to Netherdale in 1912, where their new ground incorporating a pavilion and grandstand was built at a cost of £1,150. The first rugby match took place in September 1912, against local rivals

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

. The rugby club continued to play on this part of the ground until the construction of the adjacent "New Netherdale" in 1961–62. The football stadium has a capacity of around 2,000. The ground's most striking feature is the main stand, which was opened in 1964. With a capacity of 500 it is the largest stand in the Scottish Borders. Designed by the renowned British

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Peter Womersley Peter Womersley (24 June 1923 – 1993) was a British architect, best known for his work in the modernist style. He lived in the Scottish Borders, where a number of his buildings are located, although he worked on projects throughout the UK. Inf ...

in the

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

style, the

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

structure is sometimes sarcastically dubbed as "the

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

of the Borders". It was awarded a 'B' category listing by

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...

in December 2006, which means the "character and setting" of the building must be preserved for "future generations". Historic Scotland upgraded its listing to 'A' category in December 2013, stating that the stand is "a significant work of late

modernist architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

in Scotland". The stand was closed during the 2018–19 season, pending works needed to repair water damage to the concrete. Works to the stand were completed in October 2022.

Rugby ground

The rugby stadium has a large grandstand which overlooks the pitch and the nearby

Eildon Hill Eildon Hill lies just south of Melrose, Scotland in the Scottish Borders, overlooking the town. The name is usually pluralised into "the Eildons" or "Eildon Hills", because of its triple peak. The high eminence overlooks Teviotdale to the South ...

s. While the professional

club played, a second fully seated stand was installed, increasing the capacity to around 4,000 from the previous 2,000. New pitch protection systems were installed, which the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

continued to pay the maintenance costs for even after the Border Reivers club was closed. The stadium hosted the

Pool A match between

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Netherdale has also hosted rugby league international matches, firstly the match between

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 31 October 2014 as part of the

2014 European Cup The 2014 European Cup was an international rugby league football tournament. The tournament took place in England, Wales, France, Ireland and Scotland between 17 October and 2 November. It was announced beforehand that the winner of the tournamen ...

. France won that match 38–22. 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 ...

, Netherdale hosted the match between Scotland and

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 ...

on 23 October.

References

External links

* {{Rugby in the Borders Rugby union stadiums in Scotland Rugby World Cup stadiums Sports venues in the Scottish Borders Category A listed buildings in the Scottish Borders Listed sports venues in Scotland Football venues in Scotland Lowland Football League venues Gala Fairydean Rovers F.C. Rugby league stadiums in Scotland Sports venues completed in 1912 1912 establishments in Scotland Galashiels Brutalist architecture in Scotland

Overview

Football ground

Rugby ground

See also

References

External links