Rodney Parade is a stadium in the city of Newport, South Wales, owned and operated by the Welsh Rugby Union. It is located on the east bank of the River Usk in

Newport city centre Newport city centre is traditionally regarded as the area of Newport, Wales bounded by the west bank of the River Usk, the George Street Bridge, the eastern flank of Stow Hill and the South Wales Main Line. Most of the city centre is containe ...

. The ground is on Rodney Road, a short walk from the city's central

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

and

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

stations via Newport Bridge or Newport City footbridge. There is no spectator car park at the ground but a number of

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park ( British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a bui ...

s are nearby. Rodney Parade is the home ground of

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

regional

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 it ...

team. It is also the home ground of Newport County football club, and is the second-oldest sports venue in the Football League, after

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

. Stadium capacity is reduced from rugby levels for football matches. In 2021 the rugby union club Newport RFC, the former owners of Rodney Parade, relocated their home matches to

Newport Stadium Newport Stadium, also known as Spytty Park, is an association football, rugby and athletics stadium in Newport, South Wales. It is the home of Newport City Football Club, Newport RFC and Newport Harriers Athletic Club. It was previously also ...

, agreeing with the WRU to play two home matches per season at Rodney Parade. Newport

Squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

Club has four courts at Rodney Parade.

Layout

The view to the north-east from Newport Cathedral - geograph

Rodney Parade has two covered stands: the two-tier Compeed Stand (west) and the Bisley Stand (east) which are along the touchlines of the pitch. The upper tier of the west stand is seated with 1,996 seats, including 40 Press seats and the lower tier is a standing

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...

. The east stand is all-seated with a 2,526 capacity including 144 seats in 13 hospitality boxes, food/drink outlets and a gantry for television cameras. The TV cameras are therefore pointing westward and often show the sun setting over Newport city centre. The North Terrace is uncovered standing and adjoins the uncovered standing terrace on the west touchline alongside the west stand. The South End of the stadium houses players' changing rooms, a media centre and the small uncovered stand with 222 seats for away football fans. Away football fans are also sited in block F of the east stand giving a total capacity of 1,300 for away football fans, although this has been increased on occasion with the addition of temporary stands at both ends. A large video screen was erected at the south end in December 2013. The hospitality suite is located in the North End of the East Stand on the upper level. The rugby ticket office and club shop is located at the north end of the East Stand accessed via the main gate to the ground (Gate 4) off Grafton Road. The Newport County ticket office is a separate building just inside Gate 4. To the north of the North Terrace is a floodlit grass training area. Further north, parallel to Grafton Road, is the Rodney Hall function room and the rugby clubhouse/office facilities.

History

In 1875, the Newport Athletic Club was created, and two years later they secured the use of land at Rodney Parade from

Godfrey Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar Godfrey Charles Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar (28 April 1831 – 11 March 1913) was a Welsh officer, a General in the British Army, and a peer in the House of Lords. Tredegar was born on 28 April 1831 in Ruperra Castle, Glamorganshire, th ...

, for their cricket, tennis, rugby and athletics teams. In October 1879, Newport RFC played Cardiff RFC in a floodlit game at Rodney Parade. It was the first ground in Wales to have floodlights installed. Newport rugby club enjoyed six highly successful seasons, being unbeaten during that time. The team sustained their first defeat in the 1870s, but were again unbeaten in seasons 1891-2 and 1922-3.

Monmouthshire County Cricket Club Monmouthshire County Cricket Club was a cricket team that represented the county of Monmouthshire in the Minor Counties Championship competition from 1901 to 1934. The county was usually among the weakest in the Minor Counties competition, and onl ...

played at Rodney Parade from 1901 to 1934. Newport RFC provided internationals for every one of the four home countries at Rodney Parade, as well as South Africa. Newport were once scheduled for a regular fixture, against Bristol – a team drawn from Welsh, English, Irish and Scottish internationals. The powerful

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

of 1924, and the strong

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

of 1960, were considered fortunate to evade defeat at Rodney Parade. The cricket ground, which was on the south side of the stadium, no longer exists, because the new

Maindee Maindee ( cy, Maendy) is a large inner-city commercial and residential area in the city of Newport, South Wales. It lies on the eastern side of the River Usk, mostly within the electoral district (ward) of Victoria, although some areas tradit ...

primary school was built on the site in 1993. Newport Cricket Club relocated to the

Newport International Sports Village Newport International Sports Village is a multi-sport complex located at Lliswerry in the South East of the city of Newport, South Wales. It is known locally as Spytty Park, the name coming from the original Spytty Fields on which it is built ...

. Following the

introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales Welsh regional rugby is the top tier of professional Welsh club rugby and is composed of the Scarlets, Ospreys, Cardiff Rugby and the Dragons which compete in the United Rugby Championship. The regions were established for the start of the 2003/04 ...

, the Newport Gwent Dragons regional team was formed on 1 April 2003 and shared Rodney Parade with Newport RFC from then onwards. On 4 September 2007, it was announced that the Rodney Parade site was due to be redeveloped into a 15,000-capacity stadium by the beginning of the 2010–11 rugby union season. The redevelopment was backed by

Newport City Council Newport City Council () is the governing body for Newport, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. It consists of 51 councillors, who represent the city's 20 wards. The council is currently, and has historically been, held by the Labour Party. ...

Newport Unlimited Newport Unlimited was a Welsh Urban Regeneration Company created in 2003 to help counter the impacts of decline in Newport's heavy industry and manufacturing. It was initially given a 10-year lifespan. The Company was founded by Newport City Co ...

, Newport RFC and Newport Gwent Dragons. The application received planning consent on 11 March 2009. The plan included construction of covered stands at the north and south ends and the provision of cover on the stretch of the west touchline terrace. In August 2010, it was announced that the target finish date for the first phase had been put back to the beginning of the 2011–12 rugby union season with the full redevelopment planned to take several years. The new east stand was opened in October 2011, and named the Bisley Stand for sponsorship purposes. In May 2012, it was agreed that Newport County football club would move from

and play its home fixtures at Rodney Parade as part of an initial three-year deal, meaning that the stadium would host association football matches on a regular basis for the first time. In February 2013, Newport County agreed a further 10-year lease to play at Rodney Parade. In April 2013, Newport Athletic Bowls Club relocated from Rodney Parade to

Caerleon Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman ...

. In the summers of 2013 and 2014, new drainage and irrigation systems were installed under the grass playing surface. Despite that, serious drainage problems occurred at the end of 2016. Newport County's matches against

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

on 3 September and Morecambe on 10 December were abandoned at half-time because the pitch was waterlogged and the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

stepped in to help identify the problem. In March 2017, sale of the ground to the Welsh Rugby Union was agreed following a vote of Newport RFC shareholders. The takeover was completed on 27 June 2017 and work started to install a

hybrid grass Hybrid grass or reinforced natural grass is a product created by combining natural lawn grass with reinforcing synthetic fibres. It is used for stadiums and training pitches used for association football, rugby, gridiron football and cricket. Rein ...

pitch for the 2017–18 rugby and football season. In August 2020 the memorial gates, on the corner of Rodney and Grafton Roads, were given

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

status. They were erected in 1923-24 to commemorate members of Newport Athletic Club who were killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The gates are made of steel and the gate piers of Portland stone. Each pier is faced with a bronze panel inscribed with the names of the dead. In March 2021 Newport County were permitted by the EFL to move two home matches to

Cardiff City Stadium The Cardiff City Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Dinas Caerdydd) is a stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City Football Club and the Wales national football team. Following expansion of the Ninian Stand in July 2 ...

due to the poor condition of the Rodney Parade pitch. The

also switched three home matches to the Millennium Stadium,

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 ...

. Scheduled pitch maintenance had been cancelled in Summer 2020 by the ground owners WRU due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The pitch and drainage redevelopment including a

surface was completed in August 2021. In October 2021 Newport RFC relocated their home matches to

whilst agreeing with the WRU to play two matches per season at Rodney Parade. In May 2022 Rodney Parade ground staff were presented with the Best Pitch in EFL League Two award for the 2021-22 football season.Best Pitch award
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International matches

Rodney Parade has hosted six full-cap rugby union international matches for the

Wales national rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team ( cy, Tîm rygbi'r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played the ...

: It has hosted one match for the

Wales women's national football team The Wales national women's football team ( cy, Tîm pêl-droed merched cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the governing body for football in Wales and the ...

References

External links

Rodney Parade on cricinfo.comNewport City News
{{Glamorgan CCC Newport RFC Newport County A.F.C. Dragons RFC Rugby union stadiums in Wales Football venues in Wales Stadiums in Newport, Wales History of Newport, Wales Cricket grounds in Wales Defunct cricket grounds in Wales Sports venues completed in 1877 English Football League venues 1877 establishments in Wales Glamorgan County Cricket Club

Layout

History

International matches

See also

References

External links