The Recreation Ground (known locally as the 'Recre') and for sponsorship reasons the LEL Arena is a
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 11 ...
stadium in
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...
,
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is the home of
Whitehaven R.L.F.C.
The ground has witnessed many other sports such as football, boxing, speedway and whippet racing.
Stadium
The ground now has terracing on 3 sides with one end of ground, the
Kells end, covered. The other sides are known the Popular side, the Railway end and the LLWR Grandstand which seats 556. The ground is set to have a second seated stand holding 1,100 people where the Popular side terracing now stands. The current ground capacity is 7,500.
There is a disabled supporters view area in the grandstand with disabled toilets located within the ground while the
JJ McKeown bar has disabled access.
Matchday parking is available on the Whitehaven Miners' car park adjacent to the stadium main entrance.
History
The Recreation Ground was originally the playing fields for local coal miners dating back to Victorian times and was owned by the Miners' Welfare organisation. The ground was used for junior sides and hosted a Challenge Cup match when the juniors beat
St. Helens 13-8 in front of 2,000 spectators.
It was an enclosed field with one wooden stand and opened in 1933. Today the link with the Miners' Welfare poses a potential brake on any outside investment in the ground itself which remains an obstacle in Whitehaven's attempts to join Super League.
The Recreation Ground in its current form was built in 1948 to enable the newly formed
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...
to play in the Rugby Football League.
The ground's record attendance was set in 1960 when 18,650 spectators turned up for a third round Challenge Cup game against
Wakefield Trinity
Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the ...
.
The Kells end stand steel framework was built in 1961.
In 1973 the ground acquired floodlights.
The old wooden grandstand was demolished in 1995 and the B&H Motors Grandstand was built to replace it.
Work began on the stadium in late November 2014 to meet RFL operating rules for Championship clubs for 2015. The Kells end stand was shot blasted, the steel framework repainted and the cladding replaced with new galvanised sheeting. In addition, new changing facilities under the grandstand were built. The next phase of the work to commence later in 2005 is to upgrade the floodlights and increase the ground’s seating capacity to meet RFL requirements. Britain’s Energy Coast financed the improvements.
In April 2021 the club announced that as part of a sponsorship deal with Cumbrian engineering firm
Lifttech Engineering Limited the ground would be rebranded as the LEL Arena for the period of the deal - initially three years.
Rugby league internationals
The Recreation Ground has played host to just two rugby league international matches in its history.
Recreation Ground at Rugby League Project
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Rugby league tour matches
The Recreation Ground has also played host to various international touring and domestic teams.
References
External links
Recreation ground on World Stadia.com
Whitehaven RLFC official site
{{League 1 venues
Rugby league stadiums in England
Sports venues in Cumbria
Whitehaven R.L.F.C.
Whitehaven