Virginia Park is a rugby ground, cricket ground and former greyhound racing stadium in Caerphilly, South Wales. It is currently the home ground for

Caerphilly RFC Caerphilly Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team founded in 1887. Their home ground is Virginia Park in Caerphilly and their nickname is ''The Cheesemen''. Caerphilly RFC currently play in the WRU Division Two East Central and are a ...

Location and Origins

The rugby ground is accessed from Virginia Close and the cricket ground is accessed from Melville Terrace. Both roads are off the Pontygwindy Road. The name Virginia Park came from the state of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

because during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

the loyalist John Goodrich and his family fled to Caerphilly and settled on the Energlyn Estate that they had purchased. The main house was called Virginia House and it remained so for the next one hundred years.

Rugby Union

On 26 August 1887 a committee sitting at the Castle Hotel formed

. The ground has remained their home with the exception of a period when they disbanded. Originally known as the Virginia Park Athletic Grounds it was little more than a very large field in 1887. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the greyhound stadium closed and was eventually demolished and the rugby club returned to play fixtures at Virginia Park afterwards and in the late fifties they finally called Virginia Park their home with the pitch being relocated to the northern section of the park. The Stadium was known as the Constructaquote Stadium for the 2017-2018 season but for the 2018-2019 season known as the Vetro Recruitment Stadium.

Greyhound racing

The greyhound stadium was located in the central area of Virginia Park. A grandstand was constructed in 1931 by the greyhound company and the opening night was on 25 May 1931. The stadium raced under the

National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom. History The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) was formed in 1928 and this body would be responsible for regulation, licensing and the ...

(NGRC) rules of racing. Many other events took place there and included boxing, speedway, trotting and Powderhall foot racing in addition to being used as a venue for politicians. The stadium stopped racing under NGRC rules in 1935. The demise of greyhound racing at Virginia Park came during

. It was used as a storage depot for the fire brigade and a recreation area for American soldiers during the war.

References

External links

* {{Motorcycle speedway tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Greyhound racing in Wales Defunct speedway venues in Wales