Central Park is a multi-use

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

in Cowdenbeath,

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Scotland, used for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...

. It is situated in the centre of the town, just off the High Street, and has a capacity of . The pitch size is 107 x 66 yards. Central Park has been the home ground of Lowland League team Cowdenbeath F.C. since it opened in 1917. Stock car racing has taken place at the ground since 1970, and takes place on a tarmac racetrack surrounding the football pitch. Central Park was also previously a venue for

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

between 1928 and 1965.

History

Cowdenbeath F.C. played at Jubilee Park until 1888, and then at North End Park. The club moved to Central Park when it was opened in 1917. A main stand was built in 1921. A record crowd of 25,586 attended a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

tie against Rangers in 1949. Floodlights were first used in 1968, in a match against Celtic. Central Park was also used for

and

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

. It became a

track in 1970, and has since hosted several world championships. Half of the main stand was destroyed by a fire in 1992. The surviving section of this stand is called the West Stand, or the Old Stand. Beside this the ' Alex Menzies Stand' (or New Stand) was opened in March 1995, giving a total seated capacity of 1,622. Along with this the club built new dressing rooms, a board room, function suite, and office facilities. Both stands have a row of floodlight pylons in front of them, which can obstruct supporters views. Three sides of the ground are uncovered terraces.

Greyhound racing

Greyhound racing around Central Park started on 7 July 1928. A 400-yard circumference track had an inside hare and both handicap and level start racing took place. It was an all grass track and distances raced were 289 and 489 yards. Greyhound racing ceased in 1965.

Speedway

The stadium hosted

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

during 1965 and 1966, and most notably held a preliminary round of the Speedway World Championship on 26 May 1965.

Future

In 2011, there were plans for Cowdenbeath to move to a new stadium, to be located on the outskirts of Cowdenbeath.

Transport

Cowdenbeath railway station is five minutes' walk from Central Park. The

M90 motorway The M90 is a controlled-access highway, motorway in Scotland. It runs from Junction 1A of the M9 motorway (Scotland), M9 motorway, south of the Queensferry Crossing, to Perth, Scotland, Perth. It is the northernmost motorway in the United Kin ...

passes near Cowdenbeath, with Central Park reached by leaving the motorway at junction 3, taking the A92 for

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

. The A909 road then leads into Cowdenbeath and free car parking is provided at the ground.

References

; Sources * {{Motorcycle speedway tracks Cowdenbeath F.C. Football venues in Scotland Motorsport venues in Scotland Sports venues in Fife Stock car racing venues Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Scottish Football League venues Scottish Professional Football League venues Sports venues completed in 1917 Greyhound racing in Scotland 1917 establishments in Scotland