Rodney Parade is a

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 the city of Newport,

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

. It is located on the east bank of the

River Usk The River Usk (; ) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (''y Mynydd Du''), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it flows north int ...

in Newport city centre. 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 motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

and

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

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 (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

s are nearby. Rodney Parade is the home ground of

Dragons RFC Dragons RFC () are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup/ European Rugby Challenge Cup. They play their home games at Rodney Parade, ...

, one of the four Welsh regional rugby union teams. It is also the home ground of Newport County

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 ...

club. It is the third-oldest sports venue in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

, after the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground (), is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C., Wrexham AFC. It is the largest stadium in North Wales and the List of football stadiums in Wales, fifth-largest in Wales. It is the world's o ...

and

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...

. Stadium capacity is reduced from rugby levels for football matches. In 2017 the rugby union club

Newport RFC Newport Rugby Football Club () is a Welsh rugby union club based in the city of Newport, Wales. They presently play in the Super Rygbi Cymru. Until 2021 Newport RFC were based at Rodney Parade situated on the east bank of the River Usk. Ever ...

sold Rodney Parade to the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...

and subsequently in 2021 Newport RFC relocated to

Newport Stadium Newport Stadium, also known as Spytty Park, is an association football, Rugby football, rugby and Sport of athletics, athletics stadium in Newport, Wales, Newport, South Wales. It is the home of Gwalia United F.C., Gwalia United FC, Newport City ...

. In 2023 a private

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

purchased Rodney Parade and the Dragons regional rugby union team from the WRU. Newport Squash Rackets Club has four squash courts at Rodney Parade.

Layout

Rodney Parade has two covered stands: the two-tier Candleston 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 a ...

. 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 a small uncovered standing terrace on the west touchline alongside the west stand. The South End of the stadium houses players' changing rooms, a media centre, large video screen 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. Capacity has occasionally been increased for major

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

matches with the addition of temporary stands at the north and south ends. 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 tented fanzone for pre and post match entertainment and a floodlit grass training area. Further north, parallel to Grafton Road, is the rugby clubhouse/office facilities including Rodney Hall.

History

1877 Establishment

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, for their

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and athletics teams. In October 1879,

played

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club () is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after which relocating to Ca ...

in a floodlit game at Rodney Parade. It was the first ground in Wales to have floodlights installed. Newport RFC 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 played at Rodney Parade from 1901 to 1934. Rodney Parade hosted Wales international matches against England, France and Scotland. Touring international teams the 1924 New Zealand All Blacks and the 1960 South Africa Springboks both narrowly defeated Newport RFC at Rodney Parade.

1993 School development

The cricket ground, which was on the south side of the stadium, was demolished and the new Maindee 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 southeast of the city of Newport, Wales, Newport, South Wales. It is known locally as Spytty Park, the name coming from the original Spytty Fields on whi ...

2003 Regional rugby and ground redevelopment

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 (rugby union), Ospreys, Cardiff Rugby and the Dragons (rugby union), Dragons which compete in the United Rugby Championship. The regions ...

, the Newport Gwent Dragons regional team was formed on 1 April 2003 and shared Rodney Parade with Newport RFC. 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 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.

2012 Newport County relocation

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 Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

Club relocated from Rodney Parade to

Caerleon Caerleon ( ; ) is a town and Community (Wales), 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 ...

. 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 on 3 September and

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

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 association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

stepped in to help identify the problem.

2017 Welsh Rugby Union ownership

In March 2017, the sale of the ground to the

was agreed following a vote of

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. ...

pitch for the 2017–18 rugby and football season. In 2018 the record attendance for a Newport County match at Rodney Parade was set at 9,836 against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA cup fourth round. 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 is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The gates are made of steel and the gate piers of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

. 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 () is a stadium in the Leckwith, Cardiff, Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City F.C., Cardiff City and the Wales national football team, Wales national team. Following expansion of the Ninian S ...

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

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

also switched three home matches to the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. 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 COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...

. The pitch and drainage redevelopment including a

surface was completed in August 2021. In October 2021

relocated their home matches from Rodney Parade 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 The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

award for the 2021–22 football season and the 2022–23 football season.

2023 Private ownership

In June 2023 a

headed by former

Just Eat Just Eat is an online food order and delivery platform. It was founded in 2001 in Kolding, Denmark, as a food delivery company, and later headquartered in London, United Kingdom, from 2006 (as Just Eat plc) until it was purchased by Netherla ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and current

chairman David Buttress bought the Rodney Parade site and the Dragons rugby union team from the Welsh Rugby Union. In July 2023 Newport County football club agreed a new short term lease to continue to play their matches at the ground. In July 2024 Newport County football club agreed a new 10 year lease to play their home matches at Rodney ParadeNewport County 10 year lease
/ref>

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 () represents the Welsh Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international agai ...

: It has hosted one match for the Wales women's national football team:

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 Venues of the United Rugby Championships