.jpg) Redeveloped Meadowbank's pitch, track and small stand in front of indoor sport facility (2023) | |
  Meadowbank Stadium Location within the City of Edinburgh council area | |
| Former names | New Meadowbank, Old Meadowbank |
|---|---|
| Location | Meadowbank, Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 55°57′25″N3°9′31″W / 55.95694°N 3.15861°W /55.95694; -3.15861 |
| Type | OutdoorSports /ConcertStadium |
| Seating type | Individual backed seats in stand, bench seats all other areas |
| Capacity | 1,320 (500 seated)[1] |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1967–1970 |
| Opened | 1970; 56 years ago (1970) |
| Renovated | 1994, 1999, 2017–2022 |
| Tenants | |
| Meadowbank Thistle F.C. (1974–1995) Edinburgh City (1996–2017; 2022–) Edinburgh Rugby (2002–2004) Leith Athletic F.C. (3G pitch, 2013–2017; 2022–) Hibernian W.F.C. (2022–) | |
| Website | |
| Edinburgh Leisure | |
Meadowbank Stadium (officially theMeadowbank Sports Centre) is a multi-purpose sports facility located in theMeadowbank area ofEdinburgh, Scotland. Built on the site of the earlierNew Meadowbank andOld Meadowbank sports venues, it was originally built to host the1970 Commonwealth Games. It also hosted the Games in1986, becoming the first venue to host the Games twice. It is the current home ofScottish League Two sideEdinburgh City.
The stadium has also regularly hostedfootball. It was the home ground ofScottish Football League teamMeadowbank Thistle between 1974 and 1995, becoming the first all-seated football ground in the UK in the process, and subsequently hosted senior non-league football as the home ground ofEdinburgh City. League football returned to Meadowbank in 2016 following City's promotion to theScottish Professional Football League.[2] The Meadowbank complex also hostsLeith Athletic, who first played on theMeadowbank 3G artificial pitch adjacent to the main stadium between 2013 and 2017.
In 2017 the complex was closed ahead of the demolition of the stadium in the early months of 2019 and work beginning on construction of its replacement. In 2022, following the completion of construction, Edinburgh City and Leith Athletic returned to Meadowbank, where they were joined byHibernian Women's FC.
Meadowbank Stadium was also used forrugby union as the home venue ofEdinburgh Rugby between 2002 and 2004.
The stadium has a single stand with a capacity of 500.[3] Before the stadium was closed for redevelopment work in 2017, the capacity of the stadium was 5,000.[4]
Meadowbank Stadium was built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games, at a cost of £2.8 million.[5] It was opened byPrince Edward, Duke of Kent on 2 May 1970.[5] The 1970 Games was one of the most successful in the history of the event.[6][7] The 1986 Commonwealth Games were also held at Meadowbank, which became the first venue to host the Commonwealth Games twice.[5] The 1986 Games suffered a financial deficit and were widely boycotted due to the support of theBritish Government for theapartheid regime inSouth Africa.[6][7]
The stadium once had its ownrailway station which was built for the 1986 Commonwealth Games.
The stadium hosted its inauguralCommonwealth Youth Games in August 2000.
Meadowbank Thistle played at the stadium from 1974.[8] It was often cited as one of the worst grounds used in theScottish Football League due to the lack of atmosphere, caused by the stadium having a capacity of 5,000 but Meadowbank typically attracting crowds of less than 1,000;[8] most fans were located on one side of the ground, while the running track created a great distance between the fans and the pitch. Meadowbank Thistle announced their intention to leave the stadium and relocate to thenew town ofLivingston in 1995, when their lease expired.[8] Their last game as Meadowbank Thistle was played in May 1995, although they continued to play at Meadowbank Stadium as Livingston until their newAlmondvale Stadium was ready in November of that year.[8]
Edinburgh City moved into the stadium after Meadowbank left[8] – their first fixture there as anSPFL club in July 2016 happened to be against Livingston in theScottish League Cup[2] – and they were joined there by Leith Athletic (from the East of Scotland League).Hibernian have also played some of theirreserve team matches at Meadowbank.[9]
Edinburgh City moved back into Meadowbank in July 2022 after it reopened, along with theHibernian women's team.[10]
Meadowbank was used as a 25,000 capacity concert venue during T on the Fringe, an annual music festival.Muse,My Chemical Romance,Snow Patrol,Radiohead,Pixies,Foo Fighters,Nine Inch Nails,Kaiser Chiefs andRazorlight all played the venue between 2005 and 2007. In 2008, T on the Fringe was renamedThe Edge Festival and the stadium was no longer used as one of the main venues.
In 1989,Simple Minds played Meadowbank on theirStreet Fighting Years Tour after switching fromMurrayfield. The switch was due to the band's passionate anti-apartheid beliefs clashing with theScottish Rugby Union's decision to play in South Africa at the time.
Meadowbank housed both a 10-metre airgun range and a 50metre indoor range for smallbore rifle shooting in the 1970s and 1980s. The range was closed in 1990 but refurbished in 2014 ahead of the2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow for use as a training venue by Scottish Target Shooting's High Performance Squad.[11] The range remained in use until the site's closure in 2017. The new Meadowbank plans do not include facilities for target sports despite Edinburgh athleteSeonaid McIntosh having earned one of TeamGB's first quota places to the2020 Summer Olympics.[12]
Meadowbank stadium had basketball facilities in three of its large halls, but they were only rarely available to the public.
Edinburgh Rocks basketball team used one of the large halls until they moved to theBraehead Arena, and were renamedScottish Rocks.
Meadowbank velodrome was home to the East of Scotland regional track cycling academy. The 250-metre track made of African timber was built by Schuermann Architects of Germany for the 1986 Commonwealth Games.[13][14][15] It was the home track ofChris Hoy andCraig MacLean. Proposals published in December 2013 suggested that the velodrome be sold off for housing to fund the redevelopment of the main stadium.[16] Usage of the track declined over the years – mainly due to the construction of theCommonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, which is a track of a much better standard. A local bicycle club, Edinburgh Road Club, continued to host some events on the old track[17] until it was finally closed on Saturday 2 September 2017[18]
Professionalrugby union clubEdinburgh Gunners used the venue from 2002 until they moved toMurrayfield Stadium in 2004.[19][20]
The Meadowbank Stadium was used for many boxing events, Hall 1 was the location for fighters includingAlex Arthur,Ricky Burns etc. It was last used on 14 April 2012 when Arthur staged his self-promoted "Homecoming" fight event for the return ofCraig McEwan to Edinburgh.
The stadium was used in November 2014 to host theCommonwealth Taekwondo Championships.
Meadowbank was the venue for theEuropean Juggling Convention in 1998.
The sports centre welcomed the professionalWorld Snooker Tour for the2022 Scottish Open, after the tournament lost its traditional home in Glasgow. The venue will be the tournaments’ open for the next few years.
In 2006 theCity of Edinburgh Council published plans to demolish Meadowbank Stadium, selling the site for housing.[21] Meadowbank would have been replaced with a smaller community facility on the east side of the city and a stadium for athletics and rugby was to be built to the west of the city, probably inSighthill.[21] The draft Meadowbank Development Brief was approved by the council on 7 December 2006 for consultation.[22]
The Development Brief stated that "housing is the most appropriate alternative use of the site" and that "high density development is acceptable in principle".[22] The consultation ran until 28 March 2007, after which the council leaderEwan Aitken admitted that the council should have consulted more with the users of Meadowbank.[23] More than 6000 people signed a petition objecting to the proposal, while 600 marched from the stadium to the City Chambers, as part of aSave Meadowbank campaign.[22] The proposal was cast into doubt due to problems with theSighthill Stadium project, which was scrapped in 2007.[24] On 13 March 2008, Edinburgh Council voted to sell the land that is occupied by Meadowbank stadium and build a smaller sports facility on east of the site.[24][25][26]X-Factor winnerLeon Jackson, who was campaigning to save Meadowbank, played at its annualfireworks display on 5 November 2008.[27] The proposals to sell Meadowbank were put on hold in 2009, after a decline in Edinburgh land prices.[28]
In February 2013, the City of Edinburgh Council started a new consultation process about its future.[28] Three options for redeveloping Meadowbank were put forward for consideration by Edinburgh Council in December 2013.[29] A planned design was made public in November 2016.[30] Work was expected to begin after the 2016–17 football season ended.[31]Edinburgh City reached an agreement withSpartans to use theirAinslie Park ground for three seasons while Meadowbank was being redeveloped.[32] A final annual fireworks display was held on 5 November 2017.[33]
The stadium was closed for the redevelopment works in December 2017, and the new facilities were due to open in the spring of 2020.[34][35] Planning applications for detailed approval for the new sports centre and in principle for development of the rest of the site were published in January 2018.[36][37]
In July 2018, the Council approved detailed plans for the new Meadowbank Sports Centre and the redevelopment of land surrounding it for housing, student accommodation, hotel and commercial use.[38] A council consultation opened on 20 August 2018 and closed on 31 October.[39] Work began in 2019 and was completed by 2021, and Edinburgh City announced in March 2021 that they would return to Meadowbank for the 2021–22 football season.[3] This did not happen due to ongoing works at Meadowbank, and Edinburgh City stayed at Ainslie Park for another year.[40]
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
