Westfield | |
 Falkirk Stadium in 2018 | |
  Falkirk Stadium Location in Falkirk | |
| Full name | Falkirk Stadium |
|---|---|
| Address | Falkirk Scotland |
| Location | Westfield Falkirk Scotland |
| Coordinates | 56°00′19″N3°45′10″W / 56.00528°N 3.75278°W /56.00528; -3.75278 |
| Owner | Falkirk Community Stadium Ltd |
| Operator | Falkirk F.C. |
| Capacity | 7,937[1] |
| Record attendance | 7,926 (Falkirk vDundee United, 19 May 2017) |
| Field size | 109 x 79 yards |
| Surface | synthetic pitch |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 2003 |
| Opened | 2004 |
| Expanded | 2004–2005 (North stand) 2009 (South stand) |
| Architect | Falkirk Council |
| Main contractors | Mowlem (North stand and West stand) Ogilvie (south stand) |
| Tenants | |
| Falkirk F.C. (2004–present) Stirling University F.C. (2016–2018) East Stirlingshire F.C. (2018–present) Queen's Park F.C. (2021) | |
| Website | |
| www | |
TheFalkirk Stadium is an all-seaterfootball stadium inFalkirk, central Scotland, which is the home ground ofScottish Premiership clubFalkirk andLowland Football League clubEast Stirlingshire since 2018. The stadium has a capacity of 7,937[1] and currently consists of three fully completed stands.
The stadium was opened in 2004 with the main stand completed. It became the home of Falkirk in the same year after the club ground sharedOchilview Park for the 2003–04 season whilst the stadium was being constructed. The north and south stands were built and opened in 2005 and 2009 respectively. East Stirlingshire have shared the ground since 2018, when they ended their own groundshare at Ochilview to return to Falkirk.
Work began on building the stadium in 2003[2] afterBrockville Park, the club's town centre home since 1885, was sold and demolished.[3]
The project of building the stadium was a partnership between Falkirk Football Club andFalkirk Council who set up the Falkirk Community Stadium Ltd which provided the funds to construct and run the stadium.[4] Falkirk Council estimated £6.1 million would be required for the first stage of the Community Stadium build and would contribute £3.1 million initially. The sale of Brockville Park amounted to £9 millionpounds for the club, of which £2.8 million went towards the build, whilst £200,000 came fromsportscotland.
The first stage of the stadium was completed in time for the2004–05 football season and Falkirk moved in after spending the previous yearground-sharing with local rivals,Stenhousemuir at theirOchilview Park home.
Falkirk's first ever game at the stadium was a friendly in July 2004 againstDundee resulting in a 2–1 defeat.[5] A month later the first league game was hosted in the stadium with visitorsHamilton Academical drawing 1–1.[6]
In October 2004 construction work commenced for the building of a second stand to the north of the pitch.[6] The stand has a capacity of 2,000. After completion, the £1.58m[7] facility would bring the stadium's capacity to over theScottish Premier League's 6,000 seating criteria meaning Falkirk would be allowed automatic promotion[8] from theFirst Division. The stand received its safety certificate in late March 2005, shortly before the SPL's deadline for a stadium which met the seating criteria.[8] By May of the same year the north stand was fully completed.[9]
Construction of the south stand began in December 2008 by contractors Ogilvie.[10] A £2m pledge from Sandy Alexander, founder ofSchuh and Falkirk supporter, helped fund the project.[10] The south stand has a capacity of around 2,000 and is similar in appearance to the north stand of the stadium.[11] It was officially opened in August 2009 in a friendly game againstRoyal Antwerp FC ofBelgium.[12] This brought the capacity of the stadium to around 8,000 people without the inclusion of the temporary east stand.
Thejoint venture that was set up between Falkirk F.C. andFalkirk Council, ended in 2009, just a few months before the opening of the south stand. The football club took full control of the facilities such as thepitch, seats,under-soil heating andfloodlights,[4] whilst the council retained most of the development rights for the site and manages and receives rent from businesses set up the stadium's main west stand.[4]
An artificial playing surface was installed at the stadium in June 2013.[13] In 2016Lowland Football League sideStirling University F.C. started playing their home matches at the ground, having moved fromStirling Albion'sForthbank Stadium.
Falkirk Stadium is situated opposite the fire station
In April 2018 it was announced thatEast Stirlingshire would begin playing their home matches at the Falkirk Stadium from the start of the 2018–19 season.[14] The club had previously played in the centre of Falkirk atFirs Park until 2008, before spending a decade ground-sharing withStenhousemuir atOchilview Park.Queen's Park also moved in during the latter part of the 2020–21 season, after their lease onHampden Park expired.[15][16]
The Falkirk Stadium is anall-seater stadium which currently consists of three completed stands in the form of the main west stand and smaller north and south stands. Upon the stadium's construction the west stand was the first to be built, and subsequently completed in 2004. The north and south stands were completed in 2005 and 2009 respectively. The west stand has a capacity of roughly 4,200[17][18] and hosts several facilities which have ranged from a nursery to a restaurant. The south stand features a bar called the Brockville Bar. A temporary east stand has been present on several occasions.
In June 2022, the South Stand was renamed to the Kevin McAllister Stand after thefootball player that played for the club.
Since 2012, Falkirk Stadium has been hosting summer concerts, achieving up to 21,000[19] attendees per event.
| Summer concerts at Falkirk Stadium | ||||
| Musician(s) | Date | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elton John | 10 June 2012[20] | |||
| Ronan Keating | 21 June 2013[21] | |||
| Midge Ure | 22 June 2013[22] | |||
| Status Quo | 23 June 2013[23] | |||
| Rod Stewart | 21 June 2014[24] | |||
| Tom Jones | 1 August 2015[25] | |||
| Madness | 4 August 2017[26] | |||
| Jess Glynne | 5 August 2017[27] | |||
| Little Mix | 27 July 2018[28] | |||
| The Killers,Blossoms | 6 June 2022[29] ^ | |||
| The Killers,Supergrass | 7 June 2022[29] ^ | |||
^The Killers were originally due to play at Falkirk Stadium on 28 May 2020 but this was postponed[30] to 8 June 2021 then again to 6 June 2022 because of COVID-19.
Westlife were supposed to perform at the stadium on 27 June 2020 for their "Stadiums in the Summer Tour" but this was cancelled due toCOVID-19.
As well as hosting Falkirk F.C., the stadium has also staged several youth level internationalrugby union matches.[31] In 2008 the stadium was the venue chosen by theScottish Rugby Union to hostScotland's home matches at theSix Nations Under 20s Championship which were played againstEngland under-20s andFrance under-20s.[32] Former Falkirk managerJohn Hughes had commented on the condition of the pitch which was previously damaged during rugby matches.[31]
The stadium is also used on occasion by theScotland women's national football team in World and Euro qualifying championships as well as in friendly matches.[33] Also in relation to football, the stadium has hosted the home matches of theScotland national under-21 football team, the first happening in November 2004 in a game againstSweden.[34]
The Falkirk Stadium is within a 30-minute walk ofFalkirk Grahamston railway station which is on the mainEdinburgh to Dunblane Line andCumbernauld Line fromGlasgow. During weekdays and Saturdays alternate trains between Glasgow and Cumbernauld call at Falkirk Grahamston.[35]
Special match day bus services provided byMcGill's Scotland East allow direct transport to the stadium from around theFalkirk area.[35] The number 98 service fromBrightons passes throughShieldhill,Hallglen andLaurieston before terminating at the stadium. Access fromLarbert on match days is provided by the number 99 bus, which is destined for the stadium viaStenhousemuir,Carronshore andBainsford.[35][36] As well as the special match day routes, regular services are also provided by McGill's Scotland East from Falkirk bus station toGrangemouth (routes 3 and 4) andBo'ness (route 2) which stop outside the stadium.[35][37]
