Windsor Park is the home ground of the
Northern Irish football club,
Linfield FC, in
Belfast. It is also the home of the
Northern Ireland national football team and
Irish Cup Finals - except when Linfield are involved.
Glentoran's ground
The Oval (Belfast) is used as the back up cup final venue.
Windsor Park was first opened in
1905, with a match between
Linfield and
Glentoran. However most of the stadium was designed and built in the 1930s, to a design made by the Scottish architetect
Archibald Leitch (who also worked on
Celtic Park,
Ibrox Park and
Hampden Park). It had one main seated stand, two sides of oval terracing and a small partially seated stand (known as the "Railway Stand") was constructed behind the eastern goal. Windsor Park's peak capacity in this format was as high as 60,000. In the 1980s, the covered terrace opposite the main stand was demolished and replaced with a modern 6800 seater "North Stand", on two tiers and with a
cantilever roof. In the late 1990s, the open west terrace or "Kop" was also demolished and replaced with sleek 5000 seater "Kop Stand".
The current capacity of the ground is 20,332, of which 14,000 is seated. For most Linfield home games only the main stand (now known as the South Stand) and Kop stands are opened. The north stand is usually given to away supporters when a bigger crowd is expected, for example when Linfield play against local rivals Glentoran. The venue usually sees its biggest crowds for Northern Ireland internationals, from which Linfield receive 15% of the gate receipts.
Retrieved from "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_Park"
Here is another excellent site:
http://www.englandfootballonline.com...IrWindsor.html
Here is a link to an article on the development of Windsor park.:
http://www.labour.ie/northernireland/football.html
Hope this helps.
Does anyone know
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