50 Years Ago
30 NSC
Mar 20
If Wales should be deprived of
food and drink Welshmen would
find it distressing, if they were
prevented from singing there
would be a spiritual loss, but if
they were stopped from playing
and watching Rugby the nation
would surely die. Devotion to the
game is found everywhere, at
all age levels and in all walks of
life. Crowds would stand in any
weather to see a good match
and many games are played on
open fields while still attracting
enthusiastic supporters. However,
for the principal matches played
in the capital city it is important
to have a ground offering covered
seating accommodation and all
the facilities required to cater for
crowds of nearly 75,000, as well
as committee rooms, offices etc.
To provide the best of facilities
the Welsh Rugby Union decided
to reconstruct its ground at Arms
Park, Cardiff, venue for all the most
important events.
Cardiff Arms Park, as well as
being the home of the Welsh
Rugby Union, was also shared
by Cardiff Rugby Football Club.
The redevelopment of the Arms
Park provides two rugby playing
fields adjacent to each other. The
main field will be used by the
Welsh Rugby Union and the other
by Cardiff Rugby Football Club.
The new buildings have been
designed to provide a grandstand
for both these grounds.
In the full scheme the Welsh
Rugby Union Ground will be almost
entirely enclosed by the new type
of grandstand, while the Cardiff
Rugby Football Club field will have
north and south stands. In phase 1,
now under construction, the north
stand of the Welsh Rugby Union
stadium and the south stand of
the Cardiff Rugby Football Club
share a common structure.
The designer’s brief for the
Welsh Rugby Union stadium was
to provide room for approximately
74,000 spectators of whom 32,000
would be seated while 30,000 of
the standing spectators would
also be under cover. Similarly
the Cardiff Rugby Football Club
required a total capacity of
15,000 of whom 5,000 would be
seated while 10,000 would stand.
Construction of phase 1 began
in September 1968 and is due for
completion in April 1970. Matches
were played in December
1969 and January 1970 as the
construction programme allowed
for partial use of the ground before
the contract is completed. In this
way the revenue from important
international matches was not lost.
The combined structure
consists of two stands back to
Cardiff
Arms Park
When rugby is in the lifeblood of a nation it needs
fine stadia for important matches. Mr J. F. James here
describes the new stands being raised at the Arms
Park, Cardiff, a worthy centre for international games.