Madejski Stadium

Madejski Stadium
Mad Stad[1]
Full name	Madejski Stadium
Location	Junction 11 M4 Reading Berkshire RG2 0FL
Coordinates	51°25′20″N 0°58′58″W / 51.42222°N 0.98278°W / 51.42222; -0.98278Coordinates: 51°25′20″N 0°58′58″W / 51.42222°N 0.98278°W / 51.42222; -0.98278
Opened	22 August 1998
Owner	RFC Holdings Ltd
Surface	Desso GrassMaster
Construction cost	£50m +
Capacity	24,161[2]
Field dimensions	105 m x 68 m[3]
Tenants
Reading F.C. (1998–present) Richmond F.C. (Allied Dunbar Premiership) (1998–1999) London Irish (Aviva Premiership) (2000–present)

The Madejski Stadium is a football stadium in Reading, Berkshire, England, and the home of Reading Football Club and the rugby union club London Irish as tenants. It also provides the finish for the Reading Half Marathon. The stadium is named after Reading's chairman John Madejski. It is an all-seater stadium bowl stadium with a capacity of 24,161 and is located close to the M4 motorway. It is built on the site of a former household waste dump and is surrounded by methane vents. The West Stand contains the Millennium Madejski Hotel.

History

In 1994, the Taylor Report made all-seater stadiums compulsory in the top two divisions (the Premier League and the First Division). Reading were champions of the Second Division in 1994, and were promoted to the first division. Reading became subject to the Taylor requirements, though converting Elm Park to an all-seater stadium would have been impractical.^[4] Instead, a location in Smallmead (to the south of the town) was identified as the site for a new stadium.^[4] The former council landfill site was bought for £1, with further conditions that the development of the stadium would include part-funding of the A33 relief road.^[5] Expansion of the club's home would also allow alternative commercial ventures (particularly leisure facilities) and shared use with other teams (such as rugby union clubs Richmond and London Irish).^[5] The last competitive match at Elm Park took place on 3 May 1998 against Norwich City, with Reading losing 0–1.^[6]

Reading began the 1998–99 season at the Madejski Stadium.^[4] It was opened on 22 August 1998 when Luton Town were beaten 3–0 with Grant Brebner having the honour of scoring the first goal at the stadium. Plans for the stadium had first been unveiled some three years previously, when chairman John Madejski had decided that Elm Park was unsuitable for redevelopment as an all-seater stadium and that relocation to a new site was necessary.

Structure and facilities

North stand exterior

The stadium cost more than £50m to build and the pitch incorporates a system of synthetic fibres interwoven with natural grass, installed at a cost of more than £750,000.^[3]

In November 2004 the North Stand capacity was said to be 4,946 including 39 spaces for wheelchairs.^[7]

The South Stand has a capacity of 4,350 and is where visiting supporters sit for Reading games. The initial allocation visiting teams receive is 2,327 and is the half of the stand joining onto the East Stand. Under the terms of the original lease, London Irish only utilised the South Stand for the most popular matches. However, since the renegotiation and extension of the lease, the South Stand is used for all London Irish matches and season tickets have been sold for the stand since the 2008–09 season. The stand has a large TV screen in the top corner.

In November 2004, the East Stand had a capacity of 7,286 including 28 spaces for wheelchairs.^[7] The stadium's video screen is located in the corner of the stand joining onto the South Stand.

Millennium Madejski Hotel

The West Stand contains a lower and an upper tier, but the upper level does not overhang the lower tier. Executive boxes are found between the two tiers. The tunnel and dugouts are on this side of the stadium. The outside of the stand contains the Millennium Madejski Hotel.

Future

For the first time in its history, Reading Football Club participated in the Premier League in the 2006–07 season. As a result of the sell-out crowds for their first few fixtures of the season, the club announced its intention, in October 2006,^[8] to make a planning application to extend the ground to between 37,000 to 38,000 seats. The application was made on 24 January 2007, proposing initially the extension of the East Stand with a further 6,000 seats (raising capacity to around 30,000) and subsequently extension of the North and South Stands to reach the full proposed capacity.^[9] On Thursday 24 May 2007, it was announced that planning permission had been granted to extend the stadium to a capacity of 36,900.^[10] The first phase will expand the East Stand by 6,600 seats. Work was set to start in mid-2008, after the initial plan of extending in 2007 was scrapped due to spectator seats being affected, during the work, already being sold to season ticket holders. Reading's relegation from the Premier League in 2008 meant that all expansion plans were put on hold, but appears that these plans will be revived now that promotion was again achieved in 2012 as long as Reading can avoid relegation back to the Championship.^[11]

Other uses

London Irish playing London Wasps in August 2011

London Irish moved into the Madejski from the The Avenue in Sunbury-on-Thames in 2000. On 11 January 2008, it was announced that London Irish had reached an agreement to continue playing home games at the Madejski Stadium until 2026. Irish have seen their average crowds grow to more than 11,100 since moving to Reading in 2000, holding the record for the biggest rugby union Premiership attendance at a club ground, when 23,709 people saw Irish play Wasps on 16 March 2008.^[12] This record stood until 19 Sept 2009, when Leicester opened their new stand to 24,000.

The Madejski Stadium topped a poll of rugby fans as the "best environment in which to watch rugby", in a survey of almost 1,500 rugby fans conducted for Rugby World magazine. The Madejski Stadium received nearly a quarter of all votes as the ground which offered supporters the best facilities on a match day.^[13]

Records

The highest attendance at the stadium was 24,134 on 19 January 2008 for the Premier League game with Manchester United.^[14]

Transport

The stadium is connected to Reading railway station by the Green Park FastTrack bus service.^[15] The proposed Green Park railway station was planned to serve the stadium and Green Park Business Park. On 27 October 2011 the owners of Green Park, Prupim, announced that plans for the station had been suspended after a local housing development project had been scaled down.^[16]

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Madejski Stadium

• Stadium information from Reading FC official website