Galway Sportsground
| The Sportsground | |
Connacht vs Leinster at Galway Sportsgrounds
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| Location | Galway |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 53°16′44″N 9°02′23″W / 53.2790°N 9.0397°W |
| Public transit | Galway railway station |
| Owner | The Galway Agricultural & Sports Society Ltd. |
| Capacity | 8,100 |
| Surface | pitch (grass) track (all-sand) |
| Opened | 1927 |
| Tenants | |
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Irish Greyhound Board Connacht Rugby |
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Galway Sportsground, also known as The Sportsground and the Galway Greyhound Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Galway, Ireland. It opened in 1927, with the playing of a soccer match and has been used to host Connacht Rugby matches and greyhound racing since that time.
It is currently used as a base by Connacht Rugby for training and hosting matches at all levels. Greyhound racing takes place on Friday and Saturday evenings.
The stadium has been leased on a long term basis to the Irish Greyhound Board who run the greyhound meetings at the Stadium. It is co-leased to Connacht Rugby who use it as their home stadium to play rugby union matches in the Pro14 and European competitions.
Up until 2011, the regular capacity of the Sportsground was 5,500. The stadium was modified and extended in 2011, and again in 2016, instigated by the success of Connacht Rugby.
It is able to hold up to 8,100 people without temporary seating. The Sportsground recorded its record attendance on 19 November 2011, when a crowd of 9,120 watched Connacht take on Toulouse in the team's first ever Heineken Cup match at home.
Connacht Rugby first participated in European Rugby's blue ribbon competition, the European Rugby Champions Cup (known before the 2014–15 season as the Heineken Cup), in season 2011–12. This spurred a new phase of development at the Sportsground to extend formal capacity to 7,500 supporters. The existing Clubhouse terrace was knocked down to be replaced by the new covered "Clan Terrace". This terrace primarily houses season ticket holders. Ancillary work was also undertaken behind the terrace which saw the construction of a new bar (The Clan Bar), food outlets and restroom facilities on the Clubhouse side of the ground. A temporary covered and seated "West Stand", adjacent to the existing main stand was also erected for the season. This raft of improvements came on the back of a series of development which the Irish Rugby Football Union to fund had helped in the preceding years, such as a new playing surface, a new Clubhouse and floodlighting, while a new gymnasium had been built in 2008.
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