Gamle Gress | |
Former names | Marienlyst Stadion |
---|---|
Location | Drammen, Norway |
Coordinates | 59°44′03.81″N 10°12′04.80″E / 59.7343917°N 10.2013333°ECoordinates: 59°44′03.81″N 10°12′04.80″E / 59.7343917°N 10.2013333°E |
Owner | Drammen Municipality |
Operator | Drammen Municipality |
Capacity | 8,935 |
Record attendance | 17,300 (1947) |
Field size | 106 × 68 m |
Surface | Artificial grass |
Construction | |
Broke ground | 1923 |
Opened | 1924 |
Tenants | |
Strømsgodset IF (1967–present) SBK Drafn (1924–present) 1952 Winter Olympics 1987 European Competition for Women's Football |
The Marienlyst Stadion has been the home ground of Strømsgodset IF since 1967. It's located on Marienlyst in Drammen.
The pitch was opened in 1924, and was the home ground of Drafn, Skiold and Drammens BK. The final of the 1932 Norwegian Football Cup, between Fredrikstad and Ørn was played at Marienlyst. During the 1952 Winter Olympics in neighboring Oslo, the venue hosted two ice hockey matches. The venue hosted the Norwegian Athletics Championships in 1962 and 2001. The Norway national under-21 football team has played eighteen games Marienlyst, making it their most-used venue. The first U-21 match was played in 1981.
After a rebuild of the south end in 2014, and installation of safe standing seats, the stadium has a capacity of 8,935. When using the seats, the capacity is 8,060. The rebuild was done to ensure that the stadium would fulfill UEFA's regulations for a Category 4 stadium, which can be used for all Champions League or Europa League matches except the final.
The record attendance is 17,300 when Mjøndalen met Viking in the semifinal of the 1947 Norwegian Football Cup. Strømsgodset's record attendance is from 22 May 1969, when 16,687 people attended the home match against Rosenborg.
The grass was removed in November 2007 to make way for artificial ice surface for winter sports, and artificial grass for summer sports. A new stadium was planned, but the project was abandoned due to financial difficulties. There are new plans to expand and rebuild the main stand. In a 2012 survey carried out by the Norwegian Players' Association among away-team captains, Marienlyst was ranked third-worst amongst league stadiums, with a score of 2.13 on a scale from one to five. This was mainly due to the worn-out artificial turf, which was replaced in the summer of 2013.