Crystal Palace National Sports Centre

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The National Sports Centre

The athletics stadium with the Crystal Palace Transmitter in the background.

The National Sports Centre (51°25′9″N, 0°4′8″W) at Crystal Palace in south London is a large sports centre and athletics track. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace, in the former parkland and also usurping part of the former grand prix circuit.

It was one of the five National Sports Centres, run on behalf of Sport England, but responsibility has been transferred to the London Development Agency and is managed by Greenwich Leisure Limited.

The athletics stadium has a capacity of 15,500, which can be increased to 20,000 with temporary seating. It has hosted international athletics meetings and is the home of an annual event on the athletics Grand Prix circuit. The complex also hosts London's only 50m swimming pool. However both the athletics stadium and the aquatics centre will be superseded as London's main facilities for their sports by the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre which will be constructed in Stratford in East London for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

1 Football
2 Rugby
3 Basketball
4 External links

[edit] Football

The current athletics stadium is on the same land as a previous football ground[1], which hosted the FA Cup final from 1895 to 1914. In 1905, the owners wanted a professional club to play at the venue, so a new club, Crystal Palace F.C., was formed. They were forced to leave by the military, in 1915, and now play at nearby Selhurst Park, though the Reserve side did play at the NSC in the 2000-01 season. The largest 'domestic' attendance ever at the stadium was in the 1913 Cup final between Aston Villa and Sunderland, when 121,919 spectators squeezed into the stands. The previous world record had been the 1901 Cup Final, when 114,815 amassed to watch Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield United draw 2-2, (Spurs won the replay at Burnden Park).

There were suggestions that current Palace chairman Simon Jordan would look to purchase the National Sports Centre, if he could not purchase Selhurst Park from former chairman Ron Noades, who was leasing the ground to the club, a lease that was set to expire in 2010. In April 2006, the possibility looked more likely, after Noades announced that no offers had been made to buy Selhurst Park, and that he has no interest in selling the stadium to Jordan or anyone else. However the London Development Agency rejected the proposed move[2], leading Jordan to use an investment mechanism that kept his identity secret, and buy the freehold of the ground from Noades. It now seems highly unlikely that Palace will make any move away from Selhurst Park.

The following international matches have been played at Crystal Palace:

April 3, 1897 - England 1-2 Scotland
March 30, 1901 - England 2-2 Scotland
April 1, 1905 - England 1-0 Scotland
April 3, 1909 - England 2-0 Scotland
March 4, 1911 - England Amateurs 4-0 Belgium

[edit] Rugby

On December 2, 1905, the ground also held the first England rugby union international match against New Zealand in England, New Zealand winning 15-0.

[edit] Basketball

The 3,500 capacity indoor Arena at the National Sports Centre is also home to the first team of former BBL team London Towers, who currently compete in the EBL Division 3 (South).