Meadow Lane

Meadow Lane
Full name	Meadow Lane Stadium
Location	Nottingham, England
Coordinates	52°56′33″N 1°8′14″W / 52.94250°N 1.13722°W / 52.94250; -1.13722Coordinates: 52°56′33″N 1°8′14″W / 52.94250°N 1.13722°W / 52.94250; -1.13722
Built	1910
Opened	1910
Capacity	20,229[1]
Field dimensions	114 x 76 yards (104 x 69 metres)
Tenants
Notts County F.C. (1910–present) Nottingham R.F.C. (2006–present)

Not to be confused with The Meadow, home of Southern Football League Premier Division football team Chesham United

The Meadow Lane Stadium (usually known simply as Meadow Lane)^[2] is a football stadium in Nottingham, England. It is the home ground of Notts County, who have played there since 1910. The stadium has also been home to Nottingham R.F.C. since 2006.^[3]

It currently has an all-seated capacity of 20,229.

Meadow Lane lies just three hundred yards (275 metres) away from the City Ground, home of Nottingham Forest. The two grounds are the closest in England and the second closest in the United Kingdom after the grounds of Dundee and Dundee United. The Trent End of the City Ground is visible from parts of the Jimmy Sirrel stand and the Spion Kop.

The stadium also hosts the men's and women's football and rugby events in the Varsity Series – a sporting series contested by Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham.

History

The Kop

Prior to 1910, Notts County played their home games across the River Trent at Trent Bridge as a tenant of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. Cricket took priority on the ground and the football club were often forced to play early and late season games at other venues as their fixtures would often clash with the fixtures of the cricket club.^[4]

The Football League eventually deemed that this practice was inappropriate and demanded that Notts either seek more favourable terms for the use of Trent Bridge or relocate to a new ground on which they could fulfil all of their fixtures.

In 1910, a plot of land near the cattle market on the opposite side of the River Trent was leased from the city council and a new stadium hastily erected. Part of the new stadium was a temporary stand from Trent Bridge which was literally floated across the river.

On 3 September 1910, County moved to Meadow Lane, the first game was a 1–1 draw with old rivals Nottingham Forest, played in front of 27,000 fans paying receipts of £775.^[5]

In 1920 the landlord, Nottingham Corporation, which leased the land to the club, came very close to removing the club from its premises to make way for an abattoir.^[6]

The stadium remained largely the same until 1923 when the Sneinton Side was replaced with a new stand, named the County Road Stand after the newly constructed road behind it.

Meadow Lane was bombed during World War II forcing the club to suspend all fixtures during the 1942 season. The northern side of the Main Stand was badly damaged and the pitch left in an unplayable condition.^[7]

The Jimmy Sirrel Stand

The Derek Pavis Stand

Aerial image showing the proximity of Meadow Lane (top) to the City Ground

The stadium has played host to Forest games on a number of occasions. After the war, when flooding from the River Trent left the City Ground in an unplayable condition and again in 1968 when the Main Stand at the City Ground was destroyed by fire in a game against Leeds United.

The Meadow Lane End was demolished in the late 1970s and replaced by a building which housed new dressing rooms, a social club and a variety of other facilities designed to generate more income. There was no stand at this end for quite some time and Meadow Lane was reduced to a three sided stadium. Eventually a small terrace was installed.

During the 1980s the stadium became increasingly dilapidated. The Bradford City stadium fire and Hillsborough disaster brought the safety of football stadia into the public gaze and eventually the Taylor Report required that football clubs modernise their grounds. Meadow Lane was subsequently redeveloped during the early 1990s, although the work was planned before the report was issued. The Meadow Lane End, County Road Stand and Spion Kop were all demolished in the 1992 close season and replaced with the Family Stand, the Jimmy Sirrel Stand and the Spion Kop Stand respectively. The Main Stand was replaced during the close season of 1994 by the Derek Pavis Stand.

The Derek Pavis Stand contains a number of conference and function facilities to complement the Meadow Club behind the Family Stand. These host numerous functions throughout the year, ranging from social evenings organised by Notts County's supporter organisations, to wedding receptions and meetings of evangelical Christian churches.^[8]

In 2006, it was announced that Nottingham RUFC would play a number of home games at the stadium. It was further announced in May 2006 that Notts County and Nottingham RFC were negotiating making the agreement permanent. In October 2006 it was announced that an agreement had been reached with Notts County, allowing Nottingham RFC to play the remainder of their 2006/07 home fixtures at Meadow Lane. In 2010 it was announced that the rugby club had signed an agreement to play at Meadow Lane for a further 7 years.

In June 2002, as part of a sponsorship deal, the ground was briefly renamed the "Aaron Scargill Stadium". However, the ground reverted to its original name when the deal later fell through.^[2][9]

The Family Stand was renamed The Haydn Green Family Stand in 2007, after the man who saved Notts County from liquidation in 2003, by buying the lease on the ground and investing several million pounds, Haydn Green died suddenly in 2007 leaving an estate which still controls the lease on the ground.

Notes

References

External links

• Football Ground Guide Article
• Stadium Guide Article