Mardyke (UCC)

The Mardyke
Location Mardyke
Cork
Ireland
Coordinates Coordinates: 51°53′43″N 8°30′03″W / 51.895139°N 8.500822°W / 51.895139; -8.500822
Owner University College Cork
Construction
Opened 1911
Renovated 2001, 2009
Tenants
Current
University College Cork R.F.C.
University College Cork A.F.C.
UCC Demons
UCC GAA
Past
Fordsons
Cork F.C.
Cork City
Cork United
Cork Athletic
Cork Hibernians

The Mardyke, also referred as the Mardyke Sports Ground, is the sport and fitness facilities used by sports team representing University College Cork, the general student body, and members of the public. It is based in the Cork district of Mardyke. UCC acquired the grounds in 1911, and rented the main pitch to rugby, soccer, hockey and hurling clubs in the city for a 15% cut of the gate receipts.[1]

Outdoors, there are floodlit grass and all-weather pitches, used for soccer, rugby, Gaelic games, and hockey.[2] Kayakers train in the adjacent North channel of the River Lee.[2] There is a tartan track for athletics, where the Cork City Sports are held annually. The most notable performance came in the hammer throw on 3 July 1984, when Yuriy Sedykh and Sergey Litvinov broke the world record six times in one evening.[3]

The facilities were severely damaged when the River Lee burst its banks on 19 November 2009.[4] The Mardyke Arena reopened on 15 February 2010 after repairs costing €4m.[4]

Mardyke Arena

The Mardyke Arena, an indoor sports centre opened in December 2001, contains a gymnasium, swimming pool and other facilities.[5] It is the home court of UCC Demons,[6] a basketball team affiliated with the College though not limited to students.

Association football

The Mardyke was formerly an important venue for association football in Cork city. It was the home ground for several League of Ireland clubs in Cork city, including Fordsons, Cork F.C., Cork City, Cork United, Cork Athletic and Cork Hibernians.[7] A crowd of 18,000 watched a friendly match in 1939 between Ireland and Hungary, the first international arranged by the FAI to be played outside Dublin.[8] It is still regularly used by University College Cork A.F.C., hosting the 2009 Collingwood Cup, the 2015 Crowley Cup and a 2015 League of Ireland Cup quarter-final against Dundalk.

References

Sources

Citations

  1. ↑ Toms, David (2012). "‘Notwithstanding the Discomfort Involved’: Fordson's Cup Win in 1926 and How ‘the Old Contemptible’ Were Represented in Ireland's Public Sphere During the 1920s". Sport in History. 32 (4): 504–525. ISSN 1746-0263. doi:10.1080/17460263.2012.756828. (Subscription required (help)).
  2. 1 2 Sports Facilities in UCC
  3. ↑ O'Brien, John (6 July 2008). "Cold War kings a world apart in record-breaking trip". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  4. 1 2 Kelleher, Olivia (15 February 2010). "Cork sports centre damaged in floods to reopen today". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  5. ↑ Mardyke Arena official site
  6. ↑ UCC Demons Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine. Basketball Ireland
  7. ↑ Macsweeney, Niall. A Record of League of Ireland Football 1921/2–1984/5. Basildon: Association of Football Statisticians.
  8. ↑ Byrne, Peter (1996). Football Association of Ireland: 75 years. Dublin: Sportsworld. p. 41. ISBN 1-900110-06-7.
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