Morton Stadium
| Santry | |
 | |
| Location | Santry, Dublin, Ireland |
|---|---|
| Public transit |
Dublin Airport Swords Road bus stop (Dublin Bus) |
| Capacity | 4,000 (800 seated) |
| Opened | 1958 |
| Tenants | |
|
Current Clonliffe Harriers Shelbourne Ladies F.C. Drumcondra F.C. Former Raheny United F.C. Shamrock Rovers F.C. Dublin City F.C. Sporting Fingal F.C. | |
Morton Stadium, or the National Athletics Stadium, is an athletics stadium in Santry Demense, Finglas in Ireland. Often called Santry Stadium, it is the centre for athletics events in Dublin city and the home track of Clonliffe Harriers. It has also been the home ground for several Irish association football clubs. The modern capacity of the ground is 4,000 [1] with a single 800 seat, covered stand.
History
The stadium was opened in 1958 with a cinder track. An inaugural series of meetings was held, and on 6 August 1958, Australian Herb Elliott shattered the world record for the mile run with a time of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds. This was the first race in which five athletes had run a four-minute mile.
In June 1959, the stadium was damaged when a bomb exploded (planted by Irish Republicans), this was prior to a cycling meeting which was to include Fausto Coppi a former Tour de France and Giro Italia champion, the stadium was being prepared with banked sides funded by Guinness (who were celebrating their 200 anniversary).
In 1978 the stadium was resurfaced with a tartan track, the first such in the Republic of Ireland. In the early 1990s it was renamed after Billy Morton, the administrator who had initiated the original track and who brought famous athletes to compete in the stadium. It hosted the athletics events of the Special Olympics World Games in 2003.
The stadium consists of a small covered stand with 800 seats and three sides of open terracing, bringing the total capacity up to 4,000. The stand encompasses dressing rooms and other facilities; there are also separate clubhouses for the associated clubs. The stadium complex also has indoor athletics training facilities.
On 25 July 2008, a special event was held in the stadium called the Morton Memorial Meeting to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the aforementioned world mile record in an event promoted by Billy Morton. The event website is www.mortonmemorial.com where there are photos of the 1958 event.
The track (both indoor and outdoor) was relayed in late 2010. The indoor track is now blue.
Santry has also hosted the home games of Shamrock Rovers (from 1999–2001) and Dublin City.
See also
References
External links
- Morton Stadium from Clonliffe Harriers website
Coordinates: 53°24′04″N 6°14′42″W / 53.401179°N 6.245063°W