Murrayfield Stadium

Murrayfield Stadium is a sports stadium in the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, and is the home of Scottish rugby union. It once held the record for the largest ever attendance for a rugby union match, with 104,000 watching Scotland play Wales in 1975. At present, its all-seater capacity is 67,800.

Murrayfield is located in the west-end of Edinburgh, just off Corstorphine Road and close to the Edinburgh Zoo. It is named after the area of Edinburgh it is located in, Murrayfield.

It has good public transport links, being particularly well-served by bus links along the Corstorphine Road. However, its nearest railway station is Haymarket, which is a 10-minute walk from the stadium.

History

The SFU bought some land and built the first Murrayfield Stadium which was opened on 21 March 1925. Previously internationals had been played at Inverleith. The first visitors were England, whom Scotland beat to win their first Five Nations Championship Grand Slam.

During the Second World War the ground at Murrayfield was offered to the nation and was taken over by the Royal Army Service Corps and used as a supply depot. During the war years the armed forces sports authorities managed to arrange two Scotland v. England services internationals each year, on a home-and-away basis. Scotland’s home matches were played at Inverleith for the first two years with a return to Murrayfield in 1944 after that ground’s derequisition. In 1995 Murrayfield had a 50 million pound renovation where floodlights were installed for the first time in it’s history.

Present Day

Currently Murrayfield is used for most Scottish international rugby union matches, with all Scotland’s Six Nations home games being played here. Beginning in 2007, Murrayfield will host the Edinburgh 7s, the final event in the annual IRB Sevens World Series in rugby sevens. Murrayfield will also host select matches from the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The stadium has also been used to host the Heineken Cup Final, being the venue for the 2004-05 final where Toulouse beat Stade Français by 18 points to 12.

Apart from rugby union, it sometimes hosts football games and was selected by nearby football club Heart of Midlothian F.C. as the venue for their European campaign in the 2006/2007 season, as Tynecastle does not meet the UEFA criteria for hosting European football. In addition, Murrayfield has hosted American football and rugby league. The stadium has also seen performances from major rock artists like David Bowie, U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In July 2005, Murrayfield hosted the final Live 8 concert, Edinburgh 50,000 – The Final Push, with performances from the likes of James Brown, Texas, The Proclaimers and Travis.

Although a union stadium, Murrayfield hosted the rugby league Challenge Cup finals in 2000 and 2002.

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