Hampden Park

Hampden Park in Glasgow is Scotland’s national football stadium. It is home to Queen’s Park F.C. and the Scottish national football team.

Hampden is one of the homes of football and celebrated its centenary on October 31, 2003. The stadium also houses the offices of the Scottish Football Association. During the 2012 Olympics it will also host games during the early stages of the Olympic football tournament.

Queen’s Park F.C. have played at a venue called Hampden Park since 1873. The first and second Hampden Parks were nearby. When Queen’s Park moved to the third (and current) Hampden Park, the old ground was renamed to New Cathkin Park and sold to Third Lanark A.C. The third Hampden is the most famous of the grounds used, and is known throughout the world. The site of the first Hampden Park is on the site of the present day Hampden Bowling Club, the second Hampden Park (Cathkin Park) is just across the Cathcart Road.

Whilst Queen’s Park F.C. had used previous playing fields, it was in 1903 that the club decided to purchase land in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow’s south side. The largest and most technically advanced stadium in the world was built. Hampden Park was inaugurated on 31 October 1903 with Queen’s Park recording a 1-0 win over Celtic F.C.

A New Hampden

Hampden Park was the largest stadium in the world until 1950, when the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro was completed. After the release of the Taylor Report in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster, among other football tragedies, Hampden Park was converted to an all-seater. The need to improve safety as well as protect crowds from the Scottish weather led to its most recent renovation in the late 1990s, and the stadium was re-opened on May 14, 1999. The current capacity is 52,103.

The design of the stadium has been criticised, particularly due to its oval design, which means that supporters sitting in the areas of the stands behind the goals are a long distance from the pitch, especially when sitting towards the top of the stand (similar to the old Wembley Stadium). However, the SFA have been discussing plans to not only address this problem, but also to increase the capacity to at least 70,000.

The Hampden Roar

The crowd who came to see football matches at Hampden were renowned for creating the Hampden Roar. The noise created was said to terrify opposing teams who came to play there. With capacity at the ground exceeding six figures from the early 1900s until the 1980s, the Roar could be heard several miles away from the stadium. In recent times the roar has said to be more muted, with the capacity of the stadium being reduced from its heyday.

The Hampden Roar is also used, colloquially, as a rhyming slang phrase. People (mainly in Glasgow and the west coast of Scotland) may ask “what’s the Hampden Roar?” or “what’s the Hampden?” meaning, “what’s the score?” The phrase can also be used outwith footballing contexts.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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