Aviva Stadium (Lansdowne Road)
In its old incarnation Lansdowne Road was the oldest sports stadium in Europe. It first hosted athletics in 1872 and was the product of the vision of Henry William Dunlop, an outstanding young athlete, who organised the first All Ireland Athletics Championships.
The original Lansdowne Road Stadium was a multi-sports venue which included a cinder track for athletics, a cricket pitch, croquet green, three football pitches and facilities for archery and lawn tennis.
The first rugby match played at the ground was an inter provincial between Leinster and Munster in December 1876. Two years later it held its first international rugby fixture, against England, making Lansdowne Road the world’s oldest rugby union Test venue.
In the early twentieth century the Irish Rugby Football Association secured the lease of Lansdowne Road from the Pembroke Estate and the ground became increasingly associated with rugby football. It was not until the 1980s that soccer internationals were played there rather than at Dalymount Park
The first stand was built in 1908 and the ground changed little until 1977 when the old West Lower Stand was demolished to be replaced the following year by the new West Lower Stand. The uncovered stand at the corner of the North Terrace was also demolished and terracing extended. Old news footage shows the mock Tudor tea rooms of Lansdowne Football Club which reverted to the ownership of the IRFU when the club moved to new premises near Herbert Bridge. Further significant refurbishment took place in the 1980s and, as a result of fire, in the early twentieth century.
The Football Association of Ireland first leased the ground for international soccer matches in 1971, and from 1990 to 2006, the ground was used by for the vast majority of home fixtures by the Republic of Ireland. The last ever contest in the old Lansdowne Road Stadium was a rugby match that took place on December 31, 2006. Leinster beat Ulster 20 points to 12 in a Magners League game that set a record attendance of 48,000 for such a league match. Demolition of the stadium began in May 2007.
In a €410 million venture by the IRFU and the FAI, the reconstructed stadium, opened in March 2010 under its new name Aviva, is one of the most expensive structures erected in the Republic of Ireland. It was designed by Populous who worked in conjunction with local Dublin based Scott Tallon Walker. Populous, one of the world’s leading sports architecture firms, had previously been involved in projects such as the Sydney Olympic Stadium and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in London. The 50,000 seater stadium has been described by its architects as ‘the first truly site responsive stadium of its kind in the world. Its form, mass, materials and aspect are defined by the site and its surrounds.’
The first fixtures in the new stadium saw a Connacht/Munster rugby selection take on a Leinster/Ulster selection on 31 July, followed by an Airtricity League team playing Manchester United on 4 August. The first international will see Ireland’s soccer team playing former world champions Argentina on August 11. The first rugby international will see Ireland face current world champions South Africa on November 6.
Photograph 1: Lansdowne Road, 2002, copyright Inpho Photography. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
Photograph 5: Aviva Stadium, supplied by the Aviva Stadium
