Spotland Stadium

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Spotland

Full name	Spotland Stadium
Nickname	San Spotland, The Spott
Built	1920
Opened	1920
Capacity	10,249
Home of	Rochdale A.F.C., Rochdale Hornets

Spotland Stadium (or simply Spotland) is a sports venue located in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. It is currently home to Rochdale A.F.C. and Rochdale Hornets R.L.F.C.. It has a capacity of 10,249.

1 History
2 Stands
3 Other uses
4 Etymology
5 References

[edit] History

Spotland Stadium was built in 1920, exclusively for Rochdale A.F.C. At first, it only had one stand - the Main Stand, and at one time it housed the smallest seated area in the Football League. In 1988, due to Rochdale Hornets selling of the Athletic Grounds, the rugby club moved in and a three-way ownership plan was introduced; the ground is now jointly owned by Rochdale A.F.C, Rochdale Hornets and Rochdale Council. From 1992 until 2000, the ground was redeveloped due to the Taylor Report, and became what it is today. In summer 2006, a new drainage system was installed, after a winter of postponements and abandoned matches. The teams mascot is unsuprsingly called Spot the Dog. On occassions, the team's away colours has been known to have spots or polka dots, something very rare in British football strips.

[edit] Stands

The ground has 4 stands: The Horners Stand (or Main Stand), The Thwaites Beer Stand (the Sandy Lane End), The W.M.G. Stand (Pearl Street end) and the Westrose Leisure Stand (the Willbutts Lane Stand). All are fully-seated, apart from the Sandy Lane End, which is a small terrace behind one of the goals.

[edit] Other uses

Apart from local football and rugby, Spotland has in the past been used to host minor nations rugby league matches, such as BARLA (British Amateur Rugby League Association) matches, and also the National League Cup finals of 2003 and 2004.

Spotland Stadium

[edit] Etymology

Spotland Stadium shares its name with the suburb of Rochdale named from the River Spod (a tributary of the River Roch). Spotland literally means "area around the Spod", where Spod means "spouting stream". It has no connection to the word "Spot", although some people often presume so.

[edit] References

Coordinates: 53°37′15.04″N, 2°10′48.12″W

Football League Two venues, 2006-2007
Adams Park \| Bescot Stadium \| Blundell Park \| County Ground The Darlington Arena \| Edgar Street \| Edgeley Park \| Field Mill Fraser Eagle Stadium \| Gay Meadow \| Gigg Lane \| London Road Meadow Lane \| Memorial Stadium \| Moss Rose \| National Hockey Stadium Plainmoor \| Racecourse Ground \| Saunders Honda Stadium \| Sincil Bank Spotland Stadium \| Underhill Stadium \| Victoria Park \| York Street