Twickenham Stadium
(usually known as just Twickenham
or Twickers
[1]) is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000. This makes it the second largest stadium in the UK after Wembley Stadium.
The stadium is the home of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), and as such primarily a venue for rugby union and hosts England's home test matches, as well as the Middlesex Sevens, the Guinness Premiership final, as well as EDF Energy Cup and Heineken Cup matches. The stadium is considered an icon of English rugby.
Although the ground is usually only occupied by rugby union, it has in the past hosted a number of events, such as Iron Maiden, Genesis, U2, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Eagles and most recently R.E.M. concerts. It has also been the host of Rugby League's Challenge Cup final.
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TWICKENHAM STADIUM TICKETS
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Overview
Twickenham is often referred to as the home of English rugby.
[2] The stadium is owned and operated by the RFU, so Twickenham is the host of numerous rugby union fixtures year round. Most prominently it is the home of the English rugby union team, who play all their home games at the stadium (as opposed to some of the other rugby nations that may have a home stadium, but use numerous venues, England uses just Twickenham). Twickenham hosts England's
Six Nations matches, as well as inbound touring teams from the Southern Hemisphere, usually annually around November.
Apart from its relationship with the national team, Twickenham is the venue for a number of other domestic and international rugby matches. It hosts the annual
London leg of the
IRB Sevens World Series as well at the domestic
Middlesex Sevens competition. It is also the venue for the final of the
Guinness Premiership, and has hosted the
Anglo-Welsh Cup final in the past. Twickenham also hosted the
2006-07 Heineken Cup final. The stadium is also host to
The Varsity Match between
Oxford and
Cambridge, the English schools'
Daily Mail Cup final and the
Army Navy Match which forms the culmination of the annual Inter-Services Competition.
History
Sold out Tests against the
All Blacks and
South Africa at
Crystal Palace saw the RFU realize the benefit of owning their own ground. Committee member William Williams leads the way to purchasing a 10 and 1/4 acre market garden in Twickenham in 1907 for
£5,572 12s and 6d. The first stands were constructed the following year. Before the ground was bought, it was actually used to grow cabbages, and so Twickenham Stadium is affectionately known as the 'Cabbage Patch'. After further expenditure on roads, the first game, between
Harlequins v.
Richmond, was played on
2 October,
1909 and the first international,
England v.
Wales, on
15 January 1910. At the time of the English-Welsh match, the stadium had a maximum capacity of 20,000 spectators. During World War I the ground was used for cattle, horse and sheep grazing.
King George V unveiled a war memorial in 1921.
In 1926, the first
Middlesex Sevens took place at the ground. In 1927 the first
Varsity Match took place at Twickenham for the first time. In 1959, to mark 50 years of the ground, a combined side of England and Wales beat
Ireland and
Scotland by 26 points to 17. Twickenham hosted the 2008 Guiness Premiership Final this saw a world record of the biggest rugby union crowd ever to have watched a single match, with the maximum capacity 82,000 fully taken. London Wasps won against the Leciester Tigers.
Coming into the last match of the 1988 season, against the Irish, England had lost 15 of their previous 23 matches in the Five Nations Championship. The Twickenham crowd had only seen one solitary England try in the previous two years and at half time against Ireland they were 0-3 down. During the second half a remarkable transformation took place and England started playing an expansive game many had doubted they were capable of producing. A 0-3 deficit was turned into a 35-3 win, with England scoring six tries. This day also saw the controversial origins of some supporters' adoption of the negro spiritual
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
as a terrace song. Twickenham was long known among supporters of visiting teams as "The Vacuum" for its lack of atmosphere. In the 35-3 win against Ireland, three of England's tries were scored by
Chris Oti, a black player who had made a reputation for himself that season as a speedster on the left wing. The fact that some supporters started singing a negro spiritual whenever Oti had the ball has been interpreted by some commentators on the game as reflective of Twickenham's racist connections. That a small minority of racists gave the Twickenham crowds an undeserved reputation throughout the seventies and eighties is undoubted, but there is also a claim that the adoption of
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
was not a jeering comment on Oti's ethnicity but rather a salute to his prowess. This is certainly the opinion of members of the Benedictine school
Douai who claim to have started the singing. Others have pointed out that (with lewd accompanying gestures)
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
had been sung in rugby clubs around the world for many years prior to that game in 1988. The Douai claim is, of course, unverifiable, but whatever its origins,
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
became a song to sing at England home games in the same way that Fields of Athenry is sung in Dublin and Cwm Rhondda is sung at Cardiff.
The
United Kingdom,
Ireland and
France shared the hosting of the
1991 Rugby World Cup. Twickenham was used during
pool A England matches. Twickenham was also host of the
1991 Rugby World Cup Final in which
Australia beat England 6-12. For this game, England changed their style of play, opting for the sort of running-game that had brought them victory against Ireland in the March 1988 game referred to above. During this match, with the English facing a 12 to three deficit,
David Campese reached one-handed for a ball thrown to England winger,
Rory Underwood. He dropped it and the ball rolled forward gifting England a penalty that proved the last score of the game. Some have claimed that Campese's action should have been interpreted as a deliberate professional foul with possible disciplinary action against the Australian player. However, on the same ground in November 1988, Campese had intercepted a similar pass and run the length of the field to score a try.
[3]
Some of the Welsh-hosted
1999 Rugby World Cup games were taken to Twickenham. These included three of England's
pool B matches, the second round playoff where England defeated
Fiji 45 points to 24, and both semi-finals, none of which England were involved in, having made their exit in the quarter-finals at the hands of
South Africa. Under the reign of
Clive Woodward, the stadium became known as 'Fortress Twickenham', as England enjoyed a run of 19 unbeaten home matches from October 1999, ending with defeat against Ireland in 2004. The
IRB Rugby Aid Match was played on
5 March,
2005 under the auspices of the
International Rugby Board (IRB) to raise money for the
United Nations World Food Programme to support its work aiding victims of the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Representative sides of the Northern and Southern hemispheres played at Twickenham. The final score was Northern Hemisphere 19 – Southern Hemisphere 54.
Redevelopment
Since the ground was bought by the RFU in 1907, it has gone through a number of redevelopments. In 1921 a stand was built above the northern terrace, with workshops placed underneath. In 1927, there was an extension to the East Stand, bringing the capacity to 12,000. The south terrace was also extended to allow 20,000 spectators. In 1932 a new West Stand was completed, providing offices for the RFU, who made the ground their home. In 1937, the
Middlesex County Council approved a scheme submitted by Twickenham Borough Council to widen Rugby Road due to it being inadequate for traffic.
In 1965, the South Terrace was closed due to structural failings. It was found to be cheaper to build a new stand as opposed to repairing the existing one, however, planning permission was refused due to objection from local residents. Permission was granted in 1978. A period of extensive rebuilding took place during the early 1980s which continued through to the mid 1990s. In 1981 the South Terrace was rebuilt as the South Stand. After being taken down in 1988, an extended North Stand was opened in 1990. After the 1992 five nations, the stadium saw the development of the new East Stand and following that the West Stand. In 1995, the stadium was completed to accommodate 75,000 people in an all-seater environment.
Planning permission was sought in 2002 and received in December 2004 for a new South Stand to raise capacity to 82,000, together with a hotel and conference centre, with redevelopment commencing in June 2005. The RFU's revised application to build the new south stand at £80 million was unanimously approved by Richmond Council's planning committee on
December 2. As well as increasing the stadium's capacity to 82,000, the redevelopment will introduce a four-star
Marriott hotel with 156 rooms and six VIP suites with views over the field, a performing arts complex, a health and leisure club, open a new rugby shop and also increase the current function space. In July 2005 the south stand was demolished to make way for the new development. The festivities that were planned for the implosion of this end of the stadium were cancelled in the wake of the
July 7th terror attacks in the center of London. The new seating was complete by
5 November 2006 for the England vs New Zealand game of the
2006 Autumn internationals series. The roof has now been completed while the facilities are still in construction.
Other uses
Though Twickenham usually only hosts rugby union fixtures, it has in the past been the venue for a number of other events. In 2000 the ground hosted its first game of
rugby league, in which
Australia defeated
England in the opening game of the
2000 Rugby League World Cup. The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final has also been played at Twickenham twice and was won by St Helens on both occasions. Due to the construction delays of
Wembley, a number of scheduled events at Wembley were moved to Twickenham. The Challenge Cup and the Rolling Stones'
A Bigger Bang Tour concerts were taken to Twickenham.
[4] The Stones also played two shows at Twickenham in August and September 2003, the first of which was used as their stadium concert disc for the 2003 DVD
Four Flicks. During 2007
Genesis played at Twickenham during their "Turn it on again" World Tour, promoting their best of albums "Platinum Collection" and "The Video Show" (DVD).
The Police played at the stadium in September of 2007 and
Rod Stewart in June. The usual capacity for concerts is 55,000, as opposed to the 82,000 for rugby.
[5]
R.E.M. will perform at Twickenham in August 2008, while New Jersey rockers
Bon Jovi played two gigs at the stadium in June 2008 as part of their
Lost Highway Tour, and
Iron Maiden played there as part of their
Somewhere Back In Time World Tour on the 5th July 2008, along with a full supporting bill which included
Avenged Sevenfold,
Within Temptation and Lauren Harris.
Museum of Rugby
The World Rugby Museum is a
museum located in Twickenham Stadium. The museum covers the whole of the global game, not just English rugby. It tells the history of the sport, including
William Webb Ellis and
Richard Lindon, using interactive display techniques. The museum has a rolling programme of special exhibitions which cover topical issues and offer an opportunity to display some of the obscurer items in the collection. Some unique displays include an
English rugby jersey from the first ever rugby international in 1871 between England and Scotland, and (until 2005) the
William Webb Ellis Cup which was obtained by England at the
2003 Rugby World Cup. Twickenham Stadium Tours are also available through the Museum and run four times per day (Tuesday to Saturday) and twice on Sundays. It is usually open every day of the week except for Mondays. Except match days when for ticket holders only a special price entry to the museum is available.
See also
- Rugby union in England
- Sport in London
- Twickenham Streaker
References
- Nicky Campbell ''Twickers learning from us Scots as petty tyranny crosses border'', The Guardian February 1, 2007
- RFU press office ''Home of Rugby to host cycling charity challenge'' 8 September 2006
- 1991: Wallabies pip England
- Stadium delay hits Wembley gigs
- RFU apply for two additional concerts at Twickenham Stadium in 2007