Cardiff Millennium Stadium
The Millennium Stadium is Cardiff’s most famous landmark by some distance. In its relatively short lifetime it has achieved iconic status and is recognisable to most sports fans around the world.
The magnificent 72,000 seat, sliding-roof stadium was completed in 1999 at a total cost of £126 million. It was built to provide a new home for Welsh rugby and football internationals, and of course to host the Rugby World Cup 1999.
The stadium got off to a flying start on 26th June 1999, when Wales beat South Africa in a rugby international. This was not only the first match to be staged at the new stadium, but it was also the first time Wales had ever beaten South Africa in rugby!
With the reconstruction of Wembley taking place between 2001 and 2006, the Millennium Stadium was used as a temporary home for matches that would normally have been played at Wembley. Matches such as the FA Cup Final, the League Cup Final, the Football League Play-off Finals and the Challenge Cup Final all came to Cardiff during this period.
The Millennium Stadium is also used to host music concerts. It has attracted many big acts to Cardiff, such as U2, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Robbie Williams, The Rolling Stones, The Police and Madonna to name but a few. Later this year Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will play at the stadium.
Other events that have been held at the Millennium Stadium include: Speedway, World Rally Stages, Monster Truck Racing and even an indoor cricket match. Last year local boxer Joe Calzaghe was cheered on by 50,000 fans to become the undisputed world super-middleweight boxing champion, when he beat Mikkel Kessler at the stadium.
Later this year the Heineken Cup Final will return to Cardiff for the fifth time.
For us Welsh, the most memorable event that ever occurred at the Millennium Stadium was back in 2005 when Wales won the rugby Grand Slam by beating Ireland 32-20. A simply unforgettable day!
Visitors who are eager to explore the stadium (on a non-matchday) can book a tour. Stadium tours offer visitors the opportunity to see areas that are normally restricted, such as the players changing rooms, training areas, medical rooms and the Royal Box where the Queen watched the Rugby World Cup Final. Regular tours depart daily and cost £5.50 for adults and £3.00 for children.
Since it’s opening in June 1999, the Millennium Stadium has welcomed over 1.3 Million visitors per year. With the first retractable roof in the UK, the Stadium is a multi-purpose, all round venue. With a UEFA 5-Star rating and two Rugby World Cups, a Wales Grand Slam, six FA Cup Finals plus a plethora of major concerts and motorsports events on its CV, the Millennium Stadium is established as a world class must play, must visit venue and has played home to five major sporting bodies over the last eight years.
As early as 1994 a group redevelopment committee was set up to look at redeveloping the Wales National Stadium and linking the redevelopment to the regeneration of West Cardiff. In 1995, the WRU won the right to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup against severe competition from the Southern Hemisphere. A review of the National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park (designed in 1962) showed that the it had long since been overtaken; with Twickenham and Scotland having developed stadia with capacities of 75,000 and 67,000 respectively and France about to build the Stade de France with a capacity of over 80,000.
Capacity in the old National Stadium was 53,000 (including 11,000 standing in the East Terrace). New safety regulations would mean that the capacity would be further reduced by ‘all-seater’ arrangements. There were no spectator facilities in the old Stadium other than toilets. It was decided that the new Stadium should have a roof to accommodate a requirement for multi-use and also a natural grass pitch for rugby. Therefore a retractable roof was incorporated into the design brief. The only other retractable roof in Europe at the time was at the Amsterdam Arena (with a capacity of 50,000); the home of Ajax Football Club.
A number of different development options were considered.
One included adding a Third tier to the existing Stadium, another suggested moving to a completely new site.
The Millennium Stadium redevelopment option eventually chosen and supported by the Millennium Commission became the fourth redevelopment in the history of the Cardiff Arms Park site.
It was clear from the budget requirement for the new Stadium (of over £100m) that Government Funding would be needed. The only potential source of funding at the time was the National Lottery - set up in 1994 - as one of eight major UK projects of the Millennium Commission.
Criteria that the Millennium Stadium had to meet in order to qualify for funding were:
- Public support
- To make a substantial contribution to the community
- To look back on the past Millennium and into the new one
- Mark a significant movement in history
- Be of a high architectural design and environmental quality
- Include partnership with the local community
- Would not be possible on most commission funds
The Millennium Commission were prepared to fund a maximum of £50m worth of the redevelopment. The Welsh Rugby Union decided to raise the remainder of the £114m budget from commercial sources. After competition from the proposed Cardiff Bay Opera House in March 1996 the Millennium Commission agreed to support the redevelopment of the Cardiff Arms Park by turning the Stadium 90 Degrees, developing over the existing TAVRA and BT sites, and demolishing the Empire Pool on the corner of Wood and Park Street to create an open plaza guaranteeing safe access and entrance for attending spectators.
History of the Millennium Stadium-Cardiff Arms Park Site
The 1800s
- Lord Bute donates the Park to the people of Cardiff
- Cricket is played from 1848
- Cardiff Rugby Club is formed in 1876
- First victory for Wales over Ireland in 1884
- Grand Stand opens 1885
- Grand Stand extension completed in 1890
- New pavilion opened for changing, indoor exercise and social functions
The Early 1900s
- Teddy Morgan’s solitary try in December 1905 inflicted defeat upon the first All Blacks - World champion status is conferred upon Wales
- Cardiff beat South Africa - New Years Day 1907
- New North Stand is opened but wrecked by a land mine dropped by the Luftwaffe in 1941
The 1950s
- First Grand Slam victory by Wales for 39 years in 1950
- New Zealand lost twice at Cardiff Arms park in 1953 but the All Blacks have beaten Wales there ever time since 1951
- South stand opens in 1956 ready for the 1958 Empire Games with standing room for another 47000 spectators
The 1960s
- Keith Jarrett’s arrival on the international scene when he scored one of the most audacious and spectacular tries witnessed at Cardiff in 1967
The 1970s
- The National Ground, Cardiff Arms Park wholly reconstructed during the 1970s
- The Welsh ‘Golden Era’ – John Dawes, Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Mervyn Davies, Gerald Davies, JPR Williams and Phil Bennett are superstars
The 1980s
- Welsh rugby goes off the boil
- Great XVs from New Zealand, South Africa and Australia still draw big crowds
- Paul Thorburn establishes a world record for a penalty goal kick of 70 yards and 8.5 inches in 1988
The 1990s
- The Rugby World Cup comes to the Cardiff Arms Park in 1991 - Wales fail to reach the quarter finals
- From 1989, Cardiff Arms Park becomes ‘home’ for Wales’s soccer stars
- Also hosted were pop concerts and boxing title fights - Tina Turner, Lewis v Bruno
- SWALEC Cup Final is the very last game at Wales’ National Ground in 1997
- Redevelopment begins in September 1997 after auctioning of parts of the old National Stadium
The Millennium Stadium
- With construction work still to be done, a three-quarters complete Millennium Stadium hosts its very first game in June 1999 and Wales record their first win over South Africa in nearly ? years. Mark Taylor scores the solitary opening try at the new venue
- After several warm-up games, Wales host the Opening Ceremony of RWC 1999 in October 1999, three pool games for Wales and a quarter-final (in which Wales bow out to the eventual Champions Australia), the third-fourth place Play-Off, and the Closing Ceremony and Final - the roof slides open during the Opening Ceremony
The Millennium
- The new venue becomes a giant concert arena for a New Year’s Eve Millennium extravaganza - The Manic Street Preachers see in revellers with a ‘Manic Millennium’ under the Stadium’s now infamous sliding roof
- The Millennium Stadium hosts the first FAW International Football matches in the summer of 2000
- The Football League Cup Final, LDV Vans Trophy, FA Cup Final and FA Community Shield come to the Stadium in 2001 confirming its status as a World Class venue, the Stadium also achieves a 5 Star UEFA rating and Speedway brings motorsport to its multi-purpose capabilities
- The FA Community Shield of 2001 between Manchester United and Liverpool becomes the first football match played under a closed roof in the UK
- The Stadium hosts its first competitive Football International Play-Off in November 2003 between Wales and Russia
- New Year’s Eve 2003, the venue becomes a giant dance floor for its first Stadium School Party Night
- Wales’s Rugby World Cup 2003 heroes prepare to do battle on home ground once again as the 2004 RBS 6 Nations kicks off
