This is local news footage from back in August 1988 when Glanford Park, the new home of Scunthorpe United opened it’s doors to the public. According to the official Iron website the new ground brought “gasps of disbelief” from supporters. Costing £2.5m it was the first new football ground built in England since Southend United had moved to Roots Hall in 1955.

The inaugural match saw Scunthorpe, wearing a specially commisioned strip, take on a Football League XI. Kevin Keegan, who had started his career with Scunthorpe, guested for the Iron and his appearance prompted a boycott of the event by local Labour councillors protesting his coaching involvement in the then apartheid state of South Africa. The Football League XI included Peter Shilton, Peter Reid, Mike Phelan, Danny Wilson, Trevor Francis, Alan McInally and Mick Harford amongst others and ran out easy 5-1 winners.

Scunthorpe’s old stadium, the Old Showground had been the first in England to have a cantilever stand. Opened in 1958 it was demolished along with the rest of the ground when the club moved to Glanford Park. A supermarket was built on the site and a plaque was placed in front of the delicatessen counter to mark where the centre spot had been. Here’s an image of that stand, it doesn’t look like much but it’s a piece of English football history lost forever.

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Womens Professional Soccer Expansion team Atlanta Beat have announced plans to build a brand new soccer stadium in Kennesaw, Georgia(roughly 20 miles from Atlanta). The stadium, which is scheduled to open in Spring 2010, will be built in cooperation with Kennesaw State University, and will be the home to both the Beat and KSU’s women’s soccer program. Costing $16.5 million to build, the new stadium will seat 8,300 for soccer games and accommodate up to 16,000 for concerts. Artist rendering below(click to zoom)

The stadium is located on a 21-acre piece of land located on Big Shanty Road between George Busbee Parkway and I-575, pictured below(click to load in Google Maps). The stadium will be located near KSU campus, several hotels and Cobb County Airport.

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If New York Red Bulls fans think they have it hard check out the Ruskies.  Only a few years behind schedule, Spartak Moscok has officially started development on it’s new stadium.  Originally scheduled to be completed in December 2009, due to red tape and various economic issues they just got their land permit last week.  So either Ty Pennington has his greatest Extreme Makeover yet ahead of him, or Moscow is going to have to push their deadline back a few years.

If/When finished, the stadium is to hold 35,000 spectators and cost roughly 150 Million Euros.  One cool thing about the stadium though is the attached indoor training field off to the side of the stadium.  You can see it for your self in the artist rendering video below.

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One of the many stadiums hopefully finishing up construction for the World Cup is Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, South Africa.

Moses Mabhida stadium seats 69,000 people and will host the Semi-Final match in 2010.  But what I find sexy as hell about this building is the architecture and how the owners intend to incorporate it into spectacle.  The first thing that stands out about this stadium is the huge split arch running the length of the building.   In the past such artistic choices would be just that, art for the sake of art.  Be here it has function.

Patrons of the stadium will have the option to ride cable cars up to the top of the arch, you can even bungee jump from the arch if you have the balls.  But how will these people get to the stadium?  Well the organizers have thought ahead and built a rail station adjacent to the stadium, as well as connecting the venue to the beach promenade via a walkway.

Sounds like a great place to see a match from a fan’s perspective come next summer.

For more information on this stadium please visit the link above.

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Dutch architects UNStudio have won a competition to design a new soccer stadium in Dalian, China.


The stadium will seat 40,000, and will feature a double-layered roof based on the traditional weaving of the ancient cuju Chinese soccer ball.

The stadium houses spectator seating, a TV broadcasting center, administration areas, VIP lounges and a public concourse.

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