Floodlights are broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial lights often used to illuminate outdoor playing field

Playing field

A playing field is a field used for playing sports or games. They are generally outdoors, but many large structures exist to enclose playing fields from bad weather. Generally, playing fields are wide expanses of grass, dirt or sand without many obstructions...

s while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions

Night game

A night game is a sporting event that takes place, completely or partially, after the local sunset. Depending on the sport, this can be done either with floodlights or with the usual low-light conditions.-Cricket:...

.

In the top tiers of many professional sports

Professional sports

Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...

, it is a requirement for stadium

Stadium

A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

s to have floodlights to allow games to be scheduled outside daylight hours. Evening or night matches may suit spectators who have work or other commitment earlier in the day. The main motivation for this is television marketing, especially in sports such as Gridiron

Gridiron football

Gridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...

 which rely on TV rights money to finance the sport. Some sports grounds which do not have permanent floodlights installed may make use of portable temporary ones instead. Many larger floodlights (see bottom picture) will have gantries for bulb changing and maintenance. These will usually be able to accommodate one or two engineers.

Types of floodlight

The most common type of floodlight is the Metal Halide which emits a bright white light, however most commonly used for sporting events are high pressure Sodium floodlights which emit a soft orange light, similar to that of street lights; SON lamps have a very high lumens-to-watt ratio making them a cost effective choice where certain lux levels have to be met.

Australian rules football

The first floodlit Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 match was a VFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 premiership match, Essendon Football Club

Essendon Football Club

The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

 vs Geelong Football Club

Geelong Football Club

The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...

 at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground

Brisbane Exhibition Ground

The Brisbane Exhibition Ground , is a showground established in Brisbane during 1875 especially for Ekka . The Exhibition ground is owned and operated by the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland...

, as part of Round 8, on 16 June 1952.

Cricket

Cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 was first played under floodlights on Monday, August 11, 1952 in England which was watched by several million

Million

One million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...

 people on their television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 sets. Since then most test playing countries have installed floodlights in some or all of their stadiums. Traditional Cricket floodlights have a long pole on which lights are fixed. This is done because many times the ball travels too high when a batsman hits it and high lights are needed to keep the ball in sight. But many cricket stadiums have different types of floodlights like ANZ Stadium in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, stadiums in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 etc. The DSC Cricket Stadium

DSC Cricket Stadium

DSC Cricket Stadium also known as the Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium is a description of a new multi-purpose stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is mainly be used for cricket. It opened with the Australia vs Pakistan ODI series that started on April 22, 2009. It has a capacity of 25,000...

 in Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

 recently installed Ring of Fire system of floodlights which is latest and smartest system of floodlight in the world.

Association football

Darwen FC have reportedly the first floodlit stadium. Floodlighting in association football dates as far back as 1878, when there were floodlit experimental matches at Bramall Lane

Bramall Lane

-Cricket at the Lane:Bramall Lane opened as a cricket ground in 1855, having been leased by Michael Ellison from the Duke of Norfolk at an annual rent of £70. The site was then away from the town's industrial area, and relatively free from smoke. It was built to host the matches of local cricket...

, Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 during the dark winter afternoons. With no national grid, lights were powered by batteries

Battery (electricity)

An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...

 and dynamo

Dynamo

- Engineering :* Dynamo, a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator* Dynamo theory, a theory relating to magnetic fields of celestial bodies* Solar dynamo, the physical process that generates the Sun's magnetic field- Software :...

es, and were unreliable. Lights were later be used by clubs such as Thames Ironworks

West Ham United F.C.

West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...

, but they stopped the practice after joining the Southern League in 1888.

In the 1930s, Herbert Chapman

Herbert Chapman

Herbert Chapman was an English association football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most successful and influential managers in early 20th century English football, before his sudden death in 1934.As a player, Chapman played for...

 installed lights into the new West Stand at Highbury

Arsenal Stadium

Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, North London, which was the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006...

 but the Football League refused to sanction their use. This situation lasted until the 1950s, when the popularity of floodlit friendlies became such that the League relented. In 1950, Southampton FC's stadium, The Dell, became the first ground in England to have permanent floodlighting installed. The first game played under the lights there was on 31 October 1950, in a friendly against Bournemouth & Boscombe

Boscombe

Boscombe is a suburb of Bournemouth. Located to the east of Bournemouth town centre and west of Southbourne, It developed rapidly from a small village as a seaside resort alongside Bournemouth after the first Boscombe pier was built in 1888...

 Athletic {A.F.C. Bournemouth

A.F.C. Bournemouth

A.F.C. Bournemouth is an English football club currently playing in Football League One. The club plays at Dean Court in Kings Park, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset and have been in existence since 1899....

}, followed a year later by the first "official" match under floodlights, a Football Combination

Football Combination

The Football Combination , is a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England and Wales...

 (Reserve team) match against Tottenham Hotspur on 1 October 1951. The first international game under floodlights of an England game at Wembley was 30 November 1955 against Spain, England winning 4-1. The first floodlit Football League match took place at Fratton Park

Fratton Park

Fratton Park is a football stadium in the English city-port of Portsmouth. It has been the home of professional club Portsmouth F.C. since its construction in 1898.-Description:...

, Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

 on 22 February 1956 between Portsmouth

Portsmouth F.C.

Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...

 and Newcastle United

Newcastle United F.C.

Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...

.

Many clubs have taken their floodlights down and replaced them with new ones along the roof line of the stands. This previously had not been possible as many grounds comprised open terraces and roof lines on covered stands were too low. Elland Road

Elland Road

Elland Road is an all-seater football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has been the permanent residence of Leeds United A.F.C...

, Old Trafford

Old Trafford

Old Trafford commonly refers to two sporting arenas:* Old Trafford, home of Manchester United F.C.* Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire County Cricket ClubOld Trafford can also refer to:...

 and Anfield

Anfield

Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...

 were the first major grounds to do this in the early 1990s. The Galpharm Stadium

Galpharm Stadium

The Galpharm Stadium, formerly the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, is a multi-use sports in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of Huddersfield Town and Super League side, Huddersfield Giants.-The Stadium:...

 and the JJB Stadium

JJB Stadium

The DW Stadium is a sports stadium in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, that is home to Wigan Athletic football club and Wigan Warriors rugby league club....

 have since been built with traditional floodlights on pylons.

Rugby League

The first floodlit match for rugby league in the Northern hemisphere was on 31-October 1951 at Odsal Stadium

Odsal Stadium

Odsal Stadium is a stadium situated in Odsal, Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The venue is used for rugby league and has been the home ground of Bradford Bulls/Bradford Northern since 1934...

, Bradford

Bradford

Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...

 when Bradford Northern

Bradford Bulls

Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....

 played New Zealand in front of 29,072.

For a club to play in the Super League

Super League

Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...

 they must have a ground with floodlights adequate for playing a professional game.

Amateur use

Many smaller amateur clubs will have less substantial floodlights, often only suitable for training and not playing a full game. Often they will only illuminate a small part of the playing area.

Other uses

Floodlights are also used in other sports such as racing

Racing

A sport race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time...

, baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, and tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

.