Shawfield Stadium
Encyclopedia
Shawfield Stadium is a greyhound racing
venue in the town of Rutherglen
, South Lanarkshire
, Scotland
, located close to the boundary with Glasgow
. It has also previously been a regular venue for football
and speedway
, as home to Clyde F.C.
and the Glasgow Tigers
respectively. Other sports including boxing
and athletics
have also been staged there.
, returning to the ground. Ultimately this proposal came to nothing, with Clyde eventually establishing a new home base in the new town
of Cumbernauld
in 1994.
Instead of football returning to Shawfield, new tenants arrived at Shawfield in the shape of the Glasgow Tigers, returning to their home city in 1988 after a year's exile in Workington
. The Tigers would race there for a decade, apart from the 1996 season when they were temporarily in abeyance and replaced by the ill-fated Scottish Monarchs
team who had a team but no track due to the closure of Powderhall
.
Originally it was planned that Clyde and the Tigers would share the venue but concerns about the corners of the football pitch led to the football team moving elsewhere. The original track layout was revised resulting in the track's longish straights and sharp but wide bends. The pits were conveniently tucked in behind the Tote Board to minimise any noise.
When the venue opened the racing could be viewed from two straights and the third and fourth bends but over the years the viewing area was reduced to a small part of the stadium in front of the stand.
Greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
venue in the town of Rutherglen
Rutherglen
Rutherglen is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. In 1975, it lost its own local council and administratively became a component of the City of Glasgow. In 1996 Rutherglen was reallocated to the South Lanarkshire council area.-History:...
, South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, located close to the boundary with Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. It has also previously been a regular venue for football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
and speedway
Motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
, as home to Clyde F.C.
Clyde F.C.
Clyde Football Club are a Scottish professional football team currently playing in the Third Division of the Scottish Football League. Although based for the last fifteen years in the new town of Cumbernauld, they are traditionally associated with an area that covers Rutherglen in South...
and the Glasgow Tigers
Glasgow Tigers (speedway)
The Glasgow Tigers are a motorcycle speedway team from Glasgow, Scotland. Formed in 1928, the club adopted the Tigers nickname in 1946 and compete in the British Premier League...
respectively. Other sports including boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
and athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
have also been staged there.
History
The stadium began to take shape when Clyde F.C. took over the site, previously a trotting track, in 1898. Dog racing was introduced as an additional source of revenue for the club in 1932, but Clyde's financial difficulties led to them selling Shawfield to the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) in 1935, continuing to play there as tenants. This arrangement continued until 1986 when the GRA's redevelopment plans led to them evicting Clyde from their traditional home. When these plans failed to come to fruition, there was talk of Clyde, then enduring an unsatisfactory groundshare at Partick ThistlePartick Thistle F.C.
Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football club from Glasgow. Despite their name, the club are based in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908...
, returning to the ground. Ultimately this proposal came to nothing, with Clyde eventually establishing a new home base in the new town
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
of Cumbernauld
Cumbernauld
Cumbernauld is a Scottish new town in North Lanarkshire. It was created in 1956 as a population overspill for Glasgow City. It is the eighth most populous settlement in Scotland and the largest in North Lanarkshire...
in 1994.
Instead of football returning to Shawfield, new tenants arrived at Shawfield in the shape of the Glasgow Tigers, returning to their home city in 1988 after a year's exile in Workington
Workington
Workington is a town, civil parish and port on the west coast of Cumbria, England, at the mouth of the River Derwent. Lying within the Borough of Allerdale, Workington is southwest of Carlisle, west of Cockermouth, and southwest of Maryport...
. The Tigers would race there for a decade, apart from the 1996 season when they were temporarily in abeyance and replaced by the ill-fated Scottish Monarchs
Scottish Monarchs
The Scottish Monarchs were a motorcycle speedway team based in Glasgow, Scotland.At the end of the 1995 season, the Glasgow Tigers closed due a lack of finance and the Edinburgh Monarchs lost their home track, Powderhall Stadium, to redevelopment, leading to the Monarchs racing at Shawfield Stadium...
team who had a team but no track due to the closure of Powderhall
Powderhall
Powderhall is an area in the north of Edinburgh, the Scottish capital. It is mainly centred around Broughton Road. Until recently it was best known for its greyhound racing track, which has now closed. The site has been redeveloped for housing and business purposes...
.
Originally it was planned that Clyde and the Tigers would share the venue but concerns about the corners of the football pitch led to the football team moving elsewhere. The original track layout was revised resulting in the track's longish straights and sharp but wide bends. The pits were conveniently tucked in behind the Tote Board to minimise any noise.
When the venue opened the racing could be viewed from two straights and the third and fourth bends but over the years the viewing area was reduced to a small part of the stadium in front of the stand.
Shawfield today
Since the departure of speedway to Ashfield Stadium ahead of the 1999 season, Shawfield has only staged greyhounds. Currently, racing takes place three nights per week (Thursday, Friday & Saturday) . While the basic shape of the stadium, with its crumbling disused terracing and crush barriers, remains intact from the Clyde era, today only the grandstand is in use. As well as betting facilities there is a bar and a restaurant for spectators. The large tote board which dominated the south end of the track was demolished in 2004. The exterior of the stand, which had become quite run down, has been reclad in recent years.Location anomalies
- Historically, the boundary between the City of Glasgow and the county of LanarkshireLanarkshireLanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...
passed right through Shawfield. During World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when the gathering of crowds in areas deemed "unsafe" were severely restricted, this meant Shawfield was allowed to accommodate 20,000 spectators, whereas Celtic ParkCeltic ParkCeltic Park is a football stadium in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which is the home ground of Celtic FC. Celtic Park, an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 60,832, is the largest football stadium in Scotland and the sixth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom, after Murrayfield, Old Trafford,...
, less than a mile away but wholly located in Glasgow was permitted only 10,000 people in a much larger venue.
- In the 1966–67 season, Clyde's third placed finish in the Scottish LeagueScottish Football LeagueThe Scottish Football League is a league of football teams in Scotland, comprising theScottish First Division, Scottish Second Division and Scottish Third Division. From the league's foundation in 1890 until the breakaway Scottish Premier League was formed in 1998, the Scottish Football League...
should have earned them a place in the Inter-Cities Fairs CupInter-Cities Fairs CupThe Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The competition was the idea of Swiss pools supremo Ernst Thommen, Ottorino Barassi from Italy, and the English Football Association general secretary Stanley Rous, all of whom later became senior officials...
, however a one club per city rule applied to the competition, and second placed RangersRangers F.C.Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
had precedence to represent Glasgow. Clyde attempted to argue that Shawfield's location actually meant they were from the separate town of Rutherglen, however the organisers of the tournament cited Clyde's membership of the Glasgow Football Association and participation in the Glasgow CupGlasgow CupThe Glasgow Cup is a knockout football tournament open to teams from Glasgow. It was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1988. It is now competed for between the youth teams of Rangers, Celtic, Clyde, Partick Thistle and Queen's Park.It is dominated by the Old Firm of...
.
- Local government reorganisation in 1975 meant that Rutherglen, and Shawfield with it, was now incorporated entirely into an expanded Glasgow district. Further changes in 1996 created the new unitary authority area of South Lanarkshire, with Shawfield now lying entirely within this area and no longer even partially in Glasgow.
External links
- Official website
- Stadium and track info from dog-track.co.uk
- History page from Glasgow Tigers official website
- Photos of racing at Shawfield in 1955, from the Mitchell Library archive