Spotland Stadium is a sports venue located at Willbutts Lane in the Spotland

Spotland

Spotland is a district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Spodden, and is the home of Spotland Stadium.Historically a part of Lancashire, Spotland was formerly its own township within the ancient parish of Rochdale....

 area of Rochdale

Rochdale

Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...

, Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

. It is currently home to Rochdale AFC and Rochdale Hornets RLFC

Rochdale Hornets

Rochdale Hornets RLFC is an English professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. They currently play in Championship One...

. Historically within Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, it has a capacity of 10,249.

Stands

The ground has 4 stands: the Co-Operative Stand (or Main Stand), the Thwaites Beer Stand (the Sandy Lane End), the T.D.S Stand (Pearl Street end) and the Westrose Leisure Stand (the Willbutts Lane Stand). All are fully seated, apart from the Sandy Lane End, which is a small terrace behind one of the goals.

History

Spotland was built in 1920, exclusively for Rochdale A.F.C. At first, it only had one stand - the Main Stand, and at one time it housed the smallest seated area in the Football League.

In 1988, due to Rochdale Hornets' selling of the Athletic Grounds

Athletic Grounds, Rochdale

The Athletic Grounds was a stadium in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. It was the home of Rochdale Hornets rugby league club for over 90 years up until 1988. It has also been used for speedway.A Morrisons supermarket now stands on the site.-History:...

, the rugby league club moved in and a three-way ownership plan was introduced; the ground is now jointly owned by Rochdale A.F.C, Rochdale Hornets and Rochdale Council

Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale

The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Rochdale, but spans a far larger area which includes the towns of Middleton, Heywood, Littleborough and Milnrow, and the village of Wardle.The borough was...

.

From 1992 until 2000, the ground was redeveloped due to the Taylor Report

Taylor Report

The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report, better known as the Taylor Report is a document, whose development was overseen by Lord Taylor of Gosforth, concerning the aftermath and causes of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. An interim report was published in August 1989, and the final...

, and became what it is today. In summer 2006, a new drainage

Drainage

Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...

 system was installed, after a winter of postponements and abandoned matches.

Other uses

Apart from local football and rugby league, Spotland has in the past been used to host minor nations rugby league matches, such as British Amateur Rugby League Association

British Amateur Rugby League Association

The British Amateur Rugby League Association is the governing body for social and recreational rugby league in the United Kingdom...

 (British Amateur Rugby League Association) matches, and also the National League Cup

National League Cup

The Championship Cup, known as the Northern Rail Cup due to sponsorship by Northern Rail, is a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's Championship and Championship 1 leagues, formerly known as the Rugby League National Leagues...

finals of 2003 and 2004.