John Smith's Stadium

John Smith's Stadium

Full name	The John Smith's Stadium
Former names	Galpharm Stadium, Alfred McAlpine Stadium
Location	Stadium Way, Huddersfield, HD1 6PG, England
Coordinates
Owner	consortium
Operator	KSDL (Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd.)
Capacity	24,500
Field size	115 x 76 yards
Surface	Grass with Under-soil heating
Construction
Built	1994
Opened	1994
Tenants
Huddersfield Town (1994- Present) Huddersfield Giants (1994- Present)

The John Smith's Stadium, originally the Alfred McAlpine Stadium and more lately the Galpharm Stadium, is a multi-use sports stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of football club Huddersfield Town and rugby side Huddersfield Giants.

The Stadium

The Stadium seats 24,499 people along with hospitality boxes and conference rooms. There are four stands. The main stand, the Revell Ward Stand or Riverside Stand incorporates two-tiers of seats, with a row of 26 executive boxes running between them. This stand also houses the offices and suites. The LV= Britannia Rescue Stand, opposite the Riverside and commonly referred to as the Kilner Bank Stand, is a large, single-tiered stand which seats over 7,000 spectators. It was previously sponsored by John Smith's and is still called this by many today. The John Smith's South Stand, which seats 4,054, is usually allocated to away fans. It is built into natural banking and is the most basic of the stands. The Fantastic Media North stand is the tallest stand with two tiers, 16 hospitality boxes and a viewing room for players' guests, built into the leisure centre. The lower tier consists of temporary seating that can be removed for events such as concerts.

Construction

View into the stadium

During planning and construction, the stadium was referred to as the Kirklees Stadium. It was built by Alfred McAlpine, designed by HOK Sport and was awarded the RIBA Building of the Year award for 1995,

The decision to build a new stadium for Huddersfield Town was made in August 1992. Construction began the following year and it was completed in time for the 1994–95 season, enabling the club to move to its new base after 86 years at Leeds Road.

When the stadium opened only the two side stands (the Riverside and Kilner Bank stands) were ready. The South Stand was opened in December 1994. Construction on the North (Panasonic) Stand began in 1996 and it was completed in 1998, bringing the overall capacity of the stadium to approximately 24,500. The estimated cost of construction was £40 million.

Ownership

Initially, the stadium was owned by a consortium made up of Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Huddersfield Town F.C. and Huddersfield Giants in a 40:40:20 proportion. Following the purchase of Huddersfield Town F.C. from the administrators, Ken Davy became chairman of both sports clubs, which are owned by companies he controls. The present ownership of the stadium is Ken Davy's company, Huddersfield Sporting Pride owns 60% and Kirklees Metropolitan Council 40%. The current Managing director of the stadium company is Gareth Davis who succeeded Ralph Rimmer in 2010. On 24 December 2009, Huddersfield Town announced that 40% of the shares owned by Huddersfield Sporting Pride would be transferred to the football club, owned by current chairman Dean Hoyle, but the deal was delayed due to a rent dispute between Davy and Hoyle. The deal was finally completed on 3 September 2013.

Sponsorship

From 1994 until 2004 the stadium was known as the Alfred McAlpine Stadium. Alfred McAlpine had been the main construction contractor and its name was part of the payment contract for ten years. The company elected not to renew its sponsorship which was taken up by Galpharm Healthcare, leading to the new name. Individual stands are sponsored by local businesses. On 19 July 2012, it was announced that the brewery firm, Heineken had bought the sponsorship rights for the stadium, and as such the stadium was renamed as The John Smith's Stadium on 1 August as part of a 5-year deal.

Sporting venue

Players warming up at the John Smith's Stadium

The stadium is home to Huddersfield Giants RLFC and Huddersfield Town Football Club.

It hosted its first match in August 1994 when Huddersfield Town lost 1–0 to Wycombe Wanderers in Football League Division 2. Former Blackburn Rovers player Simon Garner scored the goal for the visitors.

On 4 June 1999, it hosted England’s under-21’s 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 5 match against Sweden’s under-21’s. The hosts thrashed the visitors 3 - 0 with a brace from Carl Cort and a goal from Richard Cresswell.

Other important matches in Rugby League have been held here. Rugby League World Cup matches were held at the stadium in 1995, 2000 and 2013.

Australia's rugby league world cup matches

Date	Opponents	Result	Attendance	Part of
14 October 1995	Fiji	66 - 0	7,127	1995 Rugby League World Cup, Group 1
22 October 1995	New Zealand	30 - 20	16,608	1995 Rugby League World Cup, semi-final
19 November 2000	Wales	46 - 22	8,114	2000 Rugby League World Cup, semi-final

The stadium has held semi-finals of the Challenge Cup and the finals of the now defunct Regal Trophy competition were held there in 1995 and 1996. Wigan Warriors won on both occasions.

Other International Rugby League matches

It hosted seven Great Britain rugby league internationals. The results were as follows;

Date	Opponents	Result	Attendance	Part of
31 October 1998	New Zealand	16 - 22	18,500	1998 NZ tour of Britain
11 November 2001	Australia	20 - 12	21,758	2001 Ashes series
16 November 2002	New Zealand	14 - 14	23,604	2002 NZ tour of Britain
22 November 2003	Australia	12 - 18	24,126	2003 Ashes series
6 November 2004	New Zealand	22 - 12	20,372	2004 Tri-Nations
12 November 2005		38 - 12	19,232	2005 Tri-Nations
27 October 2007		20 - 14	16,522	2007 All Golds Tour

When the Great Britain national rugby league team were split, it has hosted two England rugby league internationals. The results were as follows;

Date	Opponents	Result	Attendance	Part of
7 November 2009	New Zealand	20 - 12	19,390	2009 Four Nations
2 November 2013	Ireland	42 - 0	24,375	2013 World Cup

Elland Road has also hosted three of Bradford Bulls World Club Challenge matches. The results were as follows;

Date	Opponents	Result	Attendance
1 February 2002	Newcastle Knights	41 - 26	21,113
13 February 2004	Penrith Panthers	22 - 4	18,962
3 February 2006	West Tigers	30 - 10	19,207

Despite Huddersfield not being a strong rugby union area, the stadium has been used for four full cap international rugby union matches. It hosted three qualifying matches for the 1999 Rugby World Cup and one pool match in the pool. Half the matches have seen century scores; by England against Netherlands (110–0) and by the All Blacks versus Italy (101–3).

Final Standings

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.
1	England	2	2	0	0	133	15	+118	6
2	Italy	2	1	0	1	82	30	+52	4
3	Netherlands	2	0	0	2	7	177	-170	2

Match Schedule

14 November 1998

England	110 - 0	Netherlands

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18 November 1998

Netherlands	7 - 67	Italy

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22 November 1998

England	23 - 15	Italy

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It also hosted a 1999 Rugby World Cup Pool 2 match between Italy and New Zealand on 14 October 1999. New Zealand annihilated Italy 101 - 3.

Concerts

Artists that have performed at the stadium include Bryan Adams, The Beautiful South, Blue, Bon Jovi, The Eagles, Elton John and R.E.M., among others.

External links

• Official website