Falkirk Stadium

Work began on building the stadium in 2003[3] after Brockville Park, the club's town centre home since 1885, was sold and demolished.[4]

The project of building the stadium was a partnership between Falkirk Football Club and Falkirk Council who set up the Falkirk Community Stadium Ltd which provided the funds to construct and run the stadium.[5] Falkirk Council estimated £6.1 million would be required for the first stage of the Community Stadium build and would contribute £3.1 million initially. The sale of Brockville Park amounted to £9 million pounds for the club, of which £2.8 million went towards the build, whilst £200,000 came from sportscotland.

The first stage of the stadium was completed in time for the 2004–05 football season and Falkirk moved in after spending the previous year ground-sharing with local rivals, Stenhousemuir at their Ochilview Park home.

The facade of the West Stand

Falkirk's first ever game at the stadium was a friendly in July 2004 against Dundee resulting in a 2–1 defeat.[6] A month later the first league game was hosted in the stadium with visitors Hamilton Academical drawing 1–1.[7]

In October 2004 construction work commenced for the building of a second stand to the north of the pitch.[7] The stand has a capacity of 2,000. After completion, the £1.58m[8] facility would bring the stadium's capacity to over the Scottish Premier League's 6,000 seating criteria meaning Falkirk would be allowed automatic promotion[9] from the First Division. The stand received its safety certificate in late March 2005, shortly before the SPL's deadline for a stadium which met the seating criteria.[9] By May of the same year the north stand was fully completed.[10]

Construction of the south stand began in December 2008 by contractors Ogilvie.[11] A £2m pledge from Sandy Alexander, founder of Schuh and Falkirk supporter, helped fund the project.[11] The south stand has a capacity of around 2,000 and is identical in appearance to the north stand of the stadium.[12] It was officially opened in August 2009 in a friendly game against Royal Antwerp FC of Belgium.[13] This brought the capacity of the stadium to around 8,000 people without the inclusion of the temporary east stand.

The joint venture that was set up between Falkirk F.C. and Falkirk Council, ended in 2009, just a few months before the opening of the south stand. The football club took full control of the facilities such as the pitch, seats, under-soil heating and floodlights,[5] whilst the council retained most of the development rights for the site and manages and receives rent from businesses set up the stadium's main west stand.[5]

An artificial playing surface was installed at the stadium in June 2013.[14] In 2016 Lowland Football League side Stirling University F.C. started playing their home matches at the ground, having moved from Stirling Albion's Forthbank Stadium.

Falkirk Stadium is situated opposite the fire station

In April 2018 it was announced that East Stirlingshire would begin playing their home matches at the Falkirk Stadium from the start of the 2018–19 season.[15] The club had previously played in the centre of Falkirk at Firs Park until 2008, before spending a decade ground-sharing with Stenhousemuir at Ochilview Park.

The three stands of the stadium

The Falkirk Stadium is an all-seater stadium which currently consists of three completed stands in the form of the main west stand and smaller north and south stands. Upon the stadium's construction the west stand was the first to be built, and subsequently completed in 2004. The north and south stands were completed in 2005 and 2009 respectively. The west stand has a capacity of roughly 4,200[16][17] and hosts several facilities which have ranged from a nursery to a restaurant. A temporary east stand has been present on several occasions.

The South Stand.

As well as hosting Falkirk F.C., the stadium has also staged several youth level international rugby union matches.[18] In 2008 the stadium was the venue chosen by the Scottish Rugby Union to host Scotland's home matches at the Six Nations Under 20s Championship which were played against England under-20s and France under-20s.[19] Former Falkirk manager John Hughes had commented on the condition of the pitch which was previously damaged during rugby matches.[18]

The stadium is also used on occasion by the Scotland women's national football team in World and Euro qualifying championships as well as in friendly matches.[20] Also in relation to football, the stadium has hosted the home matches of the Scotland national under-21 football team, the first happening in November 2004 in a game against Sweden.[21]

The Falkirk Stadium hosts summer music concerts, marketed under the "Rock The Stadium" brand.[22] The first act to appear at the Falkirk Stadium was Elton John, on 10 June 2012 as part of his Greatest Hits Tour.[23] In subsequent years, Status Quo (23 June 2013),[24] Midge Ure (22 June 2013),[25] Rod Stewart (21 June 2014)[26] Tom Jones (1 August 2015), Madness (4 August 2017), Jess Glynne (5 August 2017), and Little Mix (27 July 2018) have performed. Westlife where ment to be performing at the stadium on the 27 June 2020 for their "Stadiums in the Summer Tour" but was cancelled due to COVID-19 as was a performance by Little Mix. The Killers where due to play a gig at the Stadium on the 28 May 2020 but this was postponed to the 8 June 2021 because of COVID-19.

The Falkirk Stadium is within a 30-minute walk of Falkirk Grahamston railway station which is on the main Edinburgh to Dunblane Line and Cumbernauld Line from Glasgow. During weekdays and Saturdays alternate trains between Glasgow and Cumbernauld call at Falkirk Grahamston.[27]

Special match day bus services provided by First Scotland East allow direct transport to the stadium from around the Falkirk area.[27] The number 98 service from Brightons passes through Shieldhill, Hallglen and Laurieston before terminating at the stadium. Access from Larbert on match days is provided by the number 99 bus, which is destined for the stadium via Stenhousemuir, Carronshore and Bainsford.[27][28] As well as the special match day routes, regular services are also provided by First Scotland East from Falkirk bus station to Grangemouth (routes 3 and 4)and Bo'ness (route 2) which stop outside the stadium.[27][29]

• Scottish stadium moves

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Falkirk Stadium.

• Falkirk Stadium official site
• Falkirk Stadium at the Scottish Ground Guide