ENGLAND - Rugby World Cup 2015

[Harry1990]

England will host the 8th Rugby World Cup in 2015. These are the confirmed venues that will be used. I will start with the largest ground and work my way down to the smallest. i will include pictures of any proposedd expansions or new stadiums aswell.

Wembley Stadium- 90,000 Seats
Twickenham Stadium- 82,000 Seats
Old Trafford Stadium- 76,212 Seats (expandable up to 96,000)
Millenium Stadium- 74,500 seats
Emirates Stadium- 60,355 seats
St James Park' - 52,387 seats (expandable up to 60,000)
Anfield Stadium (current)- 45,370 seats ( new stadium proposed 60,000 seats)
Elland Road Stadium- 39,401 seats (expandable to around 50,000 seats)
St Mary's Stadium- 32,659 seats (expandable to between 45 and 50k seats)
Ricoh Arena Stadium- 32, 609
Welford Road Stadium- 24,000 (currently finishing expansion to 30,000 seats)
Kingsolm Stadium- 16,500

[Harry1990]

i will post pics when i know how to post them on here. any help would be apreciated

[aaronaugi1]

Would Wembley still be used considering there is already Twickenham in London? Moreover, Emirates and Wembley are traditionally football grounds, rather than used for rubgy. Would their be royalties and licensing issues with the FA and football clubs??

[Harry1990]

this is confirmed list on rfu, irb websites etc.

from football clubs point of view they will be getting a large fee from the RFU to host games there plus all the revunue from match day etc

i think that emirates will be named something else, due to sponsorship issues

[Walbanger]

I'm interested to know how many of these grounds are sactioned for International Rugby Union?
I'm thinking of Old Trafford, St James Park, Elland Road, St Mary's and the current Anfield. I'm aware that Old Trafford and Elland Road have often been host to Rugby League Internationals but Rugby League seems to be more flexable in the depth of the in-goal area (endzone for North Americans). Some of the soccer grounds can ony offer 5m deep in-goal areas and little room from the dead ball line to the fence. Rugby Union requires an In-goal area of no less than 10m and a 6m deep perimeter to the fence. Now the RWC may be big but I doubt it is big enough to see Old Trafford rip up some seating on the ends to extend the length of the field.

[Harry1990]

england played argentina at OT twice last season. i am not sure about the size of anfield, elland road etc but this is a confirmed list so iam sure that a rugby pitch will fit

[krudmonk]

Well a lot of those grounds are familiar with kicking, but what about clapping?

[MS20]

Good to see rugby building a legacy using 95% football grounds :rolleyes: Really shows just what kind of following the sport has. I would love it if this tournament meant that football benefits in the form of ground expansions.

[Walbanger]

england played argentina at OT twice last season. i am not sure about the size of anfield, elland road etc but this is a confirmed list so iam sure that a rugby pitch will fit

I didn't know about the Arg vs Eng game at Old Trafford, very interesting. I just browsed for a pic. As you mentioned these stadiums have been confirmed by the RFU, no doubting that. I'm interested in finding out if the IRB have relaxed their regulations or that maybe work will be done in lengthening the fields and replacing the lost seating with foldable/retactable seating like in an indoor arena. It's not as if this is a one off, many of these ground host important Rugby League fixures, Rugby is just another revenue source and its good to be as flexible as possible.

As for the Arg vs Eng game. It was an Argentina home game in Manchester and maybe there are tiers of test match importance as to how rigidly the regulations must be followed. I just imagine that the World Cup would follow the highest standard of field regulations.

That ingoal could not be any more than 5m / 6m deep.


Rugby League at Old Trafford (again no more than 5m / 6m and looks like less than 2m to the fence which is dangerous.
image hosted on flickr

[Harry1990]

i love rugby, football and cricket an equal amount but it is hardly fair to say that rugby has a poor following when it has only been a profesional sport since 1995.


football has been proffesional for at least 50 years, more television money etc.

there is 4 rugby grounds on there out of 11

[Harry1990]

i think the IRB will have taken the size into consideratioin against the financial gain of playing at the bigger venues.

the IRB are going to make little or know profit in the quite small grounds for the world cup in new zealand next year

[Harry1990]

how do you post pics? sorry new to the forum

[Walbanger]

how do you post pics? sorry new to the forum

Copy the address / url of the pic you want. Then just above the typing space with the B I U, click on the yellow icon with the sun and mountains. Enter the pics address in there and there you go.

i think the IRB will have taken the size into consideratioin against the financial gain of playing at the bigger venues.

the IRB are going to make little or know profit in the quite small grounds for the world cup in new zealand next year

Thats what I imagine. Still they will need to address some saftey issues at the shorter Soccer grounds. Note what happens at 4:20.

[Ceefee]

nice list! england is very lucky to be chosen for soo many huge events! (jealous!!!) also random question is johnny walker still around? sorry as an Australian hes kinda my sworn enemy after 2003 WC. up there with flintoff after ashes lol. gonna be a good year or two. ashes and WC'11 watch out england!!!

[Kazurro]

Originally Posted by Harry1990

England will host the 8th Rugby World Cup in 2015. These are the confirmed venues that will be used. I will start with the largest ground and work my way down to the smallest. i will include pictures of any proposedd expansions or new stadiums aswell.

Wembley Stadium- 90,000 Seats
Twickenham Stadium- 82,000 Seats
Old Trafford Stadium- 76,212 Seats (expandable up to 96,000)
Millenium Stadium- 74,500 seats
Emirates Stadium- 60,355 seats
St James Park' - 52,387 seats (expandable up to 60,000)
Anfield Stadium (current)- 45,370 seats ( new stadium proposed 60,000 seats)
Elland Road Stadium- 39,401 seats (expandable to around 50,000 seats)
St Mary's Stadium- 32,659 seats (expandable to between 45 and 50k seats)
Ricoh Arena Stadium- 32, 609
Welford Road Stadium- 24,000 (currently finishing expansion to 30,000 seats)
Kingsolm Stadium- 16,500

I thought Old Traffor Stadium had been stopped because Americans dont want to invest money on it.

Which are the rugby specific stadiums there? Welford Road, Kingsolm, Twickenham and?

[Ozric]

Originally Posted by Kazurro

Which are the rugby specific stadiums there? Welford Road, Kingsolm, Twickenham and?

The Millenium Stadium?

[CharlieP]

Originally Posted by Ceefee

also random question is johnny walker still around?

Johnny Walker is alive and well and can be seen on scotch whisky bottles up and down the land.

[CharlieP]

Originally Posted by Walbanger

I'm interested to know how many of these grounds are sactioned for International Rugby Union?
I'm thinking of Old Trafford, St James Park, Elland Road, St Mary's and the current Anfield. I'm aware that Old Trafford and Elland Road have often been host to Rugby League Internationals but Rugby League seems to be more flexable in the depth of the in-goal area (endzone for North Americans). Some of the soccer grounds can ony offer 5m deep in-goal areas and little room from the dead ball line to the fence. Rugby Union requires an In-goal area of no less than 10m and a 6m deep perimeter to the fence. Now the RWC may be big but I doubt it is big enough to see Old Trafford rip up some seating on the ends to extend the length of the field.

The pitch doesn't have to be exactly 100 metres long in rugby union, not even in internationals, just as close to it as conditions permit. Lots of smaller nations play internationals in soccer or athletics stadia, where a slightly shorter pitch is necessary.

Also, eight out of the twelve listed venues have staged rugby union before - only Elland Road, St. Mary's, St. James's and the Emirates haven't.

Originally Posted by MS20

Good to see rugby building a legacy using 95% football grounds :rolleyes: Really shows just what kind of following the sport has. I would love it if this tournament meant that football benefits in the form of ground expansions.

Not sure what point you're trying to make - the Rugby World Cup has grown to such an extent that larger and larger stadia are required. Argentina v Namibia for example attracted over 55,000 fans in Marseilles. Are you suggesting club rugby grounds should be used instead? They're too small, and it would be pointless expanding them when larger stadia are available.

[Bobby3]

The football grounds have to be used if they want it to be financially successful.

This also allows maximum exposure for the product.

[GunnerJacket]

Originally Posted by Kazurro

I thought Old Traffor Stadium had been stopped because Americans dont want to invest money on it.

Unless I'm mistaken, the expansion is merely conceptual; An indication of what its capacity could be. It's gained in hype recently as England is touted as a favorite to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup, in which case many expect ManU would use that opportunity to expand the ground, and in that event they might even expand in time for this event.

What I'm surprised about, though, is that I always see message boards using 96k but have yet to read about an official report saying that's what the figure would/could be. I strongly suspect it's a casual speculation not truly reflective of the design considerations at play for that end (ie: the rail line).