Murrayfield Stadium Building, Edinburgh Rugby, Location, Picture, Phone, Scottish Architecture Photo

Will Mini Murrayfield Be Ready in Time?

16 July 2020

Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh

Photo

The dedicated rugby stadium known as “mini Murrayfield” was originally scheduled to be ready for the beginning of the 2020/21 season, but is that still the case?

Edinburgh Rugby, which currently plays games inside the main Murrayfield Stadium have been looking for their own smaller ground that will create a better experience for fans for some time.

Finally, in spring 2018, the club announced its plans to build a smaller stadium on the fields behind the main Murrayfield Stadium. The stadium’s location gives them the advantage of being able to use the existing infrastructure, including the flood defence systems and the tram network that are already built for the main stadium.

New Facilities

Rugby is a popular sport in the Scottish capital, with many supporting the local and national teams. In fact, it’s second only to football in terms of wagers placed on sports with fans all over the country using bookmakers like Sky Bet to place bets on games – see http://oddschecker.com/free-bets/skybet.

To cater to these rugby fans, the new stadium will provide space for almost 8,000 supporters, in a more intimate atmosphere than had previously been possible.

The club also retains the option to move games into the main stadium at Murrayfield for large cup games and for home games against Glasgow. For example, in 2018, both of these matches saw more than 50,000 fans walk through the turnstiles.

Construction Underway

Construction on the new facilities began in October 2019, with a ground-breaking ceremony that hadrugby legends Allan Jacobson, Jack Blain, Andy Irvine, and Tim Visser in attendance.

At the time, Irvine commented that the new stadium made it “a hugely exciting time” for the club and its fans, while Visser added that the facilities will help Edinburgh Rugby to “build a great atmosphere” on game days.

12 Weeks to Go

Construction was paused earlier in the year, but began again in mid-June. It was around 12 weeks away from being completed at the time. Even with the delays, the works should be finished around the middle of September.

The 2019/20 PRO14 season started on 27th September 2019, but 2020/21 is expected to start a little later. This, therefore, should still give the club enough time to put the finishing touches on their new home before their first game.

If the worst-case scenario happens, then the games could always be played in the main Murrayfield stadium while the snagging works were completed.

Regardless of when it opens, Edinburgh Rugby fans will just be glad that their club finally has a permanent home.

Comments on this Will Mini Murrayfield Be Ready in Time? article are welcome.

Murrayfield Rugby Stadium

images from Miller Partnership