CARROW ROAD

'Carrow Road' is a British football stadium in Norwich, England. It is the home ground of Norwich City Football Club who currently play in the Football League Championship. The ground's capacity is currently 26,034.

Contents

History

Average Attendances

Other uses

International football

Music

More Photos

References

External links

History

Carrow Road football stadium was opened in 1935 after Norwich City moved from their dilapidated previous ground, fittingly named 'The Nest' on Rosary Road. It became the third ground that the club had inhabited since their inception in 1902. The current stadium consists of four stands; 'The Barclay' (often incorrectly referred to as the 'Barclay Stand'), and the 'Norwich and Peterborough Stand' (aka The River End) which lie behind each goal, (North-East and South-West respectively), the 'City Stand' (to the north-west of the pitch) and the most recent addition, the 'Jarrold Stand' (aka The South Stand).
The record attendance for a home game at the stadium was 43,984 in 1963, versus Leicester City Football Club in the sixth round of the FA Cup. Norwich lost 0 - 2. However, this record was established nearly thirty years before all-seater stadia became mandatory for all English league football clubs, a factor that severely limited the capacity of all football stadia. The record attendance for an all-seated crowd at Carrow Road is 25,522 for the Premiership match against Manchester United on April 9 2005, a match Norwich won 2-0 and which is now considered as one of their greatest results since their European successes- in particular against Bayern Munich- in 1993.

This attendance was only possible due to the redevelopment of the South Stand (now the 'Jarrold Stand'), completed in 2004. This was a landmark of sorts for the stadium, as it represented the final stand of the original ground to be replaced. The other three stands had already been redeveloped in the 1980s due to a severe fire that destroyed a large part of the stadium on 25 October 1984,^[1] and to meet the required safety standards demanded of English football following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
The new 'Jarrold Stand' is a cantilever, single-tiered, all-seated stand, that can hold up to 8,000 supporters. It is unusual in having not one, but three separate television gantries suspended beneath its largely perspex roof.
This stand was further extended in 2005 (opened 2006) and now extends around the 'Norwich and Peterborough Stand' corner of the ground. The two 'width-wise' stands of the ground are also all-seated and completely sheltered from the elements. They are both double-tiered, and each accommodate rows of executive boxes. On each corner they also support the floodlight pylons.
The single-tiered 'Geoffrey Watling City Stand' is the smallest in terms of capacity, but comprises Directors' Box, Press Area, and various other hospitality suites. This stand extends around to meet the stands at either end, with the one end attached to the 'Barclay' Stand. The corner between the G. Watling stand and the Barclay is dubbed 'The Snake Pit' by supporters, and is even sometimes called so in official match reports.
There are currently plans to fill the last-remaining empty corner (between the 'Barclay' and the 'Jarrold' stands) with a hotel. A contract was signed with the Holiday Inn hotel chain in 2005, and construction commenced in 2006. This was one of two options, the other being to fill in this space with seats. However, the club decided against this due to possible segregation problems that might arise (such a stand would enclose the away supporters with home fans on each side), and the potentially greater revenue of the hotel (as opposed to ticket sales). The hotel is due to open in 2007.
The club have plans to increase the capacity of the stadium should the club win promotion to the Premiership and bring in extra funds to finance the expansion. This would include building a second tier on the Geoffrey Watling Stand (City Stand) and would take the capacity to over 30,000.
Carrow Road will have two new scoreboards in place for the start of the new season.
The boards will be in the same locations as the previous ones - at the Barclay End and the Norwich & Peterborough Stand - and should be up and running by the time the pre-season fixtures commence. The new boards will be full colour with scope for still and moving images and should add to the atmosphere at Carrow Road.

Average Attendances

:2006-07: 24,589 (Football League Championship)
:2005-06: 24,574 (Football League Championship)
:2004-05: 24,350 (Premier League)
:2003-04: 18,987 (Football League First Division) (Jarrold Stand rebuilding for first half of the season)
:2002-03: 20,356 (Football League First Division)

Other uses

International football

Carrow Road has never hosted a match involving the England national football team, but the England Under-21 team has played at the stadium on three occasions.^[2] The first was in 1983 in a European Under-21 Championship qualifying match against Denmark, which England won 4–1. The team played another qualifying match in the same tournament at the stadium in 1997, beating Greece 4–2. This game saw Michael Owen's only ever appearance for the England Under-21 side, before his subsequent rise to fame in the senior national team.^[3] As part of their preparations for the 2007 finals of the European Championship tournament, the England Under-21s played Slovakia in a friendly match at the ground in June 2007. England won 5–0 in front of a crowd of 20,193 people.^[4]
Games involving the England Under-19 team and the full England women's team have also been played at the stadium.^[5] The women's team have played there on two occasions; the first a 1–0 defeat to Nigeria in 2002, in front of 8000 fans, and the second a 1–0 victory over Iceland in 2006.^[6][7] The latter game's attendance of 9616 was the largest crowd that had watched a friendly game involving the women's team.

Music

George Michael, with the Norwich and Peterborough Stand in the background, in June 2007.

The stadium has also occasionally hosted music concerts. Status Quo played a concert there in 1997.^[8] Elton John, supported by Lulu, appeared at the venue in 2005, performing what was at the time the largest concert ever to have been staged in Norwich.^[9] George Michael gave a performance there on June 12 2007, supported by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.^[10] The John and Michael concerts both attracted crowds of over 20,000 people.^[11] Andrew Cullen, the director of sales and marketing for the Carrow Road ground, told BBC Radio Norfolk prior to the George Michael performance that he hoped such concerts would become an annual summer event for the venue, if big enough star names could be attracted.^[12]

More Photos

Norwich City F.C. badge on the Geoffrey Watling City Stand (April 2007)

Norwich City F.C. badge on the Barclay (April 2007)

The Norwich & Peterborough Stand (April 2007)

The Norwich Union Community Stand (April 2007)

The Jarrold Stand (April 2007)

Norwich fans walking along Carrow Road (April 2007)

References

1.
2. U21s coming to Norwich
3. Fans set to flock to Carrow Road
4. Young guns hit spot in five star show Chris Lakey
5. City make it a night to remember David Cuffley
6. Carrow Road to host international football
7. Carney breaks the ice
8. Two Football Clubs in One Week
9. Elton John review
10. George George Michael: The review, the pictures Simon Parkin
11. George Michael: Why he's so Fan-tastic!
12. George Michael to play at Carrow Road

External links

★ Carrow Road at www.worldstadiums.com

★ Norwich City Homepage

★ Football Ground Guide to Carrow Road

★ Citizens2Canaries