MADEJSKI STADIUM

The 'Madejski Stadium' is a football stadium in Reading, England.

Contents

Overview

Stands

North Stand

South Stand

East Stand

West Stand

Attendance

FAPL

Guinness Premiership

Rugby Supporters

References

External links

Overview

The stadium is the home of Reading Football Club and was opened on 22 August 1998 when Luton Town were beaten 3-0 with Grant Brebner having the honour of scoring the first goal at the stadium. The rugby union club, London Irish, also play their home games there as tenants. It also provides the finish for the Reading Half Marathon.
It is an all-seater bowl stadium with a capacity of 24,250 and is located close to the M4 motorway. It was built on the site of a former household waste dump and the stadium is surrounded by methane vents. The stadium cost more than £50m to build and the pitch incorporates a system of synthetic fibres interwoven with natural grass, installed at a cost of more than £750,000.¹
Madejski Stadium has also held various music concerts, including the Summer XS festival series. Performers at the Madejski Stadium have included the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blue, Busted, Craig David, Elton John, Girls Aloud, Lulu, McFly and Rachel Stevens.
The stadium is named after Reading's chairman John Madejski but it is owned by the football club.
For the first time in their history, Reading Football Club participated in the elite Premier League in the 2006-07 season. As a result of the sell-out crowds for their first few fixtures of the season, the club announced their intention, in October 2006^[2], to make a planning application to extend the ground to between 37,000 to 38,000 seats. The application was made on 24 January 2007, proposing initially the extension of the East Stand with a further 6,000 seats (raising capacity to around 30,000) and subsequently extension of the North and South Stands to reach the full proposed capacity.^[3] On Thursday 24th May 2007 it was announced that planning permission had been granted to extend the stadium to a capacity of 36,900.^[4] The first phase will expand the East Stand by 6,600 seats and work will start in summer 2008,^[3] followed by expansion of the North and South Stands the following summer.

Stands

North Stand

Home end stand.

South Stand

The South Stand has a capacity up to 2,327 for away fans. For the Premier League season 2006-07, half of the South Stand (that which meets the East Stand) is designated for away supporters, whilst the half which meets the West Stand is for ticket-only home supporters.

East Stand

Opposite the tunnel and director's box.

West Stand

This stand contains a lower and an upper tier, but the upper level does not overhang the lower tier. Executive boxes are found between the two tiers. The tunnel and dugouts are on this side of the stadium.
The outside of the stand contains the Millennium Madejski Hotel.

Attendance

FAPL

'Average:'

★ 2006-07: 23,829
'Total:'

★ 2006-07: 452758 - Ranked #14 in Premier League
'Highest:'

★ 2006-07: 24,122 - 10th of February, 2007 vs Aston Villa

Guinness Premiership

'Highest'

★ 2006-07: 22,648 - 18th of March, 2007 vs London Wasps

Rugby Supporters

Since the stadium has had Guinness Premiership club London Irish as tenants, initially there were a few complaints from both home and visiting fans. Most of these centered around match day stewards not having enough experience in dealing with a rugby crowd and thus trying to separate home & away fans, not realising that Rugby clubs let fans take alcohol to their seats, etc. This initially caused consternation amongst both London Irish and visiting fans alike. However, as the stadium staff grew more experienced in dealing with Rugby fans, such mistakes have been ironed out and the experience is a much more enjoyable one.

References

1. Stadium pitch has been lengthened
2. Royals ready to extend Madejski
3.
4. Committee Report by the Director of Environment Culture & Sport
5.

External links

★ World Stadiums entry

★ Stadium information