| World / United Kingdom / England / Sunderland, 1 km from center | Coordinates: 54°54'51"N 1°23'17"W |
The Stadium of Light was officially opened by HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and saw its first action in an exhibition game on July 30, 1997 against Dutch League team Ajax. This 'opening party' also saw the veteran rock group Status Quo playing in the stadium- arriving via helicopter.
In the first season, Sunderland's attendances regularly reached the mid to high 30,000 mark, and on occasion, they topped 40,000. As Sunderland were playing in the First Division at the time, this was a remarkable statistic, and directly linked to the design of the stadium, which welcomed children and families in a safe atmosphere. When Sunderland won promotion to the Premier League in 1999, the Stadium saw attendances regularly reach the 40,000 mark, and games were frequently sold out. Sunderland finished the 1999/2000 season with the 3rd highest average attendance in the league behind Manchester United and Newcastle United; the only two clubs with bigger stadiums. This huge demand resulted in the club submitting plans to develop the £7 million North Stand Extension. The plans were agreed, and in 2000 the Stadium of Light was extended to a capacity of 49,000. The Stadium of Light caters for up to 3,000 away fans for a normal league game and anywhere up to 12,000 for cup games. In 2004, in an FA Cup 3rd Round Game, League 1 Hartlepool United sold 9,200 tickets; a record for away fans in the Stadium of Light.
The stadium hosted its first international football match in 1999 when England played Belgium in a friendly match, and more seriously in April 2003 when England played Turkey in a qualification match for Euro 2004. The latter match was marred by racist chanting from England fans [1], which brought the Football Association a fine of 150,000 Swiss franc (£90,000) from UEFA [2].
The stadium has hosted the graduation ceremonies for the University of Sunderland since 2004.
Sunderland was given provisional planning permission in 2002 to add an extra tier on to the South Stand to bring it into line with the North and West stands. This would give the stadium a capacity of roughly 55,000. Following Sunderland's relegation from the Premier League in 2003, the subsequent drop in attendances and a financial crisis, the plans were put on hold indefinitely.
The Stadium is built on the site of Wearmouth Colliery. It took seven years to sink a shaft through the rock to the coal.
www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/w001.htm
Category: stadium north football east sunderland afc tyne wear colliery mining coal premierleague
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16 months ago kontol | [this message was marked as abusive, click to see...] | -5 |
 
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3 months ago surge79uwf | [this message was marked as abusive, click to see...] | -5 |
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2 months ago davey | -3 |
 
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world best stadium, nyron nosworthy is soooo fit. | ||||
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