Wembley Stadium

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Wembley Stadium is a football stadium located in Wembley, London, England, which is currently being rebuilt, although it is well behind schedule. It stands opposite Wembley Arena, at grid reference .

Wembley Stadium is one of the world's most famous football stadiums, being the English national football ground since 1923.

Originally known as the Empire Stadium, it was built for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924, at a cost of £750,000, on the former site of Watkins' Tower. Sir John Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton were the architects and Sir Owen Williams was the Head Engineer. The stadium's distinctive Twin Towers became its trademark. Also well known were the thirty nine steps needed to be climbed to reach the Royal box and collect a trophy (and winners'/losers' medals).

The Stadium's first turf was cut by King George V and it was first opened to the public on 28 April 1923. In 1934 the Empire Pool was built. The Wembley Stadium Collection is held by the National Football Museum.

Contents

1 Football
2 Other sports
3 Music
4 Redevelopment
5 External links

Football

The first event held at the stadium was the FA Cup final on 28 April, 1923 between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United. This is known as the White Horse Final. With an official maximum capacity of 127,000, the attendance was quoted as 126,947 but up to 200,000 people are thought to have squeezed in through the 104 turnstiles by the time the gates were closed, leaving tens of thousands still queuing outside.

New Wembley Stadium interior design (artist's impression)

Old Wembley Stadium

New Wembley Stadium looking south, December 2005

It was thought that the match would not be played, that is until mounted police, including Police Constable George Scorey and his white horse, Billie, slowly pushed the masses back to the sides of the field of play for the FA Cup Final to start just 45 minutes late. Because of that, when the stadium reopens the new footbridge will be known as the White Horse Bridge in honour of Billie.

The FA Cup final was played there every year in May (outside wartime) until 2000. It was also the venue for Finals of the FA Amateur Cup, League Cup, Associate Members' Cup and the Football League promotion play-offs.

As the home of the English national football team, in 1966 it was the leading venue of the World Cup. It hosted the final game, where the tournament hosts, England, emerged victorious from a 4-2 extra-time win over West Germany. Thirty years later, it was the principal venue of Euro 96, hosting all of England's matches, as well as the tournament's final, where reunited Germany won the cup by the first Golden Goal of football history.

In all, it has hosted 5 European Cup finals, including the 1963 final between AC Milan and Benfica, and the 1968 final between Manchester United and Benfica. In 1971 it again hosted the final, between Ajax and Panathinaikos, and once more in 1978, this time between Liverpool and Club Brugge. The last such occasion was in 1992, when Barcelona played Sampdoria. The FA unsuccessfully bid for the redeveloped Wembley to host the 2007 final.

Wembley has also hosted two Cup Winners' Cup finals (in 1965, when West Ham United beat 1860 Munich, and 1993). It was also the venue for Arsenal's home Champions League matches in 1998-99 and 1999-2000. The only other time it has hosted an individual club's home matches was in 1930, when Clapton Orient played two home Third Division South games there.

The last FA Cup final to be played at the old Wembley saw Chelsea defeat Aston Villa with the only goal scored by Roberto Di Matteo against goalkeeper David James.

The last goal to be scored at the old Wembley came in Kevin Keegan's last game as England manager. Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann hit a low free-kick as England were beaten 0-1 by their arch-rivals Germany on October 7 2000. On that day, Tony Adams played his 60th Wembley match, setting the record for the most matches played there. As well as England appearances, his tally includes Cup Finals, Cup Semi-Finals, pre-season tournaments and Champions League matches for Arsenal. Fittingly, Adams captained England in that match. Peter Shilton made 58 Wembley appearances, the second highest tally.

Of Wembley Stadium, Pelé said "Wembley is the church of football. It is the capital of football and it is the heart of football" ^[link] in recognition of its status as the world's best-known football stadium.

Other sports

Wembley was the main athletics venue for the 1948 Summer Olympics, with Fanny Blankers-Koen and Emil Zátopek among the notable winners.

In the sport of rugby league, the RFL has held its Challenge Cup final at Wembley from 1929 onwards, an event often seen as a big day out for a sport whose heartland is in the North of England. The stadium was also regularly used by the sport for major international matches, such as Great Britain versus Australia. The first Ashes test of 1994 is particularly well remembered by rugby league supporters.

Though the venue has not traditionally been a regular host of rugby union matches, Wales played its Five Nations home matches at Wembley while Cardiff Arms Park was being rebuilt as the Millennium Stadium in the late 1990s.

The National Football League held several preseason American football games at Wembley during the 1980s and 1990s, and the London Monarchs of the World League of American Football played at the venue in 1991 and 1992. Wembley hosted the inaugural World Bowl where the Monarchs defeated the Barcelona Dragons 21-0.

The National Football League (NFL) has opened discussions with Wembley National Stadium Limited over staging games in the new stadium. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue met with Wembley staff during a 2004 visit to London to discuss the possibility of bringing NFL games back to the stadium. [link]

As well as special events, Wembley was also a venue for regular sporting fixtures, notably in greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway. Between 1936 and 1960 it hosted all of the first fifteen stagings of the Speedway World Championship. Wembley's owner's refusal to cancel the regular greyhound racing meant that the match between Uruguay and France in the 1966 World Cup was played at White City. Wembley Stadium also staged women's field hockey matches in which England appeared in their annual match between 1951 to 1969 and then from 1971-1991.

In 1992, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE) drew a sellout of 80,355 when SummerSlam was hosted at Wembley Stadium. Due to the controversy surrounding the attendance figure of 93,173 at WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome (there are claims that the event only drew 78,000 and the WWF inflated the number), Wembley Stadium may hold the record for the biggest crowd ever at a WWF/WWE event (at least until WrestleMania 23 in 2007).

Music

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Wembley Stadium became a musical venue in 1972 with an all-star rock 'n' roll concert. It has since played host to a number of concerts and events. Most notably the British leg of Live Aid was held at the stadium on 13 July 1985 which featured such acts as Queen, Paul McCartney and U2. Other charity concerts to have taken place in the stadium were the Nelson Mandela 1988 tribute, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert and the NetAid charity concert.

Acts who have played at Wembley include Queen, Crosby Stills and Nash, ABBA, Genesis, Elton John, INXS, Michael Jackson, Oasis, The Spice Girls, Tina Turner, Madonna, and The Rolling Stones.Bon Jovi were the last musical act to play at Wembley. Bon Jovi were scheduled to be the first band to play at the new Wembley Stadium, with concerts on June 10 2006 and the following day, however, due to the delays in the construction of the new stadium, the concerts were moved to the National Bowl at Milton Keynes.

Redevelopment

The stadium closed in 2000 and was demolished in 2003 for redevelopment. The new Wembley will be the most expensive stadium ever built, and have the second largest capacity in Europe.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

The new design is for an all-seated capacity of 90,000 protected from the elements by a sliding roof. The stadium's signature feature will be a circular section lattice arch of 7 metre internal diameter with a 315 metre span, erected some 22° off true, and rising to 133 metres tall. According to "Guinness World Records 2006", the archway is the world's longest unsupported roof structure. It features an aircraft warning light at the top, the only stadium in the world to have one. The arch was raised for the first time during construction of the Stadium in June 2004. This is the stadium's answer to a new trademark, with the old trademark being the "Twin Towers". The stadium will also be linked with Wembley Park Station on the London Underground via Olympic Way, and Wembley Central via the White Horse Bridge. A "platform system" has also been designed to convert the stadium for athletics use, but its use decreases the stadium's capacity to approximately 60,000. When completed, the building will have 2000 toilets, more than any other building in the world^[link].

At first a string of financial and political difficulties delayed the work for over two years. The new stadium is currently under construction, with the total cost of the project (including local transport infrastructure redevelopment and the cost of financing) estimated in 2003 to be £757 million. It was scheduled to open on 13 May, 2006, with the first game being that year's FA Cup Final. However, worries were expressed as to whether the stadium would actually be completed on time ^[link]. In October 2005, Sports Minister Richard Caborn announced: "They say the Cup Final will be there, barring six feet of snow or something like that". However in December 2005, the builders admitted that there was a "material risk" that the stadium might not be ready in time for the Cup Final ^[link] and in February 2006, these worries were confirmed by the FA moving the game to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

On 20 March 2006, a steel rafter in the roof of the new development fell by half a metre, forcing 3,000 workers to evacuate the stadium and raising further doubts over the completion date which was already behind schedule[link]. On 23 March 2006, sewers beneath the stadium buckled due to ground movement[link]. GMB Union leader Steve Kelly said that the problem had been caused by the pipes not being properly laid, and that the repair would take months. A spokesman for developers Multiplex said that they did not believe this would "have any impact on the completion of the stadium", which was then scheduled to be completed on 31 March 2006.

On 30 March 2006, the developers [announced] that the Wembley Stadium would not be ready until 2007. All competitions and concerts planned were to be moved to suitable locations.

Interior of Old Wembley Stadium
(1923-2000)

By 19 June 2006, Wembley's lush green turf had been fully laid. This symbolic step in the construction of the new stadium came as England prepared to face Sweden in the last group game of The World Cup Finals in Germany. The new Wembley is set to be one of the greatest stadiums in the world and following in the tradition of the old, its playing surface will be its centrepiece. The whole process took place over a week and in total more than 10,000 m square of turf was used to create the new playing surface. During the construction of the stadium, the high-spec playing surface has been growing off-site at a secret location. The turf arrived at the stadium in giant rolls measuring between 12m and 16m long and 1.2m wide, transported in 25 lorry loads. The latest technology was used to produce a top-quality playing surface. The fibre sand pitch is made up of an underlying web of heating and drainage pipes plus 22,161 tonnes of crushed stone, gravel, grit, sand and a sand/soil and fibre blend. The grasses used for the turf were selected from 250 different varieties with each square metre of turf containing 150,000 to 200,000 leaf blades.

The unique design of the partially retractable roof will be crucial in helping to maintain the world-class pitch that Wembley Stadium has always been famous for. The roof will be left open between events to allow Wembley's turf to be exposed to direct sunlight and ventilation, but can be moved to line up with the touchline to ensure that all spectators are fully sheltered during an event.

Once the stadium is complete, Grounds Manager Steve Welch will become the guardian of the Wembley turf. Welch will be responsible for keeping the turf in mint condition for the Stadium's prestigious line-up of events including The FA Cup Final and Semi-Finals, all home Senior England Internationals and the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final.

Welch said: "The turf going down is a very important milestone for the stadium and I'm very excited about it. A lot of energy and planning has gone into ensuring that Wembley's pitch is second to none – from the quality of the pitch construction, the spec of the turf to the design of the stadium bowl – all of which will help ensure that the playing surface is as good if not better than the famous Wembley turf of old."

A short documentary of its redevelopment can be found on the Queen Live at Wembley 1986 DVD. The reconstruction of the stadium is part of the wider regeneration of Wembley.

The new Wembley is a significant part of the plan for the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London; the stadium will be the site of several games in both the men's and women's football tournaments, with the finals planned to be held there.

|- !style="background:#BFD7FF;"|

|- style="text-align:left;" |width="17%"|

Austria

|width="33%"|Ernst Happel Stadion |width="17%" rowspan="3"|

Portugal

|width="33%"|Estádio da Luz

|- style="text-align:left;" |rowspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|

England

|Old Trafford |Estádio do Dragão

|- style="text-align:left;" |Wembley Stadium |Estádio José Alvalade

|- style="text-align:left;" |

France

|Stade de France |style="background:#e9e9e9;"|

Russia

|Luzhniki Stadium

|- style="text-align:left;" |rowspan="6" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|

Germany

|Allianz Arena |rowspan="3"|

Scotland

|Hampden Park

|- style="text-align:left;" |AOL Arena |Celtic Park

|- style="text-align:left;" |Olympiastadion, Berlin |Ibrox Stadium

|- style="text-align:left;" |Olympiastadion, München | rowspan="5" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|

Spain

|Camp Nou

|- style="text-align:left;" |Signal Iduna Park |Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys

|- style="text-align:left;" |Veltins-Arena |Estadio Olímpico

|- style="text-align:left;" |

Greece

|Olympic Stadium, Athens |Estadio Vicente Calderón

|- style="text-align:left;" |rowspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|

Italy

|San Siro |Santiago Bernabéu

|- style="text-align:left;" |Stadio Olimpico | rowspan="2"|

Turkey

|Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadyumu

|- style="text-align:left;" |rowspan="2"|

Netherlands

|Amsterdam ArenA |Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium

|- style="text-align:left;" |Feijenoord Stadion | style="background:#e9e9e9;"|

Wales

|Millennium Stadium |

Coordinates: [51°33′20″N, 0°16′47″W]

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Wembley Stadium

Football

Other sports

Music

Redevelopment

External links