Rugby Park

Kilmarnock played at three other sites (The Grange, Holm Quarry and Ward's Park) in their early years, before the club moved to Rugby Park in December 1877.^[10] This was not the precise site of the present stadium, as the field is now covered by Charles Street. While is initially unclear the exact place in which Kilmarnock F.C. played their first match, Recreation Ground, also known as Barbadoes Green, was situated across from Dundonald Road where a much larger area known as Wards Park was situated. In the late 1860s, Wards Park consisted of rough grassland, and is considered the earliest site of both Kilmarnock F.C. and Rugby Park.^[11]

The first stadium known as Rugby Park after being officially named as such in November 1872 was situated on Dundonald Road. In April 1874, the club left this ground before returning to approximately the same field in December 1877.^[12] The club later played at The Grange between 1874 and 1876, also playing one game at Holm Quarry in April 1874, 1876 and 1877. The club left The Grange in 1876, but returned between September–November 1877.^[11]

The club moved to Rugby Park on Dundonald Road in 1877 and remained playing at the stadium until 1899, when the stadium relocated to a new stadium built on recreation and agricultural ground where it has remained as Kilmarnock Football Club's home ground since 1899.^[11]

The current site was decided by Ross Quigley who was Kilmarnock's first director.^[10] The grounds were shared by cricket and rugby teams – sports which Kilmarnock had played previously – and the connection with rugby gave the ground its name. Rugby Park hosted its first international match in March 1894, when Scotland won 5–2 against Wales.^[10] Originally, the ground was constructed with a running track around its edge, a pavilion and a stand along the west side.^[10] This layout meant that Rugby Park was similar to Ibrox Park, which opened four months later.^[10]

The "new" Rugby Park opened to fans in 1899 with a home game for Kilmarnock F.C. against Celtic F.C. which finished in a 2–2 draw. It was Kilmarnock F.C.'s first match in the top tier of Scottish football, having won the Second Division the previous season. The new Rugby Park pitch had been moved south-westwards and a new grandstand for spectators being built, which was designed by football stadium architect Archibald Leitch. Delays to the construction by joinery strikes caused workers to still be working on finishing the grandstand on the morning of the first match at the new stadium with Celtic.^[13] The grandstand was extended in 1914 and was extensively re-modelled and re-roofed in 1961.^[11]

In 1940, Rugby Park was requisitioned by the War Department for use as a fuel storage area, due to its proximity to the Kilmarnock railway station and the ability for fuel tanks to be assembly underneath the stadium pitch.^[14] The clubs board of directors "reluctantly" agreed to the requisition of the stadium, announcing the suspension of playing "for the duration".^[14] In the Summer of 1944, the War Department prepared to hand Rugby Park over to the board of directors at Kilmarnock Football Club. Having done so, the stadium, pitch and grandstand were found to be in an undesirable state after four years of military use. The club eventually received compensation from the government and the War Department for the damage caused.^[15] Work commenced on repairing the stadium, with Italian prisoners of war being used to build up the terracing.^[15]

On 28 October 1953, floodlights began operating at Rugby Park and were officially opened between a friendly; Manchester United F.C. and Kilmarnock F.C. which results in 3–0 win for Manchester United. The official recorded attendance at the game was 12,639 at Rugby Park.^[16] A new grandstand was built in 1961, with space to accommodate 4,000 spectators. Kilmarnock manager Willie Waddell commented on the developments at Rugby Park; "to be a top grade club, you must have top grade accommodation".^[17]

Demolition work began at Rugby Park on 8 May 1994, with the stadiums West Stand receiving a major refurbishment including new roofing and floodlights.^[18] Both the covered terracing and covered enclosures of the stadium were demolished to make way for the construction of two new stands, the East Stand and the South Stand (the "Moffat Stand"), which were first used on 27 August and 19 November 1994 respectively.^[18] The north terracing area had remained in used during construction works, but was demolished in 1995 to allow the construction of the new North Stand (the "Chadwick Stand"), which was first used on 20 April 1995 against Rangers F.C..^[18]

Taking 49 weeks to complete, the re-construction of Rugby Park transformed the stadium into a modern, 18,128 all-seated stadium, featuring new floodlights and two American style scoreboards situated at the top of both the Moffatt and Chadwick Stands.^[18] As of October 2023, both scoreboards are no longer installed on either stand. The official opening of the reconstructed Rugby Park occurred on 8 August 1995, with a match between English Premiership Champions Blackburn Rovers F.C. and Kilmarnock F.C., finishing 0–5.^[18]

Safety regulations cut the capacity of Rugby Park to 17,528 by the 1980s, but this figure was rarely troubled as the club fell to the Second Division.^[10] The Taylor Report, published in January 1990, recommended that British stadiums should become all-seater.^[10] Around the same time, a new board of directors took control of Kilmarnock.^[10] The new board initially proposed to move the club to an out-of-town site besides the A77 road as part of a wider development, but this was rejected by planning restrictions.^[10] The board then decided to redevelop Rugby Park. The last game before reconstruction was played on 7 May 1994, when Kilmarnock beat Rangers 1–0.^[19] During the 1994–95 season the capacity was significantly reduced as three new stands were constructed; the Moffat Stand, the Chadwick Stand and the East Stand. Their completion brought the capacity of the stadium to 18,128.^[19] The work was completed in just 348 days, as the new stands were first opened for a game against Rangers on 20 April.^[19] Kilmarnock officially opened the new Rugby Park on 6 August 1995, in a friendly match against English league champions Blackburn Rovers. Alan Shearer hit a hat-trick as the home team lost 5–0.

On 12 May 1998 Rugby Park hosted the last Ayrshire Cup final, as Kilmarnock fought back from 0–2 to beat Ayr United 4–2. In the summer of 1999, league regulations meant that Kilmarnock had to install undersoil heating at the ground. On 26 August of that year, Kilmarnock celebrated one hundred years at Rugby Park with a victory over KR Reykjavik in the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup.

Some work has since been done to increase the revenue created by the ground. In June 2002 the Park Hotel was opened adjacent to the stadium. The hotel was built on the site of Kilmarnock's training pitch and accommodates fifty twin/double bedrooms, a conference centre, a café, bar and restaurant. In November 2004 a new sports bar was opened in the West Stand, sponsored by Foster's Lager.

In 2014, new 3G artificial surfacing was installed at Rugby Park.^[20]

An artificial playing surface was installed in the summer of 2014.^[21] This was later replaced by an artificial hybrid surface during the 2019 close season.^[22] In November 2023 the club announced their intention to replace the artificial surface with natural grass in 2025, if work on a separate training facility can be completed.^[23]

In February 2019 Kilmarnock received approval to install a new safe-standing section in areas of the East and Moffat stands. The installation process was completed in early December of that year.^[24] In 2020, plans were unveiled revealing details of plans for further renovations at Rugby Park, creating a new entrance, changing facilities and community resources, including a memorial garden.^[25] During the 2021–22 season offices were installed in the upper deck of the Moffat Stand, which reduced the seating capacity of the stadium to 15,552.^[3]

Despite becoming a modern, all-seater stadium, a number of features in the design of the stands give it a unique look. All stands bar the West Stand have very little beneath them, as the tea bars and toilets are located under the lowest possible point towards the pitch. The rest of the area underneath is open tarmac, with the steel framework fully exposed. Moreover, the turnstiles for the three newer stands are built into a perimeter wall rather than the stadium itself, and there are very large open air spaces before the stands themselves. Other stadiums have a similar design – for example Tynecastle's Roseburn Stand, although there is considerably less space there. One advantage is that since the public smoking ban has come into force it has been possible for fans to stand in the open areas at half-time for a cigarette.

The East Stand is distinctive in appearance as it does not cover the full length of the pitch, tapering before ending around 15yds before the extremity of the pitch. This is because the ground behind the stand is residential, and can not be built on. However, the gap is not as large as a similar truncation at Fir Park, for example, and is filled by flags.

Disabled supporters are accommodated in an enclosures at the front of both end stands.

Scotland have played two games at Rugby Park; against Tonga in November 2014 and Georgia on 26 November 2016.^[26][27] The match against Tonga was the first rugby union international match featuring a tier 1 nation to be played on artificial surface.^[28]

In August 1999, Rugby Park was used for a fictitious Scottish Cup semi-final in the Robert Duvall film A Shot at Glory. The film also starred former Kilmarnock striker Ally McCoist.

Rugby Park has also been used as a venue concert for several musical artists.

• Singer Rod Stewart performed live at Rugby Park in 2016^[29]
• Elton John performed live at Rugby Park in June 2005^[30]

Four Scottish international matches have been staged at Rugby Park. Normally, Scotland international matches are played at Hampden Park, but two matches were played at Rugby Park while the south stand at Hampden was being rebuilt. During the 1997 match against Wales, Kilmarnock were able to parade the Scottish Cup at half time, having captured the trophy at Ibrox on the previous Saturday.

• List of football stadiums in Scotland
• Kilmarnock F.C.
  • Ayrshire derby
    • Ayr United F.C.
• Kilmarnock
• East Ayrshire

Sources

• Inglis, Simon (1996). Football Grounds of Britain. Collins Willow. ISBN 0-00-218426-5.

•   Media related to Rugby Park at Wikimedia Commons
• Stadium Tours at Kilmarnock Football Club official website
• Rugbypark.co.uk (not associated with Kilmarnock Football Club)
• Rugby Park at KillieFC.com