Showground

A showground is a places where events occur, including agricultural shows, and associated facilities. In Australia, New Zealand and the United States, showgrounds often house dirt track speedways.

Showground may refer to:

Australia

Ireland

The Showgrounds (Newry)

The Showgrounds is a football stadium in Newry, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It was the home ground of Newry City F.C. and is now the home ground of their successor club, Newry City A.F.C.. The stadium holds 7,949, but is currently restricted to 2,275 under safety legislation.

The stadium is located in the Greenbank Industrial Estate on the Warrenpoint Road, close to the Down GAA stadium Páirc Esler.

History

In 2009, The Showgrounds had two new stands constructed. In 2011, there were plans to turn The Showgrounds' pitch into an artificial turf pitch however due to Newry City's financial troubles, these plans were shelved. In 2012, on the eighteenth day of the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay, the Olympic torch passed The Showgrounds on its way to Páirc Esler.

In 2012, Newry City were liquidated after a High Court winding-up petition. Discussions on creating a phoenix club, initially titled "Newry City 2012" and eventually titled "Newry City AFC", took place at The Showgrounds. When Newry City was wound up, The Showgrounds were not sold off with the club as it was owned by Newry City's supporters and not the club. This meant that Newry City AFC would be able to use it as their home ground.

The Showgrounds (Limavady)

The Showgrounds is a football stadium in Limavady, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Limavady United. The stadium has a capacity of 524, including 274 seated.

The Showgrounds were originally part of a large open parkland within the town, which was fully enclosed from the remainder of the playing fields by Limavady United in the early 1980s.

The football club created an entrance to the ground from the Rathmore Road and developed the venue by building a club house, which houses a club bar, beer garden, function room and team dressing rooms as well two blocks of two turnstiles to access the ground from the car park.

The ground has one stand, running partially along the Scroggy side of the pitch, providing seating for 274 spectators. The stand was built in the mid-1990s to enable the club to step up into senior football but has fallen into disrepair since they dropped back down to intermediate level in 2008 and some of the seats have become damaged. The remainder of the ground is undeveloped with a single tier of paving around the perimeter wall of the pitch. Many spectators chose to watch matches from the paved area beside the clubhouse at the Rathmore Road end.