Shielfield Park

Infobox_Stadium
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location = Berwick-upon-Tweed, England
broke_ground =
opened = 1954
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closed =
demolished =
owner = Berwick Rangers Football Club
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surface = Grass
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tenants =
Berwick Rangers Football Club
seating_capacity =
4,131 (1,366 seated)

Shielfield Park is a football stadium that is home to Berwick Rangers and also to the Berwick Bandits speedway team. [Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). "Homes of British Speedway". ISBN 0-7524-2210-3] Although Shielfield Park plays host to a Scottish Football League side, it is situated in Tweedmouth, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England.

Football

There was a ground at Shielfield Park, named after land owned by local butcher William Shiel Dods, since 1890, however following an argument in 1902 Berwick Rangers left Shielfield and spent the following 50 years at a number of other sites in Berwick, including temporary spells at Shielfield. After a successful run in the Scottish Cup in 1954 a new stand was purchased from Bradford City and the team settled at Shielfield. Further development followed in the following years with floodlights introduced in 1972.

The record attendance was 13,365 for the Scottish Cup game against Rangers F.C. on January 28th 1967. Current capacity is 4,131 of which 1,366 are seated.

peedway

Berwick Bandits 1st spell at Shielfield Park was between 1968 and 1980, in which arguments with Berwick Rangers forced the Bandits to find a new home. Eventually in 1982 this was Berrington Lough near Ancroft, Northumberland. The club moved back into Berwick in 1996 and have remained there ever since, enjoying much success during this time and good crowd attendances.

Future

Talk of a redevelopment of Shielfield Park has been rumoured, this is apparently to include the local council offices and more sports like hockey, but things have gone quiet for the time being.

References