Turners Cross (stadium)

Infobox_Stadium
stadium_name = Turners Cross Stadium
nickname = "The Cross" |

location = Turners Cross, Cork
surface = Grass
seating_capacity = 7485 all seating.
opened = Mid-Late 1800s
owner = Unknown
tenants = Football Association of Ireland (sub-leased to Cork City F.C.)

Turners Cross is a football ground located in and synonymous with the district of Turners Cross, Cork, Ireland. It is home to the "Munster Football Association", [http://homepage.eircom.net/~munfa/ Homepage of the Munster Football Association] ] and League of Ireland club Cork City F.C. [http://corkcityfc.ie/main.php Official Cork City F.C. website] [http://corkcityfc.ie/views/turnerscross.php Stadium info] ]

The stadium sees a large volume of matches every year with Cork City F.C. (the anchor tenant) sharing the ground with local, regional, national, and international matches and cup finals at schoolboy, junior, intermediate, senior, and underage international level.

Ireland's Under 21 football team are currently playing their home games at Turners Cross. [ [http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2532&Itemid=9 FAI.ie] ]

Facilities

For many years Turners Cross was little more than a pitch with a few grassy banks and a covered terrace euphemistically called "The Shed". However, in the last 10 years the stadium has been transformed into one of the finer League of Ireland stadia.

The current configuration of the stadium includes the 1,900 seater covered "Donie Forde" stand - which holds team dressing rooms, the stadium control box, press broadcasting area, and the family section. This is faced by the 1,185 seater covered "Derrynane Road" stand - which holds the away supporter's section.

At the western end of the ground is the c2,800 capacity St. Anne's end. The newest stand is at the eastern end, on a site previously occupied by "The Shed" covered terracing ("The Shed" previously held over 2,500 supporters and was home to Cork City F.C.'s more vocal supporters.) The newly developed section seats 1,600 and was opened in March 2007.

Construction is currently under way on a roof covering the St. Anne's End of the ground, expected to be finished during September 2008. [ [http://corkcityfc.ie/main.php?action=newsLink&headlineID=422 CorkCityFC.ie News] ]

History

While known locally and amongst fans as "The Cross", the ground has also been nicknamed "The Box" in the past. This accounts for the title of Plunkett Carter's book on Cork soccer, "From The Lodge to The Box", where 'the lodge' refers to 'Flower Lodge'. "Flower Lodge" was originally owned by the Ancient Order of Hibernians and was the previous home of Cork soccer. This ground was subsequently sold to the Gaelic Athletic Association, and renamed "Páirc Uí Rinn", for Christy Ring, a famous County Cork hurler.

Cork Constitution, then a rugby and cricket club, was the first club to lease the Turners Cross grounds in 1897. (A once popular trivia question was "Which President of Ireland scored a penalty at Turner's Cross?" The answer is Eamon de Valera (1882-1975) who in his early years played rugby for Rockwell. The penalty in question was during a Rockwell vs Cork Constitution rugby match in the Munster Cup.)

Turners Cross was home ground for the local GAA club Nemo Rangers in the 1930's. [ [http://www.nemorangers.ie/History/History%20page.htm NemoRangers.ie/History] ] In June 1940 the FAI negotiated a 98 year lease on Turner's Cross with owner Helena O'Sullivan.

In 1977 then League of Ireland side Cork Celtic F.C. looked for a longer lease on the ground only to be refused by the FAI who were unable to find the property owner. The ground passed into the hands of the Munster Football Association in the 1980s.

Turner's Cross has never hosted a full men's senior international; the closest in recent time was a "B" fixture against England in 1990. Elsewhere in Cork, Flower Lodge hosted a full international on the 26th of May 1985 between Ireland and Spain (0:0), while The Mardyke entertained Ireland vs Hungary in 1939 (2:2). [cite book|title=Football Asssociation of Ireland: 75 years|first=Peter|last=Byrne|date=1996|location=Dublin|publisher=Sportsworld|id = ISBN 1900110067|pages=41]

Soccer, rugby, Gaelic games, boxing and gymkhana events have been held at Turner's Cross over the years.

References

External links

* [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.885478,-8.468474&spn=0.003385,0.007298&t=k&hl=en Satellite Photo of Turners Cross]