Mourneview Park
| Mourneview | |
 |
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| Location | Mourneview Ave, Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland |
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| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Owner | Glenavon Football Club |
| Capacity | 4,160 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Opened | 1895 |
Mourneview Park is a football stadium in Lurgan, and is the home ground of IFA Premiership club Glenavon. The stadium holds 4,160 and was built in 1895. The 2008–09 Irish League Cup final was held at the stadium[1] in the first League Cup final to be held outside Belfast.[2]
Contents
History
Between 1992 and 2005, Mourneview Park underwent a number of renovations, including the building of three new seated stands.[3] Mourneview Park has been used by the Irish Football Association to host neutral matches in the past. In 2003, the Irish Football Association removed Mourneview Park as a potential semi-final host for the Irish Cup because of rioting between fans of Glentoran and Portadown.[4] Mourneview Park has been regularly attacked by arsonists, including in 2005 when a petrol bomb was thrown into the supporters club bar which destroyed it, leading to Glenavon considering closing Mourneview Park because of the continuous damage.[5] In 2009, it was selected to host the 2009 Irish League Cup final because neither of Belfast's Big Two made it to the final and it would have been harder for fans of finalists Newry City and Portadown to get to a Belfast venue. This was the same case for the 2011 Irish League Cup Final when Mourneview Park was choen to host it as well because the finalists were Lisburn Distillery and Portadown the 2 closest clubs to Mourneview Park other than of course Lurgan Celtic and Glenavon.[2]
In 2014, Mourneview Park was nominated by Belfast club Linfield to be their designated home ground for their home matches in the UEFA Europa League after their normal home ground, Windsor Park was undergoing redevelopment.[6]
Mourneview Park was chosen as the venue for the 2015 Irish Cup semi-final between Glentoran and Crusaders due to the unavailability of Windsor Park ahead of a Northern Ireland international fixture.
International football
Mourneview Park has been used to host Northern Ireland national under-21 football team matches[7] as well as matches involving the Northern Ireland women's national football team.[8]
Other uses
Mourneview Park has also been used for purposes outside of football. in 2014 it hosted a Christian evangelical event hosted by former Northern Ireland national football team player turned minister, Stuart Elliott.[9]
Redevelopment
The Irish League has one of the worst records for stadium safety which has got a lot worse in later years of the 21st century this has cost many grounds problems such as lack of supporters at matches and safe capacity , Mourneview Park was 1 of 7 grounds in the top flight that had to be redeveloped by there clubs alone it meant Glenavon replaced all their stands except the away terrace in the ground putting them in debt but after having some great seasons in late years and more supporters than ever has given them enough money to recover and also enough to build a stand on the site of the away terrace which can be started in 2016 to help rebrand the Irish League under NIFL.
References
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