Cardiff City Stadium - Cardiff City

Cardiff City - Cardiff City Stadium

Cardiff City Football Club

Cardiff City Stadium

Leckwith Road

Cardiff

Wales

CF11 8AZ

Cardiff City Facebook Page

Cardiff City Twitter Page

Cardiff City Official Website

HISTORY/FACTS ABOUT THE BLUEBIRDS:

• Cardiff City Football Club were formed in 1899 as Riverside A.F.C, following a meeting at the home of Bartley Wilson in Cardiff.
• In the early years, the club were playing friendlies against local sides at their Sophia Gardens ground until the year 1900, they joined the Cardiff & District League for their 1st competitive season. In 1905, Cardiff were granted City status by King Edward VII and as a result, the club were put in a request to the South Wales and Monmouthshire Football Association to change the club name to Cardiff City, but at that time, the request was turned down.
• In 1908, the club was officially called as Cardiff City, and joined the English Football League system in 1910 by competing in the Southern Football League before joining the Football League in 1920.
• The club are also the only club outside England to have won the FA Cup, doing so in 1927. They beat Arsenal at Wembley 1-0, Hughie Ferguson with the winning goal after 74 minutes.
• After playing at their 1st ground Sophia Gardens, Cardiff City moved to Ninian Park in 1910, and played there until 2009 before moving across the road to the brand new Cardiff City Stadium. Ninian Park's record attendance was 62,634 which was Wales v England in October 1959.
• Cardiff also went to Wembley once again in 2012, for the League Cup Final against Liverpool, but just lost out on penalties after taking the game to extra time.
• Cardiff City's main rivals are fellow South Wales side Swansea City, with many heated games over the years. Other rivalries include Bristol City and a lesser extent Bristol Rovers. There is also a lesser extent rivalry with other fellow South Wales side Newport County due to the proximity of the two Welsh Cities.

THE GROUND:

Cardiff City have been playing at the Cardiff City Stadium since their move there from Ninian Park in 2009. The ground holds 33,280 in which away supporters are housed in between the Ninian & Grange stands which is one corner of the ground. Up to 1,800 supporters can be allocated. Ninian Park railway station is the closest to the ground, with regular trains running from Cardiff's main station, Cardiff Central. From Ninian Park station, it's no more than a 5 minute walk.

1ST VISIT TO CARDIFF; FA CUP 3RD ROUND 2018:

Cardiff City 0-0 Mansfield Town
Saturday 6th January 2018
FA Cup 3rd Round



I had previously visited the ground before in 2015 when Gillingham were away at Swindon on a Tuesday night in March, me and a mate of mine Hawko stayed overnight in Swindon and visited Cardiff the next day as it was only about an hour and a bit on the train. We did a tour of Principality Stadium (Millennium Stadium) and luckily got a free tour of the Cardiff City Stadium. Other than that, that was the only visit. As Gillingham got knocked out of the FA Cup, of course this one gave me a free Saturday. Only 2 choices to pick from really, Newcastle vs Luton was one, and the other was Cardiff v Mansfield as they were the only ones I hadn't done that were at home in the FA Cup. Newcastle proved to be a bit expensive, and Cardiff wasn't too bad. So I opted for Cardiff as I'm going to leave Newcastle until around Easter time. I woke up just before 7am and left home shortly afterwards. I left London Paddington on the 9.42 train, whilst on the train as I checked in on Facebook at Paddington, I funnily enough did receive a message from Hawko saying he remembers doing the free tour of Cardiff 3 years ago, such a good couple of days that was. Anyway, I arrived into Cardiff just before 12 with plenty of time to kill. I wandered around Cardiff City Centre and popped into Ladbrokes to put some bets on. I arrived to the ground just before 2pm, took some pics outside the ground and then made my way in. Only disappointment was the stewards, being too extreme with checking bags, searched and things like that. I did think to myself it's Cardiff v Mansfield in the FA Cup, not Cardiff v Bristol City or something like that. But ah well. It wasn't even full either, probably not even half full. The game itself weren't the best either to start 2018 off either, pretty flat if I'm honest. Mansfield probably had the better chances, and maybe deserved the win, but that's about it really. I have visited Mansfield only the once myself if anyone fancies a read of that, you can by clicking here. Afterwards, having a bit of time to kill after the game, I left Cardiff at half 6 and arrived home at 10pm. Cardiff was my 81st ground of the 92.








GROUND PHOTOS: