Murrayfield Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the area of the same name in Edinburgh, Scotland. The stadium is owned by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) and serves as its headquarters, and is the national stadium of the Scotland national rugby union team. With a seating capacity of 67,144, it is the largest stadium in Scotland, the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, and the twenty-second largest in Europe.
It officially opened on 21 March 1925 with a game between Scotland and England. The game was won by Scotland who emerged victorious following a Grand Slam. The stadium hosts the majority of Scotland's home test matches and the Scottish Hydro Electric Cup final, as well as certain Edinburgh Rugby matches in the URC and European Rugby Champions Cup.
Though primarily a rugby union stadium, Murrayfield has in the past hosted American football, rugby league and association football matches, as well as numerous music concerts. Currently, the stadium is known as Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons.
History Purchase of land The SRU identified 19 acres of land at Murrayfield, purchasing this from Edinburgh Polo Club at Murrayfield, having raised money through debentures. A stand and three embankments were constructed, which took two years. Previous internationals had been played at Inverleith but it was not large enough to cope with the increasing number of spectators. Arthur Sellers was the stadium's first groundsman, having previously prepared the pitches at Inverleith.The man who prepares the pitches. Edinburgh Evening News. 27 February 1932. p. 17 On 21 March 1925 were the first team to visit Murrayfield, with 70,000 people watching beat them to win their first Five Nations Championship Grand Slam.1925 - Scotland’s first Grand Slam win, Raeburn Place Foundation
Usage during WWII During the Second World War the ground at Murrayfield was offered to the nation and was taken over by the Royal Army Service Corps and used as a supply depot. During the war years the armed forces sports authorities managed to arrange two Scotland v. England services internationals each year, on a home-and-away basis. Scotland's home matches were played at Inverleith for the first two years with a return to Murrayfield in 1944 after that ground's derequisition.
Recent history
Murrayfield's record attendance of 104,000 was set on 1 March 1975 when Scotland defeated 12–10 during the 1975 Five Nations Championship. This attendance stood as a world record until 1999, and remains a European record. The East stand was built in 1983.
In October 1991 another debenture scheme was launched, to finance a more comprehensive redevelopment of the West Stand. The new West Stand was designed with a 48-metre cantilever roof. The old West Stand housed a museum, but this was not replaced and plans for a new visitor centre were shelved when the game turned professional. The first phase was completed in January 1993 with the new north and south stands opening. In February 1994 the centre section of the new West Stand opened. The work was carried out by Tilbury Douglas.
In 1994, Murrayfield completed a £50-million renovation where floodlights were installed for the first time.
In October 2012, SRU chief executive Mark Dodson told the BBC that it was actively seeking a name sponsor for Murrayfield:The single biggest piece of our inventory is our national stadium. We would like to see if we can monetise that. It would be crazy for us not to look at using our single biggest piece of inventory to drive revenue. We want to get the right price for it. In addition, Dodson indicated that the SRU was actively seeking a site for a completely new stadium with a capacity of 10,000 to 15,000 as a future home for Edinburgh Rugby. The pitch was damaged by nematodes in the lead up to the 2013 autumn internationals. This led the SRU to replace the grass with a Desso surface from the start of the 2014 season. A naming rights deal with BT was agreed in May 2014, resulting in the stadium being officially named as the BT Murrayfield Stadium.
Scottish Rugby and Scottish Gas agreed a new five-year partnership deal starting in July 2023. This will result in the creation of a Club & Community Net Zero Fund worth £2 million to ensure Scottish clubs can save on energy bills and carbon emissions. Scottish Gas will also invest in the women's game through shirt and stadium sponsorship, resulting in an official name change for the stadium to Scottish Gas Murrayfield.
Location Murrayfield is located next to Murrayfield Ice Rink, Murrayfield Curling Rink, and is close to Edinburgh Zoo. It is named after the area of Edinburgh it is located in, Murrayfield. There are two cricket pitches in the immediate vicinity at Roseburn Park used by Murrayfield DAFS CC and four rugby pitches owned by the SRU which were used by teams including the amateur club Murrayfield Wanderers RFC. Wanderers and their predecessors had played there since 1902 but were asked to vacate in 2018 as the governing body had plans to develop the land.SRU send Wanderers on their way – despite club's significant investment in Murrayfield estate, The Offside Line, 30 July 2018History, Murrayfield Wanderers RFC Wanderers moved their training base to Roseburn but continued to hire the Murrayfield pitches for some matches.
Transport
Buses The stadium is served by Lothian Bus services 12, 22, 26, 31 and the Airlink 100 along Corstorphine Road. Post-match traffic congestion is common along this route.
Rail Despite the line running adjacent to the stadium, the closest railway station to the stadium is , which lies a mile to the East.
Interchange with the Edinburgh Trams is available at Haymarket, and stations. is a short walk from the St Andrew Square tram stop.
Tram Murrayfield Stadium tram stop is located adjacent to the stadium entrance turnstiles on Roseburn Street. Access to the platform is by a flight of stairs or lift. As part of crowd-management measures, ticketing machines are situated at the bottom of the staircase and not the platform.
Rugby union
Murrayfield is used for most Scottish international rugby union matches, with all Scotland's Six Nations home games being played in the stadium. The stadium also hosted all of Edinburgh's matches between 1996 and January 2017. (For Pro14 matches, only the lower tier of the East Stand is typically used.) Since February 2018 all Edinburgh matches are once again held at Murrayfield; with work now finished on the construction of a new 7,800 capacity stadium on the back pitches to host Edinburgh Rugby from the start of the 2021/22 season.
From 2007 to 2011, Murrayfield hosted the Edinburgh 7s, then the final event in the annual IRB Sevens World Series (now known as SVNS) in rugby sevens, but that tournament was moved to Glasgow starting in 2012 due to low attendance. Murrayfield hosted select matches from the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The stadium also hosted the Heineken Cup Final in 2005, when Toulouse beat Stade Français 18–12, again in 2009, with Leinster defeating Leicester 19–16 and finally in 2017 with Saracens defeating Clermont 28–17.
Rugby World Cup Murrayfield hosted matches of the 1991, 1999 and 2007 Rugby World Cups.
1991 Date Competition Home team Away team Attendance5 October 1991 1991 Rugby World Cup Pool 2 47 9 40,0009 October 1991 1991 Rugby World Cup Pool 2 51 12 35,00012 October 1991 1991 Rugby World Cup Pool 2 24 15 54,00019 October 1991 1991 Rugby World Cup Quarter-final 2 28 6 54,00026 October 1991 1991 Rugby World Cup Semi-final 1 6 9 54,000
1999 Date Competition Home team Away team Attendance3 October 1999 1999 Rugby World Cup Pool A 29 46 57,6128 October 1999 1999 Rugby World Cup Pool A 43 12 9,46310 October 1999 1999 Rugby World Cup Pool A 47 3 4,76916 October 1999 1999 Rugby World Cup Pool A 40 0 17,59320 October 1999 1999 Rugby World Cup Quarter-final play-off 3 35 20 20,00024 October 1999 1999 Rugby World Cup Quarter-final 3 18 30 59,750
2007 Date Competition Home team Away team Attendance18 September 2007 2007 Rugby World Cup Pool C 42 0 31,22223 September 2007 2007 Rugby World Cup Pool C 0 40 64,558
Rugby league Although primarily a rugby union stadium, Murrayfield hosted the Rugby League Challenge Cup Finals of 2000 and 2002. The stadium hosted rugby league's Super League Magic Weekend in 2009. The record for a rugby league attendance at the stadium is 67,247 for the 2000 Challenge Cup Final.
Other sports Association football
Murrayfield has also hosted association football matches. In December 2003, the SRU board agreed to let local Scottish Premier League side Hearts lease the stadium for match days. Later that month, UEFA confirmed that Hearts' own ground, Tynecastle did not meet the minimum criteria for European matches from the 2004–05 season. Hearts used Murrayfield as their home venue for European matches for three years until Hearts made adjustments to Tynecastle that made it compliant with UEFA regulations. Additionally, both Hearts and Edinburgh neighbours Hibernian have played preseason friendlies against FC Barcelona at Murrayfield. Almost 58,000 people attended to watch Hearts play Barcelona in July 2007, recording the largest crowd at an association football match in Edinburgh for 51 years.
In 2014, Glasgow club Celtic played two qualifying matches at the stadium due to Celtic Park being unavailable because of Glasgow's hosting of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Hearts again used the stadium for home games during the 2017–18 Scottish Premiership, due to the delays in construction of a new main stand at Tynecastle. Murrayfield hosted one of the 2018–19 Scottish League Cup semi-finals, played between Hearts and Celtic, in October 2018. That match attracted an attendance of 61,161, the second-largest ever recorded for a football match in Edinburgh. In July 2019, Murrayfield hosted a pre-season friendly between Liverpool and Napoli, that attracted a crowd of 65,442 which was the highest attendance of fans at a football match in Scotland since the 1989 Scottish Cup Final. On 19 July 2023, Manchester United faced Olympique Lyonnais at Murrayfield in front of a crowd of 48,484. On 20 March 2024, it was announced that Manchester United would return for the second successive year to play a pre-season match at Murrayfield, taking on Rangers on 20 July 2024. in front of 56,574
American football Murrayfield has played host to American football and was one of two home venues for the now defunct Scottish Claymores in the NFL Europa between 1995 and 2004, the other being Hampden Park in Glasgow. Additionally, it hosted World Bowl '96 on 23 June 1996. It has been mentioned as a potential future host site for the NFL International Series, should the National Football League add future games outside the series' current permanent home, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Two other London stadiums, Wembley Stadium and Twickenham Stadium, are the only other grounds in Britain to host NFL matches.
Music