Hampden Park

Hampden Park in Glasgow is Scotland's national football stadium. Its primary use is as the home to Queen's Park F.C. and the Scottish national football team.

Hampden was built in 1903, though all signs of the original stadium are long gone. It is known throughout the world as an iconic home of football and celebrated its centenary on October 31, 2003. The stadium also houses the offices of the Scottish Football Association, SPL and Scottish Football League. During the 2012 Olympics it will also host games during the early stages of the Olympic football tournament. It has also hosted prestigious sporting events such as the finals of the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) and the UEFA Cup.

Hampden will be the key stadium of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. It will host the athletics during the tournament, Glasgow having been announced as the host city on 9 November 2007.

The stadium is served by the nearby Mount Florida railway station

The first two Hampdens

Queen's Park have played at a venue called Hampden Park since 1873. When Queen's Park moved to the third (and current) Hampden Park, the second Hampden was sold to Third Lanark A.C. and renamed New Cathkin Park. The site of the first Hampden Park is on the site of the present day Hampden Bowling Club.The second Hampden Park (Cathkin Park) is just across the Cathcart Road.

The present Hampden

In 1903, Queen's Park decided to purchase land in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow's south side, where the largest and most technically advanced stadium in the world was built. The first match at the present Hampden Park was played on 31 October 1903, when Queen's Park recorded a 1-0 win over Celtic. Hampden Park was the largest stadium in the world until 1950, when the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro was completed.

After the release of the Taylor Report in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster, among other football tragedies, Hampden Park was converted to be all-seater. The need to improve safety led to its most recent renovation in the late 1990s. The stadium was re-opened on May 14, 1999, with a capacity of 52,103.

The design of the stadium has been criticised Supporters sitting in the stands behind the goals are a long distance from the pitch. The SFA have discussed plans to address this problem and to increase Hampden's capacity to at least 70,000.

The Hampden Roar

The crowd who came to see football matches at Hampden were renowned for creating the Hampden Roar. The noise created was said to terrify opposing teams who came to play there. With capacity at the ground exceeding 100,000 from the early 1900s until the 1980s, the Roar could be heard several miles away from the stadium. In recent times the roar has said to be more muted, with the capacity of the stadium being reduced from its heyday.

According to one history, the Roar began during the annual fixture against England in 1929, when Scotland, having played the whole of the second half with ten players, owing to an injury to Alex Jackson, equalised in the final minute with a goal scored by Alec Cheyne direct from a corner kick. Over 110,000 spectators were in the ground that day, and they began the roar as a way of inspiring Scotland to hold on until the final whistle.

The Hampden Roar is also used, colloquially, as a rhyming slang phrase. People (mainly in Glasgow and the west coast of Scotland) may ask "what's the Hampden Roar?" or "what's the Hampden?" meaning, "what's the score?" The phrase can also be used outwith footballing contexts.

Events at Hampden Park

Football

The Scottish Cup Final is played at Hampden annually in May, for the honour of lifting the world's oldest national trophy - the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, made in 1873. Queen's Park were the first winners, beating Clydesdale F.C. 2-0 in the 1874 final.

Hampden Park hosted the 1960 European Cup final between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt, where over 130,000 people watched Real Madrid win 7-3. The 1976 final was also held at Hampden, when FC Bayern Munich defeated AS Saint-Etienne. Real Madrid were again victorious when Hampden Park hosted the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2002, defeating Bayer Leverkusen, aided by Zinedine Zidane's legendary "wonder goal". Hampden Park also hosted the 2007 UEFA Cup Final on May 16 when Sevilla defeated Espanyol to retain the trophy. It also held famous wins for the Scotland national football team, such as the 1-0 wins over Netherlands in November 2003, and against France in October 2006. One of the most exciting Scottish Cup Finals in history commenced at Hampden on May 4, 2002 as Rangers defeated Celtic 3-2 with a last-minute diving header from Peter Løvenkrands. Diego Maradona made his international debut at Hampden Park and scored.

Notable matches

* 1960: Real Madrid 7 - Eintracht Frankfurt 3 (final, European Cup)
* 1962: Atlético Madrid 1 - Fiorentina 1 (final, European Cup Winners' Cup)
* 1966: Borussia Dortmund 2 - Liverpool 1 (final, European Cup Winners' Cup)
* 1976: Bayern Munich 1 - AS Saint-Etienne 0 (final, European Cup)
* 2002: Real Madrid 2 - Bayer Leverkusen 1 (final, UEFA Champions League)
* 2007: Sevilla 2 - Espanyol 2 (aet; 3-1 pens) (final, UEFA Cup)

One event which is mistakenly thought to have occurred at Hampden Park is the world's first football international. This happened at the West of Scotland Cricket Club's Hamilton Crescent ground in the Partick area of Glasgow.

Stadium records

Among the British and European capacity records Hampden holds are:

* 1937 - Attendance 149,415 : Scotland v England (British Home Championship) - highest in Europe
* 1937 - Attendance 146,433 : Celtic v Aberdeen (Scottish Cup Final) - highest for a club match in Europe
* 1970 - Attendance 136,505 : Celtic v Leeds United (European Cup Semi-Final) - highest for a UEFA competition match

Other sports

Rugby union has also been played at the ground since its renovation, including a group game in the 1999 World Cup between defending champions South Africa and Uruguay.

In American football, the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe played at the stadium between 1998 and 2004 before decamping to Hamburg to become the Hamburg Sea Devils. The league's championship game, the World Bowl, was held there in 2003. In that game, the Frankfurt Galaxy beat Rhein Fire.

The stadium has also hosted concerts, and in 2000 was the venue for a boxing card headlined by former world champion Mike Tyson. Robbie Williams' concert in September 2006 forced the Scottish national team to play their first Euro 2008 qualifier at Celtic Park instead.

Hampden will host the athletics events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow was announced as the host city on 9th November 2007.

Hampden was also home to the Glasgow Tigers speedway team from 1969 until 1972. The speedway track ran round the outside of the football pitch.