Fir Park

Fir Park Stadium

Location	Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Owner	Motherwell F.C.
Capacity	13,742
Surface	Grass
Opened	1895
Tenants
Motherwell F.C. Gretna F.C. (2007-08)

Fir Park is a football stadium in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium is the home of Scottish Premier League club Motherwell F.C.. The stadium is all seats with a capacity of 13,742. The highest attendance for the stadium is 35,632 against Rangers in a 1952 Scottish Cup match.

Today, the stadium has an unbalanced look, with one large stand and three smaller stands. The biggest stand at the ground is the two-tiered South Stand, which was built in 1993. Opposite is the small Davie Cooper Stand, named after the former player, which was built in 1995. These two stands have their advertising slogans changed whenever the club's sponsor changes.

Running along one side of the ground is the East Stand, which used to be a terrace until it was changed into a seating area. This stand had the legendary "KEEP CIGARETTES AWAY FROM THE MATCH" slogan displayed below the roof, facing the pitch. Since the smoking ban was put into place in 2006, slogans such as these were no longer needed, and in 2012, was changed to Cash Converters, the clubs main sponsor. The East stand is the stand of choice for many of the younger and passionate fans of the club.

Opposite the East Stand is The Phil O'Donnell Stand, which was known as the Main Stand until 2008. The stand was renamed The Phil O'Donnell Stand in honour of the late Motherwell captain who died on the Fir Park pitch.

This is a strange-looking stand, as the steel girders run for the full length of the pitch, but the stand only runs for two thirds the length of the pitch. This was because, in 1962, a nearby houseowner complained about the building of the stand during construction. Both the club and the houseowner failed to work things out, so to this day, the stand has not been built the full length of the pitch.

Gretna

During the 2007-08 season, Gretna F.C. rented Fir Park from Motherwell and played all but one of their home league games there.

Other websites

• Fir Park at the Scottish Football Archive Archived 2008-06-16 at the Wayback Machine