Cardiff Blues head back to the football ground

Posted on Feb 23, 2012

Following a board meeting last Friday afternoon and subsequent meetings, Cardiff Blues have confirmed their fixtures against the Scarlets and Ospreys will be played at the Cardiff City Stadium.

The Blues recorded wins against Connacht and Ulster in front of crowds of 8,000 and 8,600 supporters respectively, when they played at the Arms Park. However, with some big Welsh derbies coming up, it was decided to give an opportunity for the maximum number of supporters the chance to get tickets for these crucial matches.

Speaking of the decision, Cardiff Blues Chief Executive Richard Holland said:

“Playing the Connacht and Ulster matches at the Arms Park has proved to be a very constructive exercise and certainly answers a lot of questions for us going forward.”

“We are fortunate that we are able to play matches at both grounds which offer us different facilities for the whole spectrum of our support.”

“We had a crowd of 22,000 for the Ospreys and 14,000 for the Scarlets last season and the maximum capacity at the Arms Park would be 9,000.”

“Therefore it makes sense for us to play these matches back at the Cardiff City Stadium which is our home and a fantastic facility and hopefully there will be a large crowd getting behind the team.”

"We still have 17years of our 20 year lease in place at the Cardiff City Stadium; however, we have listened to our supporters and played two matches at the Arms Park.”

“Obviously we now have a clearer picture of the possibilities for the 2012/13 season if we decide to play some of our matches away from the Cardiff City Stadium.”

Cardiff Blues captain Paul Tito added,

“The players all enjoyed playing back at the Arms Park which I think was a valuable exercise for the club both on and off the pitch.”

“There was a great atmosphere there and we would love to have that kind of noise at the City Stadium for these two matches as we continue to push for a play off place.”

“Obviously the most important thing is the match and when we play the Welsh derbies the crowd really get behind us and make that difference.”

“Hopefully there will be a big crowd and great atmosphere at the stadium as there was last year when we faced the Ospreys and Scarlets.”

The Blues take on Ulster at the Arms Park

Posted on Feb 13, 2012

Following last weekend’s successful match at Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff Blues will now play this Friday’s RaboDirect PRO12 match against Ulster at the same venue.

A capacity crowd of just over 8,000 supporters saw Cardiff Blues run out 22-15 winners over Connacht last Friday at the Arms Park, courtesy of a Sam Hobbs try and 17 points from the boot of Ben Blair. It was the first time the Blues have played a competitive match at the ground since moving to the Cardiff City Stadium in 2009.

Following negotiations with Cardiff City Council, Cardiff Blues can confirm that this Friday’s match will also be played there but with capacity being raised to 9,000.

Speaking of the announcement, Cardiff Blues CEO Richard Holland said:

“Firstly I would like to thank all the staff at Cardiff Arms Park and the Cardiff City Stadium for working tirelessly to make sure that match could be played at Cardiff Arms Park.”

“I would also like to thank all the supporters for turning up on the evening which was a great occasion and a great result both on and off the pitch.”

“The supporters seemed to enjoy being back there and following negotiations with Cardiff City Council I am delighted to announce that we have raised capacity for this Friday’s match at the Arms Park to 9,000.”

“As I said on Friday night, there are no long term plans in place to move back to the Arms Park permanently.”

“We still have a 20 year lease in place at the Cardiff City Stadium and playing these two fixtures at the Arms Park has no impact on this agreement."

“However, some games are more suited than others to be played away from the Cardiff City Stadium and this is something we will be looking at going forward.”

“We have arranged a Board meeting for Friday to discus the rest of the season and will be reviewing the situation for the 2012/13 season also.”

All season tickets holders, premier club members and supporters who have purchased tickets for the Ulster do not need to take any action as their tickets are valid for the game.

Ulster Squad to face Cardiff

Posted on Nov 18, 2010

After a two week break, the Ulster team are back in Magners League action this weekend when they face the Cardiff Blues at the Cardiff City Stadium on Sunday 21st November, ko 3.45pm.

Ulster Coach Brian McLaughlin has named a 27 man squad ahead of the game and will announce his starting XV and replacements on Friday.
The Ulster Ravens are also in action this weekend with an away match against Leinster A at Donnybrook on Saturday (20th November) which kicks off at 1pm. The Ravens team will also be named on Friday. If you are travelling to Dublin to see Ireland taken on the All Blacks, why not leave a little earlier to catch the Ravens in action?

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Magners dramatic first month

Posted on Oct 8, 2010

GREAT START TO THE MAGNERS LEAGUE – AND MORE TO COME

What an opening month we’ve had in the Magners League – record-breaking crowds, last gasp victories, great tries and another step-up in standard.

Round 5 saw Leinster make it five wins in a row over arch-rivals Munster in the first professional rugby match played at the new Aviva Stadium and the biggest crowd in the rugby playing world last weekend turned up to witness Brian O’Driscoll score the try that gave the ‘boys in blue’ a 13-9 triumph.

The 50,645 gate topped the previous Magners League record by more than 2,000 and took the cumulative attendance for the six matches in Round 5 to a record high of more than 92,000.

The 30 matches in the first month saw 245,603 fans come through the turnstiles with an average gate of 8,187.

Imaginative marketing from the clubs this season has seen notable increases in crowds. Connacht attracted 11,194 to the Cardiff City Stadium for their eve of Ryder Cup clash with the Blues – a 4,000 increase on the same fixture last season – while the big west Wales derby last weekend between the Scarlets and Ospreys at Parc y Scarlets had a gate of 13,707 – the second highest figure for a Magners League game at the venue.

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