Stadium
Macclesfield Town play their home games at the Moss Rose stadium in the south of the town, and have done so since 1891. The first game at the Moss Rose (on the ground adjoining the then named, Moss Rose Inn) took place on 12 September 1891 and therefore 2011 was the ground's 120th anniversary. Before moving to the Moss Rose, three other grounds were used: Macclesfield Grammar School, Rostron's Field (near Coare Street) and Victoria Road (then known as Bowfield Lane).
The current capacity of the Moss Rose is 6,335, of which 2,599 is seated. The Silk FM Stand (traditionally known as the London Road or Main Stand) runs along one side of the pitch and consists of a seated grandstand with open air terracing to either side, and the opposite side is the seated Alfred McAlpine Stand. The clubs most vociferous supporters congregate in the Star Lane End, which is a mixture of terracing and seating. Visiting supporters are housed in the open air Silkman End (named after a public house which formerly adjoined the terrace) and part of the McAlpine Stand.
The Moss Rose is the 8th oldest ground where Premier League or Football League football is still being played. At 513 feet above sea level, it is the 5th highest ground in the Premier League or Football League (West Brom's Hawthorns – 552 feet, Oldham's Boundary Park – 526 feet, Port Vale – Vale Park – 520 feet, Accrington Stanley's Crown Ground – 516 feet).
The record attendance for Macclesfield Town at the Moss Rose is sometimes given as 7,002 for an FA Cup tie against Spennymoor United in 1968. Saga of the Silkmen (p. 85) and the News of the World Football Annual both give the record attendance of Moss Rose games involving Macclesfield Town as 9,003, in the Cheshire Cup tie vs. Winsford United, 14 February 1948. The Macclesfield Times (19 February 1948) reported that 80 coachloads of supporters had arrived from Winsford.
Euro 96 winners Germany used the Moss Rose as a training base during the championships.
In September 2007, the Club released a statement for the possibility of relocating to a new Stadium, approximately 1 mile south from the Moss Rose to the proposed 'South Macclesfield Development Area'. However, due to the club being a permanent fixture in the lower part of League Two and coupled with the fact that England lost the bid to host the 2018 World Cup (which would have helped the cause for a new stadium), it seems more than likely that Moss Rose will exist as the club's ground for the foreseeable future.
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Famous quotes containing the word stadium:
“It’s no accident that of all the monuments left of the Greco- Roman culture the biggest is the ballpark, the Colosseum, the Yankee Stadium of ancient times.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)
“The final upshot of thinking is the exercise of volition, and of this thought no longer forms a part; but belief is only a stadium of mental action, an effect upon our nature due to thought, which will influence future thinking.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“In their eyes I have seen
the pin men of madness in marathon trim
race round the track of the stadium pupil.”
—Patricia K. Page (b. 1916)