Home Grounds
The club played at the Athletic Grounds from 1903 until 1936, when they adopted Oriel Park as their home ground, where they have remained playing to date. Oriel Park, located on the Carrick Road, faces Dundalk railway station and the Great Northern Brewery. The ground's attendance record is 21,000. This record was set in 1979 on the occasion of the club’s European Champion Clubs' Cup second round tie against Celtic. The stadium, which now features a 1,600-seater stand, has hosted many memorable games for supporters including visits from Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, Ajax and Red Star.
In February 2005, the club announced a major programme for a complete revamp of Oriel Park, which included the conversion of the pitch to an all-weather surface. Dundalk are the first Irish club to make such a conversion and the first club in the world to use the licensed FIFA 2-star surface for competitive league games. It is the worst rated playing surface in Irelands 2 leagues. Further upgrades have taken place to the main stand, changing-areas and bar facilities. The ultimate aim is to restore the club’s standing amongst the premier clubs in Ireland. At the start of the 2007 season, fans of the club were delighted to see the developmental work done on the stadium over the close-season before the season's kick-off. A new roof was installed on the main stand and covered terracing was introduced along the opposite side of the pitch.
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Famous quotes containing the words home and/or grounds:
“We follow where the Swamp Fox guides,
His friends and merry men are we;
And when the troop of Tarleton rides,
We burrow in the cypress tree.
The turfy hammock is our bed,
Our home is in the red deer’s den,
Our roof, the tree-top overhead,
For we are wild and hunted men.”
—William Gilmore Simms (1806–1872)
“Unfaithfulness ought to extinguish love, and we should not be jealous when there is reason to be. Only those who give no grounds for jealousy are worthy of it.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)