Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland is home to Queens Park F.C. and the Scottish national football team. 'Hampden' is one of the homes of football and the world's oldest international football ground that celebrated its centenary on October 31, 2003.

Previous Hampden Parks

Queens Park F.C. have always played at a venue called Hampden Park. The first and second Hampden Parks were in the same location. When Queens Park moved to the third (and current) Hampden Park, the old ground was renamed to Cathkin Park and sold to Third Lanark F.C. . The third Hampden is the most famous of the grounds used, and is known throughout the world.

Building Hampden Park

Whilst Queens Park F.C. had used previous playing fields, it was in 1903 that the club decided to purchase land in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow's south side. The largest and most technically advanced stadium in the world was built. Hampden Park was inaugurated on 31 October 1903 with Queens Park recording a 1-0 win over Celtic F.C..

A new Hampden

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 tradegies, Hampden Park was converted to an all-seater. The need to improve safety as well as protect crowds from the Scottish weather led to its most recent renovation in the late 1990s; the current capacity is about 52,500.

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. In recent times the roar has said to be more muted, with the capacity of the stadium being reduced from its heyday.

Events at Hampden Park

The Scottish Cup is played at Hampden annually in May. The prize: lifting the world's oldest national trophy - the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, made in 1873. Queens Park were the first winners, beating Clydesdale 2-0 in the 1874 final.

Hampden Park also hosted the famous 1960 European Cup final between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt, where over 130,000 people watched Real Madrid win 7-3. Real Madrid were again involved when Hampden Park hosted the final of the UEFA Champions League (the updated version of the European Cup) in 2002. Hampden Park will also host the UEFA Cup final in 2007.

The 1975/76 final of the European Cup was also held at Hampden. The former NFL Europe team, Scottish Claymores, played at the stadium and the World Bowl was held there in 2003. Concerts and boxing matches are also held in the stadium.

Among the British and European capacity records Hampden holds are:

• 1937 - Attendance 149,415 : Scotland v England (British Home Championship)
• 1937 - Attendance 146,433 : Celtic v Aberdeen (Scottish Cup Final)
• 1970 - Attendance 136,505 : Celtic v Leeds United (European Cup Semi-Final)

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

External links

• http://www.hampdenpark.co.uk/ - Official Hampden Website
• http://www.qpfc.com/hampden/001.html - Unofficial history of Hampden Park
• http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/hampden/ - Pictures of the demolition of Hampden Park to allow for the building of the modern stadium
• http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/ - The Scottish Football Association, which holds office here
• http://www.queensparkfc.co.uk - Queen's Park FC official website
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/scotland/3231643.stm - BBC News: Hampden celebrates centenary