Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground officially the oldest international football ground in the world.

It’s official: Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground has officially been declared as the oldest international football ground in the world.

The newly confirmed record has been raised in the Welsh Assembly by the town’s AM. Wrexham supporter Lesley Griffiths, has Tabled a Statement of Opinion in the Senedd congratulating, what she describes as “this historic achievement”, making the record books. The Assembly Member’s move comes after Guinness World Records confirmed to another lifelong Wrexham supporter - Glyn Davies - that it had now recognised the Racecourse as being the oldest ground in the world still to host international football matches.

The first international match held at the Racecourse was in 1877, when Wales lost 2-0 to Scotland. Guinness World Records declared the record following confirmation from the Football Association of Wales (FAW) that it intended to use the ground to host international football in the future.

This positive message from the FAW, was underlined by the AM in the conclusion of her Statement, as she hoped the “Welsh national football team will continue to grace the turf of the Racecourse Ground for the next 131 years.”

Commenting on her Statement of Opinion, Ms. Griffiths said: “This is a wonderful achievement to have confirmed by Guinness World Records and I congratulate Glyn Davies on his excellent detective work in establishing the record as being correct.

“The Racecourse is known all over the world as a great football stadium and many people have some great memories about games they have seen at the ground.
“I have seen many international matches there over the years. My favourite being when Wales hammered England 4-1 in 1980 during the old Home International Championships.

“The Racecourse Ground gives a huge sense of pride to local people and by making the record books for this truly historic reason, just emphasises what Wrexham people have know all along - it’s a very special place. That’s why I have Tabled this Statement of Opinion in the Assembly.”

Lesley Griffiths is a lifelong fan of Wrexham FC and prior to becoming the Assembly Member for Wrexham, she was an elected director of Wrexham Supporters Trust.

This entry was posted on 18/06/2008 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Local Life, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.