Sir Patrick Dun’s vs. Mater Hospital, Lansdowne Road, 1923
Two weekends ago the new
Aviva Stadium, on the site of the old Lansdowne Road Stadium, hosted its first rugby match. Lansdowne Road first opened as a stadium in 1872, but it wasn't until 1908 that the first stand was built. Before it was demolished to make way for the Aviva, Lansdowne was the oldest sports stadium in Europe. While searching for something else I came across a Pathé Newsreel from December 1923 showing Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital beating Mater Hospital in the Dublin Hospitals' Rugby Cup. (For more about the rugby cup see
this earlier post).
To view the clip on the Pathé website, and from more detail click here. The Pathé website contains an archive off all their news reels from 1896 to 1976 and is an amazing resource.
Apart from the slight awkwardness of the team as they are filmed pre-match, what's most noticeable is the condition of the pitch and the lack of stands for spectators, quite a difference from the new stadium!