Crystal Palace National Sports Centre

The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in south London is a large sports centre and athletics track. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace, in the former parkland and also usurping part of the former grand prix circuit.

It was one of the five National Sports Centres, run on behalf of Sport England, but responsibility has been transferred to the London Development Agency and is managed by Greenwich Leisure Limited.

The athletics stadium has a capacity of 15,500, which can be increased to 20,000 with temporary seating. It has hosted international athletics meetings and is the home of an annual event on the athletics Grand Prix circuit. The complex also hosts London's only 50m swimming pool. However both the athletics stadium and the acquatics centre will be superseded as London's main facilities for their sports by the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre which will be constructed in Stratford in East London for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Football

The current athletics stadium is on the same land as a previous football ground^*, which hosted the FA Cup final from 1895 to 1914. In 1905, the owners wanted a professional club to play at the venue, so a new club, Crystal Palace F.C., was formed. They were forced to leave by the military, in 1915, and now play at nearby Selhurst Park, though the Reserve side did play at the NSC in the 2000-01 season.

There have been suggestions that current Palace chairman Simon Jordan will look to purchase the National Sports Centre, if he cannot purchase Selhurst Park from former chairman Ron Noades, who currently leases the ground to the club. The lease is set to expire in 2010. As of April 2006, the possibility looked more likely, after Noades announced that no offers had been made to buy Selhurst Park, and that he has no interest in selling the stadium to Jordan or anyone else. However the London Development Agency has rejected the proposed move^*.

The following international matches have been played at Crystal Palace:

April 3 1897 - England 1-2 Scotland
March 30 1901 - England 2-2 Scotland
April 1 1905 - England 1-0 Scotland
April 3 1909 - England 2-0 Scotland
March 4 1911 - England Amateurs 4-0 Belgium

Rugby

On December 2 1905, the ground also held the first England rugby union international match against New Zealand in England, New Zealand winning 15-0.

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