Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park
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Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park, the Rideau Canal is in the foreground |
Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park (originally known simply as
Lansdowne Park) is a
Canadian football stadium located in
Ottawa, Ontario, on the southern edge of
The Glebe neighbourhood, where
Bank Street crosses the
Rideau Canal.
The stadium was the home of the
Ottawa Rough Riders of the
Canadian Football League from
1908 to
1996, when the team went defunct, and has been the home of the
Ottawa Renegades from
2002 until 2005, and the operations were suspended for 2006.
The stadium, which was originally completed in
1908, as part of the Ottawa Exposition Grounds, seats 30,927 for football, consisting of a single-decked grandstand on one side of the field and a double-decked grandstand on the opposite side. The north side stands are located above the
Ottawa Civic Centre. There is a rivalry during Renegades games between the two grandstands dubbed the "Northside" and the "Southside". "Northside sucks!" and "Southside sucks!" chants break out during football games regularly. The "Northside" has always been known as the more sophisticated side, while the "Southside" is a much rowdier side.
The stadium was renamed in
1993 to honour
Frank Clair, coach and general manager for the Ottawa Rough Riders during the
1960s and
1970s.
The stadium is also home to
University of Ottawa's
Ottawa Gee Gees, and prior to the disbanding of the
Ravens football programme at
Carleton University in
1998, was the site of the
Panda Bowl, when these rivals played each other with rowdy fans hurling insults across both sides of the stadium. At the final Panda Bowl game in
1997, the year following the departure of the Riders from Ottawa, the game (forfeited) was marred by an accident when drunken students fell from a grandstand.
In the late 1990's, the stadium was threatened with demolition when then-mayor
Jim Watson led a drive by the municipal government to allow a private developer to reconfigure Lansdowne Park. The proposals submitted all called for residences to be built on the site of the football stadium. Massive public opposition and the realization that the end of the stadium would mean the end of hopes to return CFL football to the capital led the regional government to step in and end the scheme.
Frank Clair Stadium has played host to five
Grey Cup games, the first occasion being in 1925 when Ottawa won its first Grey Cup title. It later held Grey Cup games in
1939,
1967, and
1988, before playing host to the
92nd Grey Cup in 2004, in which the
Toronto Argonauts defeated the
B.C. Lions to become the 2004 CFL Champions.
The stadium has also hosted concerts including
The Rolling Stones,
David Bowie,
George Thorogood and
Supertramp. During the winter months, a private company rents the field and places an inflated dome over the field area, renting the covered/heated surface for use by amateur sports teams.
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Lansdowne Park Historical Dates
