Glamorgan Cricket
Glamorgan have played at Sophia Gardens (now the SWALEC Stadium) since 1967 having previously staged games in the Welsh capital at Cardiff Arms Park. The development of the Welsh National Stadium – now the Millennium Stadium – led to the transfer of the cricket ground into the recreation ground, north of Sophia Gardens at the end of the 1966 season.
The Arms Park had been the first ground used by Glamorgan when they played their inaugural fixture in 1889, and their first-ever County Championship fixture in 1921. The final county cricket match was staged at the Arms Park in 1966, and the cricket ground is now occupied by the rugby ground currently used by the Cardiff Blues.
Many famous games have been staged at the SWALEC Stadium, including the match in 1969 when Glamorgan defeated Worcestershire to win the county title. In recent years, the Cardiff ground has also hosted One-day Internationals, and it was the base used by Australia when they won the World Cup in 1999.
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The Area
The adjacent Sophia Gardens takes its name from Sophia, the wife of the second Marquess of Bute, whose family owned the land on which the recreation grounds were laid out in the mid-19th century. From the 1860s onwards, the Marquess encouraged healthy recreation on their land, and when they handed their property over to Cardiff Corporation after the Second World War, they insisted that the land should continue to be preserved for sporting pursuits.
