Iconic Utah Rugby Stadium Torn Down

Stadium in the background.

I'm about to get a little more into my background than I like to get into on the site but I thought this piece of news was worth sharing. Some of you may know that I grew up in Utah. One of the staples of the rugby community in Utah was the rugby field and stadium at Murray City Park. For those of you not from Utah you may recognize it as the venue for the 2013 Junior World Rugby Trophy and several Eagles matches. Well, the stadium is no more. Salt Lake County, which owns the ground the grandstand is on, elected to tear down the stadium in order to create more parking (something the area needs). It wasn't the nicest stadium in the country but it was one of the few rugby-centric stadiums. There will still be temporary seating and restrooms so it may be used again for events but likely not large events.

The stadium will certainly be missed as one of the go-to places for rugby in Utah, but in many ways the state has outgrown the stadium. Youth rugby is far too large to have one prime field. Most of the big events involving the top college teams or the national teams can be held at South Field in Provo or at Rio Tinto Stadium. A new multi-purpose stadium that will seat around 2,000 and be used primarily for soccer but also rugby and lacrosse is being built north of the city. It probably won't have the same charm but it will fill the small stadium void nicely.