Meadowbank Stadium

To hold the 1970 Commonwealth games, Edinburgh's sporting facilities had to be updated. An athletics stadium would be built as the centre piece of the games. This stadium was to find its home at Meadowbank. Additionally, a swim centre would be built in the shadow of Arthur's seat, plans which came to fruition as our iconic 'Commie' pool. (Now an A-listed building, The Royal Commonwealth Pool will host the diving competition for Glasgow's 2014 Commonwealth Games.)

There was an existing sports centre at Meadowbank which had been home to Leith Athletic Football Club and hosted motorcycle speedway events. This structure was completely rebuilt in the run up to the 1970 games. At a cost of 2.8 million pounds the new modern stadium had a 400m running track, a covered 100m sprint track, a velodrome, field hockey pitches, squash and basketball courts, sports halls and an indoor climbing wall. There was room for 16,000 spectators including a 7,500 seat Grandstand. The stadium was fitted with a newly developed video photo finish system for Athletics meets. The centre was opened on May 2nd 1970 by the Duke of Kent, just in time for its debut on the world athletics stage.

The games for which the stadium was built are considered the most successful in the history of the Commonwealth games. They were held from the 16th to the 25th of July 1970. 1,744 athletes from 42 nations competed in the events which included athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, swimming and fencing to name but a few. Scots won 25 medals at their home games including six gold and eight silver. It became known as a game of firsts. It was the first games to use the metric system to measure distances and it was the first time photo finish technology had been used in an international sporting competition. It was also the first time in the games' nine year history that Queen Elizabeth II attended as head of the commonwealth.

The stadium's next brush with the Commonwealth games was not so successful. In 1986 the games returned to Edinburgh. However many countries refused to compete as a protest against apartheid laws in South Africa. As a result the number of teams competing was greatly diminished and the games operated at a financial loss.

Since its commonwealth beginnings the stadium has stayed a focal point for sport and leisure in the city. Several football teams have called it home, most notably Meadowbank Thistle who moved to Livingston in 1995. It has moonlighted as an outdoor concert venue during the Edinburgh festival playing host to huge international acts such as Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters and My Chemical Romance amongst others. The stadium has served as an important community centre for the surrounding area. The sports centre comprised a gym, fitness studio, outdoor pitches and sports halls which were used for public events and election counts.

There had long been talk of redeveloping the site and replacing the original facilities with smaller ones in other parts of the city. In 2007, a 6000 name petition against the plans was submitted to the council and 600 people marched on the City Chambers in protest leading to the plans being scrapped. A new public consultation process began 2013 and on 3 December 2017 the venue closed for demolition work to begin in preparation for a new state-of-the-art community facility to be built in its place. The replacement £47m Meadowbank community sports facility opened on the same site in July 2022.