Twickenham Stadium, London
Capacity: 82,000
Main Sport: Rugby Union
The Home of Rugby.
Situated in the South West of London, not too far from Heathrow Airport, Twickenham has long been though of the home of English Rugby. Even if sponsorship deals are signed, to fans it will always be known as Twickers or even just HQ. I had previously visited years ago but now that my youngest is rugby mad, we headed there again for the Six Nations. Indeed it was as we walked up to the ground that he asked about the biggest grounds which got me writing these posts!
Getting to and from Twickenham is not always the easiest by public transport unfortunately. There is a mainline station about 10mins away but it is 20/30mins walk to the nearest tube. I know friends who will often park nearby. When we visited we got the mainline in from Egham rather than take on the centre of London. This had various pros and cons when it came to leaving in the evening. The queues were shorter if you were headed out of the city but the trains less frequent.
Twickenham first came to life as a rugby ground in 1907. It replaced cabbage fields so is sometimes today still known as the Cabbage Patch. It has over the years hosted other spotting events such as NFL and some concerts but it’s main use has been for rugby.
Since I had last visited in the early 2000s the ground had been massively developed, fully encasing the pitch. Getting tickets for England matches (especially one as big as France in the 6 nations) can be tough but fortunately as my son now plays the game, we were able to apply through his club. They weren’t cheap but as it was his birthday weekend was worth it as a present. We had great views over the pitch and were well sheltered from the rain that was falling.
Outside the stands but inside the grounds is a fan village where spent time pre match, getting food, drink and merchandise. Mt credit card needed a breather after all that! The game we saw on this visit was amazing, going back and forth before a last minute try saw an England win. Getting out of the ground was fine although as mentioned above, the trains are not great so glad we were in no rush.
