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1 History

The stadium was built in 1999 on the site of the old National Stadium, at Cardiff Arms Park. It was initially built for the 1999 Rugby Union World Cup, which Wales hosted. It hosted many of the matches, including the final.

The construction cost the WRU £126 million, which was considered remarkably low for a state-of-the-art stadium. This was funded by private investment, public funds from the UK National Lottery, the sale of debentures to supporters (which offered guaranteed tickets in exchange for an interest-free loan), and loanA loan is a type of debt. Like all debt instruments, a loan entails the redistribution of financial assets over time, between the lender and the borrower . The borrower initially receives an amount of money from the lender, which they pay back, usually bus. The development left the WRU heavily in debtDebt is that which is owed. A person who owes debt is called a debtor . People or organisations often enter into agreements to borrow something. Both parties must agree on some standard of deferred payment, most usually a sum of money denominated as units.

It was first used for a major event on the 26 June 1999, when WalesThe Welsh national rugby team represent Wales at the nation's national sport of rugby union, being the highest level of Welsh rugby. They are sometimes known as The Dragons (not to be confused with the Newport Gwent Dragons, a regional Welsh rugby team). played South AfricaThe Springboks or Bokke are the South African national rugby team. Until the 1990s, they had a positive win record against every nation they played, with New Zealand's All Blacks being their greatest rivals. Due to the governments policy of apartheid, and in a friendlyFriendly is the name of: Several places in the United States of America: Friendly, Maryland Friendly, West Virginia An Australian electronic musical group: Friendly (band). rugby match. Wales won the match 29-19: the first time they had ever beaten the Springboks.

2 Features

The all-seater stadium has capacity for 73,500 supporters and features a retractable roof (the second stadium in EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se to have such a feature, and the biggest in the world) to protect the playing surface from the elements.

They say it has a sliding roof that they can slide all day

we'll slide it back when Wales attack so God can watch us play

Max BoyceMax Boyce is a Welsh comedian and singer, who came to national fame during the mid- 1970s as a result of the phenomenal success of the Welsh rugby football team of that period. Max had competed, unsuccessfully, on the television talent show, Opportunity K

The stadium was slightly restricted in size due to its proximity to Cardiff Rugby Club 's (and now Cardiff Blues') home, Cardiff Arms Park. Efforts were made by the WRU to persuade the rugby club to move to a new stadium, but these were unsuccessful; the stadium had to be completed with a break in its bowl structure (now known colloquially as "Glanmor's Gap", after Glanmor Griffiths , then chairman of the WRU). If an agreement can be reached in the future, it is likely that the stadium will be expanded.

In each of the stadium's bars, so-called "joy machines" can pour 12 pints in less than 20 seconds. (As an illustration of their efficiency, in a Wales-France match, 63,000 fans drank 77,184 pints of beer, almost double the 44,000 pints drunk by a similar number of fans at a game at Twickenham.)

The superstructure of the stadium is based around four 93 m masts, making it the tallest building in Wales.