Travel and the Stadium

How to get to the city   

Air: Edinburgh airport is seven miles out to the west of the city off the A8. Budget airlines including Ryanair and Easyjet fly into the airport alongside the likes of BA.

LRT Airlink buses take around 35 minutes to travel between the airport and Princes Street and the rail station, via Murrayfield and the zoo.

Edinburgh Airport

0131 3331000

www.baa.com

Rail:       The East Coast main line links Edinburgh Waverley with London Kings Cross. Up to 20 trains run daily.

Trains from England draw into the city centre with Princes Street Gardens on the right and the castle to the left.

Edinburgh's other mainline station is at Haymarket in the West End of the city, and is about a mile from Murrayfield.

National Rail Enquiries

08457 484950

Road      Edinburgh sits on the Firth of forth 45 miles east of Glasgow. It is about 100 miles north of Newcastle, and nearly 380 miles from London

From north-west England: Join the A1/A1 (M). The road goes through Berwick-upon-Tweed on its way through to the eastern part of the city. The A1 connects to the A720 ring road from which the A7 will     take you into the city centre.

From the south and north-east of England: Leave the M1 at J18 to join the M6. At J42 of the M6, take the A74 followed by the A74 (M). You then have two options; either take the scenic route along the A702 or continue towards Glasgow and then take the M8 for a motorway connection to Edinburgh.

Car Parking: Access to the stadium car park, that costs £10, is from Baird Drive accessible from the A8 and the A71.

The car park opens four hours before the match on a first-come, first-served basis. It usually shuts an hour and a half after the final whistle.

By Bus   Edinburgh's bus station is in the New Town off St. Andrew's Square.

Prince's Street is lined with bus stops. Stand on the south side and look for bus numbers 12, 22, 26 or 31, marked for the West End. Get off at the Murrayfield stop

How to reach the Stadium: Murrayfield sits to the west of the city with the best access by foot from Roseburn Street.

 Edinburgh Airport is located to the west of the city and if you are going from the airport straight to the ground it is best to get a taxi, although drop-off is likely to be a few minutes’ walk from the stadium due to                the traffic.

Both Waverley and Haymarket railway stations are within walking distance to Murrayfield. Haymarket is the closer and for fans who are just going to Edinburgh for the day, it can be easier to get off there as it is a five minute walk to the stadium down Haymarket Terrace and West Coates.

Murrayfield is a 20-minute walk from Waverley and on match-day, a walk down Princes Street is the best way to get to the ground. Just follow the tartan tide.

For those who don't like walking, a taxi costs around £10 from the station although the crowds will stop you getting dropped off right outside the ground.

There are at least five bus services from Princes Mall opposite Waverley Station that can drop you off near the ground. Take either Nos. 12, 26, 31, 16 or the 900 to go to Murrayfield and it is a short walk to the ground from the bus stop.

Probably the quickest way to go, however, is by rickshaw. It costs about £15 for three people from the city centre and it is also a good way of soaking up the atmosphere.

City Cabs: 0131 228 1211

Radiocabs: 0131 225 9000

Central Radio Taxis : 0131 229 2468

Officially you are not allowed to bring cans, bottles, flasks , or any video or camera equipment into the ground but despite these rules there always seem to be thousands of flashes going off prior to the match.

There is no countdown time on the scoreboard so make sure you remember what time the match kicked-off on the scoreboard clock

The Clock Tower behind the East Stand and the War Memorial on the corner behind the East and South Stands are good meeting points for those who have been split up.

The Stadium: A Brief History

Murrayfield, named after the area of Edinburgh where it is located, is now only slightly smaller in capacity than it was when it was built as a ground with seating only in the West Stand. Murrayfield once rang to the sound of 104,000 people, its record crowd for a match when Scotland beat Wales 12-10 in March 1975. It was a world record at the time, but hundreds of ticket holders were unable to get in, and the decision was taken to make all future internationals all-ticket matches , and with a much-reduced capacity of 70,000.

Over a three-year period in the Nineties the stadium was redeveloped into an all-seater stadium by redeveloping three sides of the ground in addition to the East Stand built in the decade before, plus floodlights for the first time. It has since been reduced from 67,500 to 67,130 to incorporate the largest permanent big screen in Scotland, but remains the country’s largest stadium ahead of Glasgow’s three great football arenas.

In March, 1925, it hosted its first rugby international, and what a game…Scotland beat England 14-11 to seal a first Grand Slam. During the Second World War the ground was used as a supply depot, but subsequently it has seen the epic climaxes to Scotland’s only other Championship clean sweeps, in 1984 and 1990.

Murrayfield has seen 13 Rugby World Cup matches across tournaments in 1991, 1999 and 2007. Arguably, it’s most important match was the 1991 RWC semi-final. The stadium has hosted two Heineken Cup Finals, in 2005 and 2009, and has been Hearts’ temporary home for European matches and a friendly against Barcelona which attracted 58,000- the biggest crowd seen at a football match at Murrayfield.

The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final was staged in 2000 and 2002, with American Football regularly played on the hallowed turf in the days of the NFL’s European League. Legendary commentator Bill McLaren was honoured by the Murrayfield Press Gallery being named after him, while one of the oddities of the ground is the 100 metres running track alongside the West Stand. No proper athletics meeting can be staged though, as there is no continuation around the pitch               

The Stadium

There are two tiers of seating on all four sides of the stadium,with the West and East Stands running the length of the pitch , and the South and North Stands behind the posts.

At Edinburgh games only the lower tier of the East Stand tends to be open-due to a crowd lucky to be numbering 4,000

Stadium Tours   Mon - Fri (weekends and public holidays by arrangement, minimum 10 people)

                Adults: £6; Concessions £3.50

                (44) 131 346 5160

                stadiumtours@sru.org.uk

Disabled Facilities

Facilities include:

-Lift and ramped access to all disabled seating areas

-Conveniently placed separate adapted toilets

-124 dedicated disabled seats

-disabled parking

-lift access and hearing loops in hospitality suites and office reception

http://www.scottishrugby.org/murrayfield-stadium/disabled-access

Last Updated April 2014

Copyright Miles & Miles Publishing 2014