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Cardiff Arms Park is a stadium complex situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is the spiritual and physical home of Welsh rugby union, and is the site of the modern day Millennium Stadium.

The site of the park was a meadow behind the Cardiff Arms Hotel and was owned by the Marquess of Bute. The Marquess of Bute stipulated that the ground was to be used for recreational purposes only.

The land was sold in 1922 to Cardiff Athletic Club and the Welsh Rugby Union.

In 1941, the stadium was hit in a blitz by the Luftwaffe

There are two stadia on the site, both with approximately east-west alignment; Cardiff Rugby Club (Cardiff Athletic) at the north (Castle Street) end, and the National Stadium at the south (Wood Street) end. The old National Stadium was demolished in 1997 and a new stadium, the Millennium Stadium, was built in its place (completed to a north-south alignment in 1999). The Rugby Club still uses the name Cardiff Arms Park for its own ground, physically attached to the rear of Millennium Stadium's North Stand.

More than 240 first-class cricket matches were played at Cardiff Arms Park. ^[1] West of England v East of England was the first, in June 1910, but when Glamorgan were elevated to first-class status in 1921 they played their first match at the ground, and indeed competed there every season (except while first-class cricket was suspended during the Second World War) for forty-five years, their last match being against Somerset in August 1966. Glamorgan then moved to a new ground Sophia Gardens upstream from and on the opposite bank to the Arms Park. ^[2]

Only one List A game was ever played at the ground, and this was only the second match of its type: Glamorgan's Gillette Cup fixture against Somerset on 22 May 1963. Except for the aforementioned 1910 game, the only major match not to involve Glamorgan was a Test Trial in July 1932, which was badly affected by the weather and saw play on only one of the scheduled three days.

1. ^ First-Class Matches played on Cardiff Arms Park. CricketArchive. Retrieved on January 7, 2007.
2. ^ Hignell, A. K. (2003). Brief history of Cardiff Arms Park. CricketArchive. Retrieved on January 7, 2007.

Preceded by none

Heineken Cup Final Venue 1995-96 1996-97

Succeeded by Stade Lescure Bordeaux