Belle Vue Stadium
Manchester, Greater Manchester, England
Belle Vue Stadium, Manchester, England — opened 1926, 344 rugby league games hosted, home of Broughton Rangers / Belle Vue Rangers (1933–1941, 1945–1955).
Sourcing caveat: Capacity and floodlighting details specific to the rugby league era (1933–55) were not found in sources checked — general stadium descriptions found relate to the venue's later greyhound/ speedway configuration, which was substantially rebuilt over the decades, so figures from that era are not included here to avoid misattributing them to the rugby league period.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1926 (1926 is the opening date of the Belle Vue Stadium complex itself, built as a greyhound-racing venue; rugby league only arrived on site in 1933 when Broughton Rangers moved in.) |
| Home club | Broughton Rangers / Belle Vue Rangers (1933–1941, 1945–1955) |
| Closed | 2020 (last greyhound race, 6 June 2020) |
| Demolished | 2021 (demolition began May 2021) |
| Site today | Housing development (flats and family homes, including the "Belle Vue Place" scheme) on the former Gorton site. |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 344 |
| Top recorded crowd | 34,000 |
| Test matches hosted | 1 |
| First rugby league match | Broughton Rangers moved to Belle Vue Stadium, playing inside the greyhound/speedway track, in 1933 (exact opening fixture not identified in sources found) |
| Years used | 1933–1955 |
| Location | Manchester, Greater Manchester |
Name history
- Belle Vue Stadium — July 1926–demolition (2021); still the site's only name
Rugby league history
Broughton Rangers, one of rugby league's founding-era Lancashire clubs, left their long-time home The Cliff in Salford in 1933 and relocated across the city to Belle Vue Stadium in Gorton, playing their fixtures on a rugby pitch laid out inside the venue's greyhound/speedway oval. Only weeks after the move, the ground hosted a full England v Australia Ashes Test on 7 October 1933 in front of a reported 34,000 crowd — a remarkable attendance for a club ground new to the sport. After the Second World War the tenants were renamed Belle Vue Rangers, playing on until the club folded in 1955, after which the site reverted fully to greyhound racing and, intermittently, speedway and stock car racing.
Belle Vue Stadium's primary and far longer-running identity was as a greyhound racing track (1926–2020, hosting the English Greyhound Derby and other showpiece races) with motorcycle speedway also staged there across various periods (from 1928, and again 1988–2015); rugby league was a secondary, two-decade tenancy fitted inside the existing oval track.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 7 Oct 1933 — England v Australia (Ashes Test), attendance 34,000 (score not identified in sources found)
Pre-dates the site's structured match-by-match records for these competitions, so listed here as sourced facts rather than linked match pages.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
← Rugby League · Champions list · All-time records · Grand Final results · World Cup · All competitions · Teams · Players