Hillsborough Stadium
Sheffield (Owlerton), South Yorkshire, England
Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield (Owlerton), England — opened 2 September 1899, 2 rugby league games hosted, home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. (football); no rugby league club was ever a tenant — two one-off fixtures during a single displaced season.
Sourcing caveat: Both matches' scores and attendances rest on Rugby League Project alone; we could not independently cross-verify them against a second primary source. Rugby League Project's own records page separately cites a "6 games, average 6,921" figure for Sheffield's 1989-90 season, which almost certainly reflects the club's whole nomadic season across all seven venues rather than Hillsborough specifically — noted here to avoid the ambiguity being read as contradicting our directory's 2-game record for this venue.
Ground facts
| Opened | 2 September 1899 (Originally named Owlerton Stadium until 1914, when it was renamed Hillsborough alongside ground improvements. This is a distinct venue from Sheffield's separate, still-operating greyhound-racing "Owlerton Stadium" (built 1929) — the two share a historic name and neighbourhood but are different grounds.) |
| Home club | Sheffield Wednesday F.C. (football); no rugby league club was ever a tenant — two one-off fixtures during a single displaced season |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 2 |
| Top recorded crowd | 7,642 |
| Capacity | 39,732 today (temporarily reduced in recent years) — a period-specific 1989 figure was not found |
| Test matches hosted | 1 |
| First rugby league match | 3 September 1989 — Sheffield Eagles 20-36 St Helens, 1989-90 season (attendance 6,200) |
| Years used | 1989 |
| Location | Sheffield (Owlerton), South Yorkshire |
Name history
- Owlerton Stadium — 1899–1914
- Hillsborough Stadium — since 1914, the name in use for the matches described here
Rugby league history
Sheffield Eagles' actual regular home from 1984 was a separate venue, the greyhound-racing Owlerton Stadium — not Hillsborough. Following the 15 April 1989 Hillsborough disaster, which occurred at this very football ground, the interim Taylor Report led Sheffield City Council to withhold the safety certificate needed for rugby league use of Owlerton, forcing the Eagles into a nomadic 1989-90 season playing home games at seven different venues — including, in a genuinely striking piece of context, Hillsborough itself, the disaster-affected stadium, just months after the tragedy. The club settled at the newly built Don Valley Stadium from late 1990 for the following 23 seasons.
The long-standing home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. (football).
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 5 November 1989 — Sheffield Eagles 10-22 Wigan, 1989-90 season (attendance 7,642, our recorded top crowd)
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.
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