Morson Stadium
Swinton (Sale), Greater Manchester, England
Morson Stadium, Swinton (Sale), England — opened 1905, 143 rugby league games hosted, home of Swinton Lions (rugby league, since 2016) and Sale F.C. (rugby union, since 1905).
Sourcing caveat: Morson Stadium/Heywood Road is Swinton's third and current home ground, sequential to (not the same venue as) the already-written-up Station Road (1929-1992) and Chorley Road (1886-1929) — confirm this matches the parallel write-ups for those two grounds. The exact date the 'Morson Stadium' sponsored name was adopted was not confirmed by any source checked.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1905 (1905 is the ground's opening as Sale F.C.'s rugby union home (as Heywood Road); Swinton Lions (rugby league) only began playing there from the 2016 season, over a century later, as tenants.) |
| Home club | Swinton Lions (rugby league, since 2016) and Sale F.C. (rugby union, since 1905) |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 143 |
| Top recorded crowd | 2,785 |
| Capacity | 3,387 (reduced from an original 5,678 in September 2016 on Trafford Council safety advice) |
| Years used | 2016–2026 |
| Location | Swinton (Sale), Greater Manchester |
Name history
- Heywood Road — 1905–present (base name, still used generically)
- Morson Stadium — current sponsored name
Rugby league history
Morson Stadium is the current sponsored name of Heywood Road in Sale, Greater Manchester — long the home of Sale F.C. rugby union (and, until their 2003 move to Edgeley Park, the professional Sale Sharks) — which Swinton Lions rugby league club adopted as their home ground from the 2016 season. Swinton's rugby league history before that had run through two earlier, much longer-serving grounds of their own: Chorley Road, Swinton (1886–1929), and then Station Road, Swinton (1929–1992, where the opening match in 1929 reportedly drew a 22,000 crowd against Wigan). After Station Road's closure in 1992 the club went through a series of temporary/groundshare homes — including Gigg Lane, Moor Lane, Park Lane and Leigh Sports Village — before settling at Heywood Road/Morson Stadium in 2016, which they continue to share with Sale F.C. as tenants rather than owners.
Heywood Road/Morson Stadium is primarily and historically a rugby union ground (Sale F.C., and formerly Sale Sharks); Swinton Lions rugby league is a later co-tenant since 2016.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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