Tynecastle Stadium
Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland — opened 10 April 1886, 4 rugby league games hosted, home of Heart of Midlothian F.C. (football); no rugby league club has ever been a tenant — four one-off hired/neutral fixtures across 89 years.
Sourcing caveat: The 1999 and 2000 matches rest on Rugby League Project alone; we could not independently corroborate their exact scores and attendances against a second source. Capacity and playing-surface details are current-day figures and were not confirmed for any of the four historical matches.
Ground facts
| Opened | 10 April 1886 (Opened as Tynecastle Park when Heart of Midlothian F.C. played a friendly against Bolton Wanderers; rebranded Tynecastle Stadium for a period of roughly 1996-2017 before reverting to Tynecastle Park.) |
| Home club | Heart of Midlothian F.C. (football); no rugby league club has ever been a tenant — four one-off hired/neutral fixtures across 89 years |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 4 |
| Top recorded crowd | 8,000 |
| Capacity | 19,852 today (a period-specific historical figure was not found) |
| Test matches hosted | 4 |
| Floodlights installed | installed 1957 — so the 1911 match was necessarily a daytime fixture |
| First rugby league match | 16 December 1911 — Northern Union (Great Britain) 11-11 Australia, drawn Test, 1911-12 Kangaroo tour (attendance 8,000, our recorded top crowd) |
| Years used | 1911–2000 |
| Location | Edinburgh, Edinburgh |
Name history
- Tynecastle Park — 1886–circa 1996, and again since 2017
- Tynecastle Stadium — circa 1996–2017, the name in use for all four rugby league matches described here
Rugby league history
Tynecastle's rugby league history spans an early-20th-century touring Test (the 1911 Kangaroo tour, ending in a rare drawn international), a Super League "On the Road" experimental fixture in 1998 designed to test expansion venues during a scheduling gap, another relocated Super League game in 1999, and a full Scotland international at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup — a genuinely varied 89-year history for a ground with no permanent rugby league tenant of its own.
The long-standing home of Heart of Midlothian F.C. (football).
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 16 December 1911 — Northern Union 11-11 Australia (8,000)
- 18 July 1998 — Bradford Bulls 8-22 London Broncos, Super League 1998 "On the Road" (6,863) — independently corroborated by Total Rugby League and Hull FC's own club site, both agreeing exactly
- 1 August 1999 — Gateshead Thunder 20-16 Wigan Warriors, Super League 1999 (4,978)
- 5 November 2000 — Scotland 12-20 Samoa, 2000 Rugby League World Cup (1,579)
Pre-dates the site's structured match-by-match records for these competitions, so listed here as sourced facts rather than linked match pages.
Notable games played here
| Date | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Group D, 5 Nov 2000 | 2000 Rugby League World Cup | Scotland 12-20 Samoa |
Only matches we have full, sourced records for are listed here — other historic games mentioned above may not have a dedicated match page built yet (World Cup coverage in particular is still expanding tournament by tournament).
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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