Welsh White City Stadium
Cardiff, Cardiff, Wales
Welsh White City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales — opened Easter Saturday 1928 (opening-day attendance was a disappointing 9,000 due to rain; 25,000 attended the following Easter Monday), 1 rugby league games hosted, home of Operated by the Greyhound Racing Association as a greyhound-racing stadium (its primary function); also hosted Cardiff White City motorcycle speedway in 1928-1930 and 1935-1936. It was not a permanent rugby league club home; no Cardiff professional rugby league club existed until 1951, by which time the stadium had already closed and been sold to a steelworks in 1937..
Sourcing caveat: Rugby League Project appears to split this one physical ground across two venue pages (Welsh White City Stadium and Sloper Road), each recording different matches; this was caught via direct re-verification after an initial research pass checked only the Sloper Road page and found no match matching this venue's recorded attendance (3,000). This entry reports the match recorded under the Welsh White City Stadium name specifically.
Ground facts
| Opened | Easter Saturday 1928 (opening-day attendance was a disappointing 9,000 due to rain; 25,000 attended the following Easter Monday) |
| Home club | Operated by the Greyhound Racing Association as a greyhound-racing stadium (its primary function); also hosted Cardiff White City motorcycle speedway in 1928-1930 and 1935-1936. It was not a permanent rugby league club home; no Cardiff professional rugby league club existed until 1951, by which time the stadium had already closed and been sold to a steelworks in 1937. |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1 |
| Top recorded crowd | 3,000 |
| Capacity | Reported as able to hold over 40,000 spectators on its terracing |
| Floodlights installed | Not confirmed in sources checked |
| Surface | A greyhound racing track (with a dirt speedway track added in 1928); rugby matches were played on the grass infield within the track |
| Years used | 1929 |
| Location | Cardiff, Cardiff |
Name history
- Sloper Road Stadium (Sloper Road) — official/street name, 1928-1937; also the name of a separate Rugby League Project venue page recording two other matches at what is very likely the same physical ground
- Welsh White City Stadium (White City Stadium) — 1928-1937, the common/promotional name, echoing the White City area of London, and the name used on the Rugby League Project venue page for the match recorded here
Rugby league history
Rugby League Project's venue page for 'Welsh White City Stadium' records one match: on 11 December 1929, Glamorgan/Monmouth lost 9-39 to the touring Australian Kangaroos in front of 3,000 fans, part of the 1929-30 Kangaroos Tour. A separate Rugby League Project venue page for 'Sloper Road' -- almost certainly the same physical stadium, since Sloper Road was this venue's official street address and White City its promotional name -- records two further matches there: Wales 15-39 England on 14 November 1928 (attendance 15,000) and Glamorgan/Monmouth 17-22 Yorkshire on 15 April 1929 (attendance 10,000). This entry covers only the match recorded under the Welsh White City Stadium venue name, but the wider ground hosted at least three top-level rugby league fixtures across 1928-1929, reflecting a brief, concentrated period when rugby league attempted to establish a foothold in Wales using a large multi-sport stadium rather than a dedicated rugby ground.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
← Rugby League · Champions list · All-time records · Grand Final results · World Cup · All competitions · Teams · Players