Sport Wales - 22/05/2009

Sport Wales reflects on the life and times of Ninian Park stadium - the characters, the highs and lows, the big events, the terrace legends, cult heroes, gaffers, goal scorers, various owners and charismatic chairmen. We look into the stadium archives and enjoy the promotions, relegations, FA Cup giant killings and the memorable goals, including Scott Young's winner versus Leeds and Nathan Blake's special against Manchester City. A ground that stood still while the city surrounding it changed unrecognisably from decade to decade and one of the only stadiums still standing in top flight football that still looks, smells and feels like a real working class football stadium. The story of a stadium that welcomed Bobby Moore's World Cup winning England in 1967, saw Cardiff famously defeat Euro giants Real Madrid in 71, and hosted numerous Wales international matches, but also became a venue for a variety of other events such as International Rugby League, World Title boxing (most memorably Howard Winstone in 1967), American Football, Rugby Union, as well as a theatre that held audience with the Pope in 1982. Even Reggae legend Bob Marley played there in 1976. With anecdotes and archive imagery from all the Bob Bank favourites, we cast our eyes over 99 years of magical sporting, musical and religious experiences.