Newport RFC: Time for a Proper Home at Newport Stadium
For over 150 years, Newport RFC has been one of Welsh rugby’s great names, a club that gave the world legends, produced internationals in abundance, and achieved a famous victory over the All Blacks in 1963 that still echoes down the generations. Having been effectively removed from Rodney Parade with a take it or leave deal from the WRU and given the commitment of two home games at RP per year , the club moved successfully to Newport Stadium, sharing the ground with Newport City FC, Cardiff Ladies AFC and Newport Harriers Athletics. Newport County were also training on the ground and using facilities such as Bar Amber. But now Newport County and Cardiff Ladies have left for pastures new creating a huge opportunity for Newport Live, the stadium owners, and the Black and Ambers.
The question many supporters are asking is simple: is it time for Newport RFC to make Newport Stadium its proper home?
⸻
A Club in the Shadows
Rodney Parade is steeped in history, but it is no longer the club’s ground in practice. Waiting for scraps from the table such as the redevelopment of the ground and a potential return is rather pointless as the club will not have any primacy there. For many supporters the club has moved on – it was treated badly during most of the regional rugby period and during the WRU takeover. It needs to have a home of its own rather than be dictated to by complex fixture scheduling for the County and Dragons. Therefore, there should be no going back.
Newport RFC deserves more than borrowed time and borrowed space.
⸻
The Case for Newport Stadium
Newport Stadium, located at Spytty Park, offers the foundations for a genuine new chapter:
• Right-sized for Premiership rugby: With its current capacity it is far better suited to the crowds Newport RFC regularly attract. A well attended Newport Stadium generates more atmosphere than a sparsely populated Rodney Parade. It offers ample free car parking and a new hourly bus service to the city centre.
• Room to grow: Unlike landlocked Rodney Parade, Spytty Park has space for phased development—a chance to add improved hospitality using existing buildings, the playing surface and even utilise the training facilities. The club could create a ground with its own character within the Sports Village and realise its future potential.
• Identity and independence: At Newport Stadium, Newport RFC is not a tenant squeezed between the Dragons and Newport County. Newport Live needs to urgently show some business acumen and grasp the opportunity by securing a long lease for Newport RFC. The club would then be the anchor tenant during the winter, around which the stadium’s rugby identity is built. This would strengthen community links and restore the sense that Black & Amber rugby has a home of its own. Put Newport’s badge on the stadium, look at developing a heritage or museum building there and utilise an area or building as a social setting for fans.
• Shared sporting hub: Already hosting athletics and community sport, Newport Stadium has the potential to become a proper multi-use hub. With careful investment, it could combine grassroots accessibility with a strong Black & Amber identity, anchoring Newport RFC as a civic club rooted in the city developing other opportunities to play rugby there e.g. a women’s team or weekend community rugby for children.
⸻
More Than Sentiment
This is not just nostalgia for lost glory. Creating a proper home at Newport Stadium could deliver:
• Better matchday experience: A ground scaled to Newport RFC’s support would feel alive on Saturday afternoons, reconnecting fans to the joy of club rugby.
• Commercial potential: Naming rights, hospitality, and matchday income would accrue to Newport RFC rather than being swallowed up in Rodney Parade’s larger ecosystem.
• Community pride: A Black & Amber ground would give Newport schools, clubs, and families a visible focal point for rugby in the city.
⸻
A Question of Vision
The move would not be without challenges. Investment is needed to upgrade facilities, seating, and hospitality. Partnerships with Newport Live and the City Council would be essential. But compared to any future compromises at Rodney Parade, the prize is significant: independence, atmosphere, and a genuine sense of home.
Newport RFC is a heritage institution in Welsh rugby with a future still to play. Newport Stadium may be the place where that future can finally be written on its own terms.
It is time for the Black & Ambers to step out of the shadows and claim a ground that feels truly theirs.
