Ulster rugby: Affidea Stadium

Before you travel

Confirmed · Translink: Ulster Rugby buses · Ulster: Match Day Guide · Ulster: Match Day Guide · Checked on 14 October 2026.

Ravenhill’s opening and modern redevelopment

Ravenhill’s first competitive Ulster match was played on 12 January 1924, a 14–6 win over Leinster. The site had been bought in 1923 after a newspaper search for land suitable for a rugby ground. Architects Henry Hobart and Samuel Heron designed a stadium with a grandstand, changing rooms, press facilities, tea room and bar, establishing the foundations of Ulster’s Belfast home. Ulster later held the touring All Blacks to a 3–3 draw here in 1935.

Ireland played England here on 9 February 1924, soon after the ground’s opening. The Memorial Arch was erected in 1926 to commemorate those killed in the First World War. The arch remains a recognisable feature through which supporters pass on their way towards the stands.

The major redevelopment completed in the 2010 s produced three new stands and raised capacity from 11,400 to 18,000. The IRFU’s account also identifies a professional training base with a 7,000-square-foot gym, medical facilities and meeting rooms. Ravenhill therefore functions as Ulster’s working rugby headquarters during the week as well as the place where supporters assemble for home matches.

Affidea became the stadium’s naming partner ahead of the 2025–26 season. The venue continues to host Ulster’s men and women, academy fixtures, schools competitions and community events. Affidea Stadium is the current commercial name, while Ravenhill remains the historic ground name; both refer to the same site on Mount Merrion Avenue, previously sponsored as Kingspan Stadium.

Confirmed · Ulster: 100 years of Ulster Rugby’s home · Irish Rugby: Ulster Agree Stadium Naming Rights Deal With Kingspan · Affidea: Ulster Rugby Partnership · Checked on 14 October 2026.

The Ravenhill Roar and today’s matchday music

Ulster beat Australia 15–13 at Ravenhill in November 1984, against a touring side that defeated all four home nations. Philip Rainey’s late penalty from near the touchline proved decisive. The club’s retrospective recalls wind, rain and mud, and a crowd that remained behind the team through the difficult conditions. That afternoon is a central example of the Ravenhill Roar.

The Wallabies match swung twice before its late finish. An Ian Brown penalty and Rainey drop goal gave Ulster a 6–3 interval lead, but Peter Grigg’s two tries helped Australia move 13–6 ahead. Brown’s next two penalties reduced the deficit to one point. Rainey then took the long-range attempt and Ulster defended their narrow advantage for the closing minutes.

The 2026–27 matchday programme introduced Boom Strutt Brass Band, a player entrance walk and a Cool FM pre-match show. The band moves around the ground, while the stage programme includes interviews, team news, analysis and competitions. A new stage and screen in the Fan Zone and Supporter Village give these activities a fixed gathering point before the teams take the field.

The former Lineout Bar is now The Supporters Bar, hosted by SUFTUM On Tour. Its programme includes music, flag collection and supporter activities. The same season brought phone-based light-show participation, half-time trivia and fan-camera content on the stadium screens, while the established mini-rugby matches remain part of the interval entertainment.

Confirmed · Ulster: Rewind: Ulster’s historic win over Australia 40 years on · Ulster: New Season, New Matchday Experience at Affidea Stadium · Checked on 14 October 2026.

Grand Central buses and the revised park-and-ride

The stadium address is 134 Mount Merrion Avenue, Belfast, BT6 0FT. AccessAble identifies Belfast Central as the nearest mainline station; that station is now named Lanyon Place. The ground is in a residential part of south-east Belfast, with its entrances approached from surrounding streets rather than a large station plaza immediately outside the stadium.

Translink’s rugby specials depart from Belfast Grand Central Station and provide a return journey for the fixtures advertised by the operator. Its separate park-and-ride shuttle locations are Pirrie Park on the Ravenhill Road side and Montgomery Road on the Mount Merrion side. These two shuttle approaches serve different edges of the same stadium and should be matched to the chosen arrival point.

Ulster’s October 2026 instructions moved the Montgomery Road park-and-ride pickup to the junction with Alanbrooke Road. Return passengers for that service queue at Gate F on Mount Merrion Avenue. Pirrie Park remains the alternative on the Ravenhill Road side. This is a specific recent change: older descriptions placing the pickup opposite Podium for Sport no longer identify the revised boarding point.

The club also uses Belfast Metropolitan College’s Castlereagh campus for secure matchday parking. Its published park-and-stride route takes ten minutes to the Mount Merrion Avenue entrance. That gives drivers a defined walking option instead of using the residential streets immediately beside Ravenhill, where Ulster’s match guidance describes parking restrictions and temporary road closures.

Confirmed · Translink: Ulster Rugby buses · Ulster: Match Day Guide · Ulster: Match Day Guide · Reported · AccessAble: Affidea Stadium · Checked on 14 October 2026.

The 9 Counties, food trucks and family activities

A new Diageo partnership brought Guinness, Guinness 0.0 and Rockshore Lager into the stadium’s drinks range for 2026–27. A Rockshore pop-up bar forms part of the expanded provision. Ulster also announced additional food trucks, children’s meal deals and family bundles, giving the Fan Zone a broader role for supporters eating before a match.

The 9 Counties is inside the Nevin Spence Memorial Stand, with its entrance to the right of the Scrum Bar. It combines seated space with local food and drink, club memorabilia and match coverage. Season-ticket holders receive a priority access period, after which other ticket holders can enter while capacity remains. The Food Village, public bars and Castore shop take contactless payment.

The Castore shop is in the Fan Zone. Ulster’s match programme also places post-match player photographs and autograph opportunities at the players’ entrance behind the Grandstand. The AbbeyAutoline Family Stand has hosted half-time mini-ball giveaways with a player, Sparky and Abbey the Bee. These named locations give families several different focal points around the ground.

The Clubhouse Bar hosts live entertainment before and after matches, while the Fan Zone’s large stretch tent covers a social space with bars, tables and seating. Cool FM supplies music in the outdoor area. The ground’s mascot, Sparky, appears around the stadium during the build-up and through the game, alongside the organised family activities.

Our pick (opinion): We would try the 9 Counties for its memorabilia and seated space, using the entrance beside the Scrum Bar when public access opens after the season-ticket priority period.

Confirmed · Ulster: New Season, New Matchday Experience at Affidea Stadium · Ulster: Match Day Guide · Ulster Rugby: What's on Guide · Checked on 14 October 2026.

Premium rooms and the artificial pitch

For the 2024 Schools’ Cup final, RBAI pupils occupied the Nevin Spence Memorial Stand and Ballymena Academy pupils the AbbeyAutoline Family Stand. Other spectators could choose the Grandstand or Promenade on the West Terrace. Hospitality included the A&L Goodbody Premium Lounge, with a cash bar and light food, and private corporate boxes offering catering from The Yellow Door. Schools could order discounted pupil tickets in bulk for those allocated sections.

The Ravenhill Suite was introduced at the top of the Family Stand, with space for up to 35 guests in the club’s centenary description. The Premium Stand began with construction in 2008, before the later phase that replaced three other stands. These different stages explain the mixture of stand names, hospitality levels and internal room layouts around the current ground.

An artificial 3G pitch was installed ahead of the 2023–24 season by Tony Patterson Sportsgrounds. Ulster’s first scheduled home match on the new surface was against the Bulls. The IRFU describes the investment as supporting the professional side’s training and matches alongside wider rugby activity, allowing more use of the central playing area than the previous grass surface.

The rebuilt stadium combines spectator facilities with the squad’s training and medical operation. The three-stand project was backed by funding from the Northern Ireland Executive, and the IRFU announced the Kingspan naming agreement in June 2014 after the works. The present Affidea name sits on this substantially rebuilt stadium, while its location and Ravenhill heritage remain rooted in the 1920 s site.

Confirmed · Ulster: Danske Bank Ulster Schools' Cup Final Ticketing Info · Ulster: 100 years of Ulster Rugby’s home · Irish Rugby: Ulster Aiming To Be Pitch Perfect On New Kingspan Stadium Surface · Irish Rugby: Ulster Agree Stadium Naming Rights Deal With Kingspan · Checked on 14 October 2026.

Lift access, viewing areas and changing facilities

Ulster’s detailed access guide locates wheelchair viewing with companion seats in the Grandstand, Memorial Stand and Family Stand, reached by staffed lifts. Ambulant seats in the Grandstand have armrests and sit at lift level or down a single step. Accessible toilets are placed near the viewing areas, with emergency pull cords connected to the stadium’s event-control operation.

The guide lists two lifts in the Grandstand and one in each of the Family, Memorial and Premium stands. It also identifies a ground-floor Grandstand accessible shower and changing room with a wheeled hoist, wet-room shower, toilet and basin. These are specific facilities within the stadium building, separate from the accessible toilets at upper-level spectator positions.

Assistance dogs are welcomed, with a spending area between the Memorial and Premium stands. The ticket office has automatic doors and a lowered counter, and the guide describes lowered counters at food and bar outlets. Ulster also documents audio-description equipment collected from reception. The older guide uses the Kingspan name, so the current ticket office remains the contact for arranging these facilities.

Confirmed · Ulster: Detailed stadium accessibility guide · Checked on 14 October 2026.

The Errigle Inn on Ormeau Road

The Errigle Inn’s address is 312–320 Ormeau Road, Belfast, BT7 2GE. It has a dedicated rugby section alongside its general sports listings, menus and event programme. The pub is on the Ormeau Road in south Belfast.

The Errigle opened on 13 December 1935 on the site of the earlier Ballynafeigh Inn. Its original date stone was rediscovered during refurbishment in 1998 and returned to display at the front. The pub’s own history links its name with a County Monaghan townland associated with the original owner’s wife, giving the building a local story beyond its sporting screens.

Named rooms at the Errigle include the Pinewood Bar, Oak Lounge and Tom McGurran’s Bar. The Pinewood occupies an area once used as a petrol station, and old photographs show those pumps. The Oak Lounge retains art-deco glass and an Irish oak floor. Tom McGurran’s Bar was created in 1998 in tribute to the pub’s first manager.

The Errigle’s menus include chicken wings served with a choice of its own hot sauce or barbecue sauce and a blue-cheese dip. Food menus and reservations are published directly by the pub, alongside its separate drinks offer. The address on those menus is the Ormeau Road premises, making it straightforward to pair a sit-down pub meal with a Ravenhill match.

Our advice (opinion): Build a longer Belfast evening around the Errigle Inn on Ormeau Road if a separate pub meal appeals; it gives the trip a destination beyond the stadium bars.

Confirmed · Errigle: Contact · Errigle: Our Story · Errigle: Food menus · Checked on 14 October 2026.

European memories, the World Cup and the museum

Which European occasion made Ravenhill famous? Ulster beat Stade Français 33–27 here on 9 January 1999 in a Heineken Cup semi-final. That victory sent the province towards the final it won later that month. The home semi-final belongs to the ground’s own European story, with the eventual trophy-winning match played in Dublin rather than Belfast.

Ravenhill hosted the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup final, when New Zealand beat England 41–32. World Rugby records eleven tries and a sold-out crowd of 17,115 for that event configuration. The final’s attacking rugby and close contest gave the Belfast ground a major international occasion in the women’s game, alongside its established history of Ulster provincial fixtures.

The Nevin Spence Centre opened in August 2015 as an education and heritage centre commemorating the young Ulster player. Its visitor description combines archive objects, footage and interactive displays with the history of rugby in the province. Guided stadium visits have included the pitch area and Memorial Arch; enquiries are directed to the centre rather than a separate city-centre museum.

Who led the team against Australia in 1984? David Irwin captained Ulster from the centre, with Jimmy Davidson as coach. The side included Willie Anderson, Nigel Carr, Philip Matthews, Trevor Ringland and Keith Crossan. Their shared provincial and international experience was a major part of the team that resisted the Wallabies and subsequently dominated a sequence of interprovincial matches.

Explore the venue directory, Thomond Park and Leinster at Laya Arena.

The 2017 final at Ravenhill reached a peak British television audience of 2.65 million on ITV1, which World Rugby identified as a record for the women’s tournament final at that time. The Belfast crowd and broadcast audience watched the Black Ferns regain the title from England.

Confirmed · Ulster Rugby: European semi-final history · World Rugby: Watch LIVE rugby TODAY ... New Zealand v England, RWC 2017 · Ulster: Rewind: Ulster’s historic win over Australia 40 years on · Reported · Virtual Visit Tours: The Nevin Spence Centre & Kingspan Stadium · Checked on 14 October 2026.

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