Hazelwood (rugby ground)
| The home of London Irish | |
|
The first team pitch at Hazelwood | |
| Location | Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey |
|---|---|
| Owner | London Irish |
| Type | Sports facility |
| Surface |
Grass Rhino-Turf VT60 (one pitch) |
| Construction | |
| Built | 2013 |
| Opened | 2014 |
| Construction cost | £12m |
| Architect | EPR Architects |
| Tenants | |
| London Irish Amateur | |
The Hazelwood Centre is a rugby union ground and sports facility in Sunbury-on-Thames in the English county of Surrey. The facility serves as the home of London Irish with the clubs' admininstrative offices being based here, the professional side using the facility for training, Aviva A League matches and pre-season friendlies and the amateur sides playing all home games here.
As a replacement to the clubs' outdated and undersized facility at The Avenue, the large 63 acre site was created from a nine hole golf course and features 4 full sized grass pitches, one full size synthetic (4G) pitch and twelve junior pitches in addition to a clubhouse. The northen end of the clubhouse contains changing facilities for the amateur clubs plus a function room and conference room. The southern end of the clubhouse is used by the professional side and features a changing room, gym and administrative facilities. There is also a shop for amateur team merchandise located in the southern end.
The facilities are considered world class and are regularly used by community groups including the GAA. It was also an approved training based for the 2015 Rugby World Cup being used by Wales, Fiji, Argentina and the All Blacks. The New York Jets NFL team also trained here ahead of their NFL International Series game in 2015; a move which was reciprocated when London Irish used the Jets' facilities ahead of their premiership match in the United States in 2016.