Wembley Stadium (1923): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:32, 2 February 2007

Revision as of 09:36, 2 February 2007

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The [[National Football League]] held several preseason [[American football]] games at Wembley during the 1980s and 1990s, and the [[London Monarchs]] of the [[NFL Europe|World League of American Football]] played at the venue in 1991 and 1992. Wembley hosted the inaugural [[World Bowl]] where the Monarchs defeated the [[Barcelona Dragons]] 21-0. Additionally, the league has opened discussions with [[Wembley National Stadium Limited]] over staging games in the new stadium. Former NFL Commissioner [[Paul Tagliabue]] met with Wembley staff during a 2004 visit to London to discuss the possibility of bringing NFL games back to the stadium. A 2007 regular season [[National Football League]] game between the [[Miami Dolphins]] and [[New York Giants]] will be played at Wembley Stadium. The date is currently unknown. This will be the second NFL regular season game ever played outside the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/487923p-410855c.html |title=Fish game likely in London |last=Vacchiano |first=Ralph |publisher=''[[New York Daily News]]'' |date=[[January 12]], [[2007]]}}</ref> The first was in Mexico City, Mexico between the [[San Francisco 49ers]] and [[Arizona Cardinals]].

As well as special events, Wembley was also a venue for regular sporting fixtures, notably in [[greyhound racing]] and [[motorcycle speedway]]. Between 1936 and 1960 it hosted all of the first fifteen stagings of the [[Speedway World Championship]]. Wembley's owner's refusal to cancel the regular greyhound racing meant that the match between [[Uruguay national football team|Uruguay]] and [[France national football team|France]] in the 1966 World Cup was played at [[White City Stadium|White City]]. Wembley Stadium also staged women's field hockey matches in which England appeared in their annual match between 1951 to 1969 and then from 1971 to 1991. On May 31, 1975, in front of 90,000 people, [[Evil Knievel]] crashed while trying to land a jump over thirteen single decker city buses, aan accident which resulted in his initial retirement from his daredevil life.

In 1992, the [[World Wrestling Entertainment|World Wrestling Federation]] drew a sellout of 80,355 when ''[[SummerSlam (1992)|SummerSlam]]'' was hosted at Wembley Stadium. This was one of the biggest crowds ever at a WWE event.