Limavady United - The story of their home

The home ground of Limavady United FC is The Limavady Showgrounds, a compact, characterful venue on the edge of town that feels every inch like a community ground rather than a modern bowl.

Origins and setting

The ground began life as part of a larger area of open parkland inside Limavady, before the club enclosed their own section in the early 1980s. Limavady United then carved out a dedicated entrance from Rathmore Road, turning what were shared playing fields into a defined home of their own with perimeter walls and controlled access.

Layout and main stand

The Showgrounds is dominated by a single stand running along the Scroggy side of the pitch, providing covered seating for 274 spectators. Built in the mid‑1990s to help the club meet senior football criteria, the stand now shows its age, with some seating damaged since Limavady dropped back to intermediate level in 2008.

The rest of the ground is largely undeveloped, with a simple single tier of paving wrapped around the pitch behind the perimeter wall. On matchdays many home fans drift towards the paved area beside the clubhouse at the Rathmore Road end, creating a natural gathering point rather than a formal “end” in the modern sense.

Clubhouse and match-day feel

One of the defining features of the Showgrounds is the clubhouse complex that Limavady United have added over time. It houses a club bar, beer garden, function room and the team dressing rooms, with two blocks of twin turnstiles feeding supporters in directly from the car park.

That setup means much of the social life of a match-day is concentrated around the clubhouse corner, where people can move easily between the bar and the paved viewing area. It gives games the feel of a local event as much as a football fixture, with supporters mixing before and after the 90 minutes rather than disappearing as soon as the whistle goes.

Uncertain future

For all its charm, the Showgrounds sits at an awkward crossroads. Limavady’s lease on the site runs only until 2029, which effectively blocks the club from accessing grant aid to upgrade the ground to modern Irish Premier League standards. The owners intend to sell once the lease expires, although Limavady United have first refusal, leaving the long‑term future of the stadium — and potentially the club’s precise home — hanging in the balance.