Netherdale

Netherdale is really two grounds sharing one name: a natural-turf rugby pitch and, alongside it, a 3G artificial surface that has carried football since 2011. Gala RFC moved onto the site in 1912, opening with a fixture against Hawick that September, and Gala Fairydean followed onto the football side in 1929 — the two codes have shared the postcode ever since.

What sets Netherdale apart sits on the football side of the complex: a stand raised between 1963 and 1965 by the architect Peter Womersley, opened in 1964 and now protected as a Category A listed building.

The rugby pitch carries the bigger crowd — 4,000 — a figure that dates from the years Border Reivers played here as a professional side and a second seated stand went up. That period also put Netherdale on the international map: Uruguay beat Spain 37–15 in a group match during the 1999 Rugby World Cup, and Scotland's rugby league side later used the ground for European Cup fixtures against France and Ireland.