Rugby Park

For over a decade, Rugby Park stood out as one of the last artificial-turf grounds in Scottish top-flight football, an odd distinction that shaped how visiting sides prepared for a trip to Kilmarnock. That ended this month, when a £1.4m project tore up the 2014 3G surface and laid down HERO Hybrid Grass, a pitch stitching synthetic fibres through natural turf. Kilmarnock play on grass again for the first time in twelve years.

The ground's capacity has crept downward for reasons that have nothing to do with safety rules. The post-Taylor Report rebuild opened with a friendly against Blackburn Rovers in August 1995 and held over 18,000 fans. Later renovations, and more recently office space carved out of the Moffat Stand's upper tier, brought the total down to just over 15,000.

Numbers that size were unthinkable on 10 March 1962, when 35,995 people packed in for a Scottish Cup quarter-final against Rangers, still the attendance record and a tie Kilmarnock lost 4-2. The history between the two clubs adds an edge whenever Rangers return to Ayrshire.

Rugby Park has hosted Scotland internationals in both football and rugby, concerts by Elton John and Rod Stewart, and a turn on screen in the football film A Shot at Glory. During the Second World War, the military requisitioned the ground to store fuel rather than host matches.