Reading Football Club

Reading Football Club was formed in 1871, but did not move to its current home, the Madejski Stadium, until 1998. The new stadium is named after the club Chairman, Sir John Madejski, OBE, DL, who financed the building of the stadium and also the Millennium Madejski Hotel, which is attached to the stadium and forms part of the same company.

The Madejski Stadium is a purpose-built, all-seater stadium with a capacity of 24,084 and plays host to London Irish Rugby Club as well as Reading FC. Reading FC are currently members of the Championship league and attracting home attendances averaging around 16,000. The aim of Reading F.C. is to reach the Premiership again this season, and should that happen there is the potential to add another tier of seating on three sides of the ground, thus increasing capacity to around 37,000.

Football or rugby matches take place regularly, and the stadium has also been used for England under 21 Internationals as well as Rugby's national semi-finals and representative matches. The stadium has also been the venue for the start and finish of the Reading Half-Marathon, and staged an Elton John concert in May 2005.

The Madejski Stadium has a Marketing Department, Promotions Department, Megastore, Media Department, Community Office and the Royals Academy, the function of which is to produce a regular flow of young players for the club. The Study Support Centre, which is used by the 16-18 year-old football scholars, as well as children from local schools, is also available for hire by outside groups who wish to make use of its computer suite

Catering plays an important part in the Madejski Stadium's activities. On match days catering has to be provided for the Director's Lounge, Vice-President's Lounge, Executive Lounge, each of the twenty-eight executive boxes in the West Stand which are fully booked for the whole of the football season, and the Royals Restaurant. In addition concourse bars around the stadium offer hot food and drink during the match.

All the facilities within the stadium are available for hire through the Royal Berkshire Conference Centre, and in addition to those already mentioned; the Princess Suite can accommodate 500 people for a sit-down meal. It is frequently used for conferencing, birthday, anniversary and wedding parties - the stadium is licensed to hold wedding ceremonies, and can also be used for dances and discos.

In contrast to its previous home at Elm Park, where all that happened was a football match once a fortnight, the Madejski Stadium is now a hive of activity seven days a week. National as well as local businesses and organisations hire rooms for meetings, conferences, lectures and exhibitions. The revenue from this operation enables Reading Football Club Limited to be a thriving and successful business.

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