Stadium to cater for fans' ashes

A memorial garden will be created at Cardiff City's new stadium for fans who want their ashes interred at the club.

Over the past 20 years, the ashes of more than 150 supporters have been scattered or buried at Ninian Park.

But Cardiff are moving to a new stadium next season and say the garden, which will have turf and soil from Ninian Park, will be a fitting memorial.

Supporters will be able to have their ashes interred at the garden, which will be situated behind the West Stand.

Stadium manager Wayne Nash said: "We're humbled as a club that we mean so much to individuals and the club is nothing without the fans.

"The garden will have a patio, benches, flowers, a shrubbery and it will be somewhere people can come and bring flowers and spend a special moment."

"The Football League recommends that ashes are buried and not scattered"
Wayne Nash, stadium manager

Mr Nash estimated that in his 20 years at the club, the ashes of up to 15 supporters each year were interred at Ninian Park.

"We used to scatter the ashes on the grass but now we actually bury the ashes," he said.

"The Football League recommends that ashes are buried and not scattered so we take a piece of soil out from behind the goal and bury them.

"What we've been doing for the past two seasons is putting the ashes in a cylinder and we ask people if they want the ashes moved to the new stadium."

Mr Nash said ceremonies at Ninian Park had varied from informal family gatherings to large affairs featuring hymns and other music.

At one ceremony, City were asked to play Cardiff-born Dave Edmonds' version of fans' favourite Singing the Blues.

Cardiff City were inspired by Leicester City's memorial garden but supporters wanting their remains interred at their favourite club is a worldwide phenomenon.

Hamburg in Germany became the first football club in Europe to open a cemetery where fans could be buried next to the stadium.

And last year part of a cemetery near Buenos Aires in Argentina was opened exclusively for fans of Boca Juniors, who can also be buried in coffins decorated in the club's blue and yellow colours.

Closer to home, the families of people whose ashes have been scattered at Scarlets' Stradey Park in Llanelli are being asked to come forward so their loved ones can be remembered.

Scarlets are moving from the 129-year-old ground next month and are holding a thanksgiving service before the final game.

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