Floodlight

Sodium-vapor lamps are also commonly used for sporting events, as they have a very high lumen to watt ratio (typically 80–140 lumens/Watt), making them a cost-effective choice when certain lux levels must be provided.

[5] In the top tiers of many professional sports, it is a requirement for stadiums to have floodlights to allow games to be scheduled outside daylight hours.

Evening or night matches may suit spectators who have work or other commitments earlier in the day, and enable television broadcasts during lucrative primetime hours.

The following week, two of the city's leading football clubs, rivals Carlton and Melbourne, played another night match.

On both occasions, the lights failed to illuminate the whole ground, and the spectators struggled to make sense of the action in the murky conditions.

Traditional cricket floodlights are mounted at the top of a tall pole, to elevate them out of the fielder's eyeline when the ball is hit high into the air.

[8] When chairman of the Munster Council, Walsh had a pilot project for floodlights at Austin Stack Park in Tralee which "became a template for every county and club ground in the country".

Blackburn and Darwen also hosted floodlit matches in 1878, and in October of the same year 3rd Lanark RV played an exhibition match against Scottish Cup holders Vale of Leven at the first Cathkin Park, with press reports suggesting the lighting from a Gramme machine was not successful in illuminating the whole field.

[14] However the same article also reported on 26 March 1889 that 'a strong wind was blowing from the Radford goal, and this caused the lights on the town side to shed a considerable portion of their radiance on the adjoining fields, so that dark shadows were often thrown upon the playing ground and it was almost impossible to see a case of handling unless the officials were close to'.

[14] Thames Ironworks (who would later be re-formed as West Ham United) played a number of friendly matches under artificial light at their Hermit Road ground during their inaugural season of 1895–96.

These experiments, which included high-profile fixtures against Arsenal and West Bromwich Albion, were set up using engineers and equipment from the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company.

[15][16] A women's football match in 1921 used floodlights, when Preston North End's ground was covered in thick fog and the spectators couldn't see the game.

[20] In the 1930s, Herbert Chapman installed lights into the new West Stand at Highbury but the Football League refused to sanction their use.

In September 1949, South Liverpool's Holly Park ground hosted the first game in England under "permanent" floodlights: a friendly against a Nigerian XI.