Weststander
Well-known member
Not a forever club home but also with dogs, Iiked the name White City Stadium.
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[Football] Original football ground names.
- Thread starter Leekbrookgull
- Start date
Not a forever club home but also with dogs, Iiked the name White City Stadium.
Silverhatch
Well-known member
The Goldstone is a SPECTACULAR name. A football ground linked to a Druidic monument. Cool as f***.
jakarta
Well-known member
Northwich Victoria, the Drill Field, 1875 to 2002.
At the time it was closed, it was believed to have been the oldest football ground in the world on which football had been continuously played.
At the time it was closed, it was believed to have been the oldest football ground in the world on which football had been continuously played.
Leekbrookgull
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #24
Eastville,who hasn't been there on the open terrace opposite The Tote End ? The Den, welcome to Millwall.
The Wookiee
Back From The Dead
Scarborough- McCain stadium
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_Ground_(Scarborough)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_Ground_(Scarborough)
The Wookiee
Back From The Dead
Didn’t realise York City don’t play at Bootham Crescent or the latterly renamed kit-Kat crescent anymore - saw us play there in the early 2000’s wonderful hospitality in the club bar after the game - free buffet and a staff member gave us a tour of the ground
theboybilly
Well-known member
Wolverton Park, home of Wolverton Town FC until the early 1990s. North of Milton Keynes, the main stand was apparently the oldest stand in the country. It is still there, part of a park now, propped up in front of the old Royal Train shed (Grade 2 listed) and many Albion fans will have spotted it looking out of the window heading to games in the Midlands and the North. The main features of this fine old stand are now lost and what's left is a shadow of what it once was. I've actually caught a fleeting glimpse of matches being played there from my window seat.
If anybody's interested, this is what Feethams looks like now:
Cricket ground is still there, football ground has houses on top of it.
Weststander
Well-known member
My earliest memories of Match of the Day I think were the old Bramall Lane with the open side and space for the YCCC summer cricket oval. I loved that historic quirk.
Wiki-ing the cricket ended in 73, with a new football stand open in 75.
RexCathedra
Aurea Mediocritas
The Baseball Ground I always liked, because I'm a Yank. But then, the tennis venue just outside of Boston proper is the Longwood Cricket Club, and no cricket's been played there in nearly a century.
The Wookiee
Back From The Dead
From Wikepedia: and to think we had stadium issue !!
Feethams was originally used by Darlington Cricket Club, but began to be used for football in the 1860s. Darlington F.C. began playing there when they formed in 1883. With growing crowd figures, the ground was expanded with the construction of the West stand at the turn of the century and the Polam Lane end in 1905. In 1913, a pair of towers were built at the entrance to the ground, and in 1920, offices and changing rooms were built underneath the East stand. Floodlights were installed in September 1960, but after their first use an electrical fault gutted the West stand in a fire, prompting its rebuilding. In 1997, the East stand was demolished and rebuilt as an all-seater stand, but its cost had a major negative effect on the club's finances. George Reynolds came in to the club, paid its debts and initiated construction of a new stadium. The last match played at Feethams was a 2–2 draw with Leyton Orient on 3 May 2003.[4][70] Following the closure of the ground, the floodlights were sold to Workington A.F.C. and the stadium demolished.[71] A housing estate was planned for the cleared site.[72] The 25,000-seat Reynolds Arena was opened in 2003, at a cost of £18 million. The first match at the new stadium was a 2–0 loss to Kidderminster Harriers on 16 August 2003. The attendance of 11,600 still stands as a record for the ground.[73] After Reynolds left the club, the stadium had a variety of sponsored names, but it is generally known as the Darlington Arena.[74] The capacity was restricted to just 10,000 because of county and local planning regulations,[A]but attendances rarely reached 3,000, and in 2011, the club's receivers put it up for sale.[75] In May 2012, Darlington confirmed they would no longer play at the Arena.[76] Later that year, it was bought by Darlington Mowden Park R.F.C.[77]
Plans had originally been laid down to groundsharewith Shildon,[78] but arrangements were eventually for Darlington to share Bishop Auckland's Heritage Park ground from the start of the 2012/13 season.[79] In December 2013, it was confirmed that a deal had been reached in principle for the football team to share Darlington RFC's ground at Blackwell Meadows ground, and thus return to the town of Darlington.[80] In March 2016, it was confirmed that Darlington aimed to relocate by the start of the 2016/17 season, with expansion plans in place to increase the capacity to 3,000, as required for promotion to the National League.[81] In the event, they played their first match at Blackwell Meadows on 26 December 2016, a 3–2 National League Northwin against F.C. Halifax Town in front of 3,000 spectators.[82] Darlington expanded the seated stand at Blackwell Meadows to seat 588 in 2018, after a successful funding drive by their fans, allowing for the club to be promoted to the National League. This was built following the 2016–17 season, where Darlington finished the season in the playoff, but were disqualified from playing due to the inadequate number of seats at Blackwell Meadows.[83] The club continues to explore further ways to improve Blackwell Meadows, including a stand at the currently empty west end of the ground.[84]
From what I've read, Bramall Lane was a much better cricket ground than Headingley.
Despite living in Sheffield for about 6years, and walking past Bramalll Lane on my way to work for a while, I've never been there for a football game.
Similarly, I've been to Ashton Gate for exams and concerts but never for football.
Weststander
Well-known member
Cricket was huge in Yorks and Lancs. Even in the 80’s I recall 10,000 for the Scarborough Festival.
Digressing, wasn’t it great when counties played in other towns. For us Horsham, Hastings (a wonderful huge urban ground, now a shopping centre?), Saffrons, plus some others in the past. First class games.
One of my uncles has had a Darlo season ticket for many decades, and another is from the area.
My favourite story about Reynolds is that he paid many thousands of pounds to bring in special earthworms to deal with Feethams' drainage problem, only for seagulls to eat them all. It turned out that one of the drains into the Skerne was blocked.
I'm told the "new" stadium had the best toilets in the football league, unfortunately it's about 3 times too big and is nowhere near the town centre.
Having been to a match in Scarborough the year before Covid, I'd guess the attendance there isn't far short of that now.
Outgrounds generally seem to attract the biggest crowds. As I mentioned on another thread recently, I'm going to watch Gloucestershire play at Cheltenham in a couple of weeks and there's no way I'd make that trip to watch them play in Bristol.
The Wookiee
Back From The Dead
If there was a league table of clubs whose fans have suffered the most then Darlo would be up there with us - they have never recovered- but would like to think we are the best example of, with the right owner, vision and fan power anything is possible and dreams can come true !
Realistically, Darlo aren't ever filling the arena.
I hope they get their own ground somewhere that can reasonably be described as "in the town" at some point soon though.
The Wookiee
Back From The Dead
Jeez I remember that game at Gillingham when their fans turned up in fireman helmets - probably the worst game of professional football I have ever watched live
Haig Avenue;
The Vetch Field.
The Vetch Field.
I remember reading about Accrington Stanley in some football annual when I was a youngster. Interesting if all too familiar story.
www.lancs.live
Nostalgic images show Accrington Stanley's lost Peel Park football ground
LancsLive explores how the purchase of a 4,000-seater stand led to the bankruptcy of the old Accrington Stanley
www.lancs.live