Fantastic photos! What would 'elf and safety have to say about numbers 1 to 3? Brilliant. What's the source? Are they reproduced in a book that's still in print?
Fantastic photos! What would 'elf and safety have to say about numbers 1 to 3? Brilliant. What's the source? Are they reproduced in a book that's still in print?
I think even years ago people were worried about health & safety regarding the ground in the third picture. People were injured when some of the terracing collapsed, and a hole also appeared near a corner flag. Pictures from different sites. The game at Highbury under the lights is against Rangers in the '50's.
i remember clambering down a mud bank at the back of the stand. Good fun evening and a result. Memories!!!
Ah, now you've got me going, P-e-P. From the photo, I wouldn't have got Odsal in a million years. (Incidentally, look at the way the turf intrudes on the track; very strange.) I wondered about Bristol Rovers at Eastville, with the dog track round the pitch. I was there in November 1978 for our 5-5 draw (Robinson 2, Flanagan 2, Tydeman). Anyone else on here quite as old as me?
A very strange aspect of that 5-5 draw at Eastville: it was still 0-0 after about 20 mins, and all 10 goals had been scored by about the 70th. Happy days....
i remember clambering down a mud bank at the back of the stand. Good fun evening and a result. Memories!!!
Ah, now you've got me going, P-e-P. From the photo, I wouldn't have got Odsal in a million years. (Incidentally, look at the way the turf intrudes on the track; very strange.) I wondered about Bristol Rovers at Eastville, with the dog track round the pitch. I was there in November 1978 for our 5-5 draw (Robinson 2, Flanagan 2, Tydeman). Anyone else on here quite as old as me?
The ground was designed to be used as a rugby league ground but they also did speedway there. I suspect the turf may go onto to the track due to the differing dimentions of rugby and football pitches. The terraces at Eastville were smaller than those in picture 6.
Speaking of tracks around the pitch - I seem to remember a mate of mine seeing Palace (sorry about that) at Halifax in the dim and distant past, when at the final whistle he noticed there were more people entering the ground than there were leaving. What the hell was going on? They were coming to watch the speedway!
White City stadium opened in 1908 .. one time Olympic venue and 'state of the art' stadium in its time had an athletics track and greyhound racing track around the grassed area. QPR had two bites at moving there, in the 1930s and then again in the early 1960s. The stadium has now been demolished
Thanks, Sheffield, will certainly look out for 'Engineering Archie'. Cheapest secondhand price on Amazon and Abebooks is £35.
You can have my signed copy for £200 : - )
All the books in the series are excellent.
Thanks, Henry - I'll start saving! Another odd thing about Eastville is that an elevated section of the M32 was built so close that it almost cut the corner of the ground. Passing motorists would actually slow down to cop a piece of the action. After that extraordinary draw I walked to the Fox, one of a handful of pubs around the country that Camra owned: a short-lived experiment. Goodness me, that was 35 years ago!
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Only number 6 left
Vicarage road
http://homesoffootball.co.uk/books/
I believe it was a 2-1 win on a tuesday night.
The stadium holds the British record for a Rugby League match - 1954, Warrington v Halifax, Challenge Cup Final replay, att. a whopping 102,569.
They give a great idea of what it must have been like.
All the books in the series are excellent.