...we are blessed with having Craven Cottage as our ground (not stadium) as it still has enough character to hint at the echoes of how many football grounds used to look until recent years.
What grounds do you remember going to that are no longer there, or have been changed beyond recognition into yet another featureless concrete bowl? Days of Feethams, Belle View, Filbert Street, Plough Lane, the Manor ground, Elm Park - Highbury etc.,
Ninian Park had a certain atmosphere to it
Kettering?
Funny you should mention Feethams first. Wonderful, little place, wasn't it?. Sacrificed to actual criminal stupidity.
Maine Road - for that magic moment (and for being BIG).
Burnden Park had a certain fascination, although Highbury would have been my favourite alien venue.
Plough Lane was a dump (sorry it's gone. though)
Even some that still remain have changed out of all recognition. I've watched dogs racing at the Dog Track, stood on a terrace where they built a stand that they then pulled down to build another one.
No contest....only one wonderful football ground......even away supporters agree.....the cottage, every time 049:gif
The Shea, Halifax's old ground. I saw Steve Earle score 5 (i think) in an 0-8 away win!!
I went to that game because I was living in Doncaster at the time. It wasn't my idea, my Dad got moved with his job. Anyway, Belle Vue was Donny Rovers old ground and I played on it in an under-16 boys cup final! At the time, it had the biggest playing area in all the 4 leagues!
Goldstone brighton
Of course if you wanted something "different" the walk from the old Den to New Cross Gate station could be something of an experience (particularly if we had got a result). 'Character forming', I think they call it; if you survived that you could be taken into the SAS without further training.
Quote from: yatewhite on June 22, 2013, 11:53:38 PM
The Shea, Halifax's old ground. I saw Steve Earle score 5 (i think) in an 0-8 away win!!
I went to that game because I was living in Doncaster at the time. It wasn't my idea, my Dad got moved with his job. Anyway, Belle Vue was Donny Rovers old ground and I played on it in an under-16 boys cup final! At the time, it had the biggest playing area in all the 4 leagues!
The Shay is still standing (and sitting). Halifax and the RL team still play there.
There are many grounds I've been to now demolished, too many to list but Somerton Park was very memorable as being the worst league ground I saw Fulham play at. Went there 3 times - 1 win, 1 draw and 1 defeat.
For me i really don't mind football grounds evolving, Craven Cottage did not always look like it does now and it did not always look like it did before now. I love going to the Emirates to me it feels comfortable, and it does show a sign of progress. I am sure that if Archibald Leach had access to the design technology and materials around now when he designed the JH stand he would have used it. To be honest i think from the outside the JH stand is ugly, i have no lasting love for it, for me it is the team that counts.
Please i have no desire or intention to upset or annoy anyone over this it is just my opinion.
Quote from: alfie on June 23, 2013, 07:47:06 AM
For me i really don't mind football grounds evolving, Craven Cottage did not always look like it does now and it did not always look like it did before now. I love going to the Emirates to me it feels comfortable, and it does show a sign of progress. I am sure that if Archibald Leach had access to the design technology and materials around now when he designed the JH stand he would have used it. To be honest i think from the outside the JH stand is ugly, i have no lasting love for it, for me it is the team that counts.
Please i have no desire or intention to upset or annoy anyone over this it is just my opinion.
Does anyone know when the Stevenage Road (JH) stand and the Cottage were listed? I suppose that I am thinking in the light of Alfie's post when was the last chance for the club to redevelop them. I imagine that it was more recently than we might guess.
Plough Lane Wimbledon, use to get free tickets off my school and go whenever Fulham werent playing, yes a bit of a dump but good atmosphere when hosting bigger teams in cup games, also there was a nightclub in the ground called Nelsons where i met my missus, so not all bad ;-)
Also my local non league team, Tooting and Mitcham Sandy Lane ground, spent alot of time there in my real younger days
Some real good old fasion grounds already been mentioned ninian Park wasnt one of the most enjoyable away days, but have been to alot of the grounds that are no longer there and enjoyed them more than the new style type grounds
One of the more Bizarre ones was Northamptons where it had 3 sides and the other side if i remeber correctly was part of Northamtonshire Cricket ground
I played for Kingstonian (briefly) and I understand that is now a housing estate
For a time I lived on the south coast and the Goldstone at Brighton was the easiest Fulham game I could get to. Also made it once to the Dell at Southampton when we beat them in the League Cup.
Roker Park, Sunderland was possibly my first mid-week long distance away trip. Came back on the 'night train' having lost 2-4. Good crowd and better atmosphere then than at their new Stadium of Light.
the Johnny Haynes Stand is the Oldest Stand in the world used by a Professional club . Great Yarmouth have an older stand
and it was Jimmy Hill who got it Grade 2 Listed thus saving us
voted one of the best in Europe http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pitchside-europe/search-europe-greatest-stadium-201902267.html (http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pitchside-europe/search-europe-greatest-stadium-201902267.html)
best in World http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11979/8568510/Top-ten-stadiums (http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11979/8568510/Top-ten-stadiums)
surely one of the most memorable away grounds must be The Baseball Ground even if it's for all the wrong reasons.
I remember The Goldstone,Plough lane, Elm Park, Manor Ground, Kettering, Baseball ground, Highbury, Ninian Park and the Huddersfield ground? cant remember the name of it or is that the same ground?
Huddersfield used to be Leeds Road - enormous place.
Quote from: SouthfieldWhite on June 23, 2013, 08:44:47 AM
One of the more Bizarre ones was Northamptons where it had 3 sides and the other side if i remeber correctly was part of Northamtonshire Cricket ground
Bramall Lane had a similar set-up on an even bigger scale. Yorkshire CCC played there until 1973.
Another Yorkshire football/cricket ground, and a lovely place, was Bradford Park Avenue. But here the grounds were divided by a double-fronted stand (a bit like the one at Headingly). Cricket is still played there, but Bradford FC are long gone.
049:gif I used to like Feethams - Darlington - back in the day. A good away game and nice pies.
They moved to a 25,000 all seater arena and went into administration and now can only let 10,000 in.
Gotta be careful what people wish for!
Northampton's 3 sided ground, was the County Ground which they shared with Northamptonshire Cricket Club. I remember watching Cobblers v Aston Villa there in a FA Cup match back in 1983 and the Northampton fans started fighting amongst themselves? Sixfields is ok.
COYW
The Mcain Oven Chip stadium Scarborough. Nothing special only went there once freezing cold the saturday before Christmas we won 2:0 in the Adams season.
It's always the one that isn't matched in the grounds I have been to discussions.
I will always remember, although it was cordoned off, the huge terrace at the Valley.
Turf Moor in the old days could be pretty inhospitable. Usually got given a small corner of a very large terrace along the pitch side..
(http://www.footballgroundguide.com/old-grounds-and-stands/turf-moor-burnley-longside-stand.jpg)
Quote from: Fulham Tup North on June 23, 2013, 08:59:59 PM
049:gif I used to like Feethams - Darlington - back in the day. A good away game and nice pies.
They moved to a 25,000 all seater arena and went into administration and now can only let 10,000 in.
Gotta be careful what people wish for!
Northampton's 3 sided ground, was the County Ground which they shared with Northamptonshire Cricket Club. I remember watching Cobblers v Aston Villa there in a FA Cup match back in 1983 and the Northampton fans started fighting amongst themselves? Sixfields is ok.
COYW
(http://www.footballgroundguide.com/old-grounds-and-stands/feethams-darlington-east-stand.jpg)
Quote from: cmg on June 23, 2013, 08:30:59 PM
Huddersfield used to be Leeds Road - enormous place.
(http://www.footballgroundguide.com/old-grounds-and-stands/popular-terrace-leeds-road-huddersfield-town.jpg)
Quote from: Alan_C on June 23, 2013, 09:10:34 PM
The Mcain Oven Chip stadium Scarborough. Nothing special only went there once freezing cold the saturday before Christmas we won 2:0 in the Adams season.
It's always the one that isn't matched in the grounds I have been to discussions.
I will always remember, although it was cordoned off, the huge terrace at the Valley.
I went there and watched us draw 2-2 last time we played there. I went passed it recently and it has been almost torn down. They keep arresting people for digging up the ground behind the stand as it was built on an old Glass Bottle factory and whenever they find one it is worth £50+. Go figure. Scarborough ground share with Bridlington now after going under and had to start again. They got promoted again last season. They are now about 3 leagues away from the old 4th Div.
I used to enjoy visiting Wigan when they played at Springfield Road. The grass bank at the away end and what looked like a bicycle shed to cram in if it started to rain. I also enjoyed my trips to Chester's old ground before they moved to the Deva Stadium with the exception of our 7-0 loss.
The Dell at Southampton. So close to the pitch and that bizarre stand that looked as if someone had cut off a corner from it.
I suppose technically the withdean stadium brighton is a lost football ground now that the Albion have moved to the really nice looking Amex stadium
I remember watching a friendly there during the Sanchez era
Quote from: Scrumpy on June 23, 2013, 09:17:51 PM
Turf Moor in the old days could be pretty inhospitable. Usually got given a small corner of a very large terrace along the pitch side..
(http://www.footballgroundguide.com/old-grounds-and-stands/turf-moor-burnley-longside-stand.jpg)
Been to every dodgy place over the years, Upton Park, Elland Road, NInian Park, the old Den etc and have never been anywhere as unwelcoming as Turf Moor.
Remember my first visit in 1992. Mate and I went up on the train, idea was to get up early find a few nice friendly Lancashire hostelries and have a few.Should have figured something wasn`t quite right when there were loads of mounted police at the station to welcome us. We were then told we were being escorted to the ground for our own safety. It was about 12.30 so the 25 or so Fulham fans were not impressed.
Off we went then turned a corner and loads of Burnley just poured out of a pub and basically charged straight into us, the police literally battered them back into the pub, pretty shocking to be honest because it was very sudden. This was repeated at another pub further along. I`d been attacked , spat at and abused and and I had only been up here for 15 mins, welcome to Burnley I thought.
Got in the ground nearly two hours before the game, bloody joke Lost 5-2 as well, was up in that corner terrace. Been there a couple of times since and had a little bit of bother every time. Strange because found the Lancashire folk at Blackburn, Wigan , Preston etc very friendly and hospitable, not sure what it is about Burnley though?
Quote from: HillingdonFFC on June 24, 2013, 12:17:56 PM
Been there a couple of times since and had a little bit of bother every time. Strange because found the Lancashire folk at Blackburn, Wigan, Preston etc very friendly and hospitable, not sure what it is about Burnley though?
Problem is, there ain't much else to do in Burnley (even compared to Blackburn, Wigan and Preston)!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The fact that Bradford City played there while Valley Parade was being rebuilt, gives me an excuse to mention the incredible Odsal Stadium in Bradford. It made every other ground I've been to look like the local rec.
It's 102,569 record isn't that impressive when compared to Old Wembley's 120,000+ or Hampden's 135,000, but these were properly designed stadia. Odsal is just a bloody great hole in the ground. This is what it looked like in 1954 - not sure what sort of view the folks behind the stand had.
(http://www.rugbyrelics.com/images/Postcards/F9/116.jpg)
Quote from: cmg on June 23, 2013, 08:30:59 PM
Huddersfield used to be Leeds Road - enormous place.
...it's so sad to see an old ground being pulled down:-
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1045111_189078174589067_826651020_n.jpg)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1003891_189077961255755_1480692075_n.jpg)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/945028_189078141255737_1038170307_n.jpg)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1043895_189076307922587_279783449_n.jpg)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1005252_189074714589413_741167709_n.jpg)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/944146_189074464589438_328514025_n.jpg)
Springfield Park, Wigan, with the Cow Shed on top of the hill was particularly ramshackle amongst many ramshackle grounds of the time, many of which have been mentioned on this thread already. Not to mention we had a terrible last minute penalty awarded against us in about 1991 to lose 2-1!!
The old Vale Park... Also an enormous place out of all proportion to the fan base.
Vetch field in Swansea - is that still around?
Quote from: Burt on June 25, 2013, 12:27:28 PM
The old Vale Park... Also an enormous place out of all proportion to the fan base.
Ah, yes...another 'Wembley of the North'
(http://www.onevalefan.co.uk/content/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wallpapers-580x300.jpg)
It didn't quite work out like that. Although they did get that impressive players' tunnel, which looked quite funny in the middle of a vast terrace with a little stand stuck on top.
It would have been the 'Four Chimneys' rather than the 'Twin Towers'.
Three pages already so I thought I had better chip in with Gay Meadow - the former home of Shrewsbury Town FC - where my parents considered it safe enough for me to go on my own from the age of 10 (this was in 1959).
It was by the river and used to flood on a regular basis - so it often appeared on TV - a photo showing the tops of the goal posts visible above the water was shown and the information that the game was off always included the remark because of a "waterlogged pitch" to the sound of laughter.
It was also the only club to employ a man in a coracle to retrieve balls that were kicked over the stand and into the river. At the end of one game the ball was kick into the river and he took it home instead of returning it to the club. The police visited later in the evening to let his wife know that after a search of the river he could not be found. She smiled and told them he was in front of the fire having his tea.
Coincidentally Fulham were the first team to play at Shrewsbury's new ground after it was fully opened - on 28 August we beat them 1 - 0 in the Capital One cup. It was also the stomping ground for Authur Rowley in his final days as a player and it was where he started his management career with the roll of player manager.
...I doubt there will be anyone old enough to remember this ground, it would be great to offer a prize for who gets this strange ground, but all we can offer is a pat on the back and a round of applause:-
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1044885_10200207833627742_294862170_n.jpg)
Quote from: Scrumpy on June 23, 2013, 09:26:52 PM
Quote from: Fulham Tup North on June 23, 2013, 08:59:59 PM
049:gif I used to like Feethams - Darlington - back in the day. A good away game and nice pies.
They moved to a 25,000 all seater arena and went into administration and now can only let 10,000 in.
Gotta be careful what people wish for!
Northampton's 3 sided ground, was the County Ground which they shared with Northamptonshire Cricket Club. I remember watching Cobblers v Aston Villa there in a FA Cup match back in 1983 and the Northampton fans started fighting amongst themselves? Sixfields is ok.
COYW
(http://www.footballgroundguide.com/old-grounds-and-stands/feethams-darlington-east-stand.jpg)
(http://images.teamtalk.com/07/12/800x600/feethams_east_stand_604400.jpg)
(http://guildfordcityfc.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/guildford-city-josephs-road1972.jpg)
Joseph's Road the home of Guildford City FC. Missed out by one vote to Oxford United for inclusion to League Div 4 in the 60's. Our beloved left back Jim Langley started out there.
Now a housing estate with one Road....... Langley Crescent
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 06:23:44 PM
...I doubt there will be anyone old enough to remember this ground, it would be great to offer a prize for who gets this strange ground, but all we can offer is a pat on the back and a round of applause:-
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1044885_10200207833627742_294862170_n.jpg)
Charlton?
...I know what you are getting at Admin, but it isn't The Valley, even though their terracing was huge they didn't have a stand at the lower level. This picture is from the 1930's by the way, the league team are still in existence but play in a different stadium...
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 08:38:05 PM
...I know what you are getting at Admin, but it isn't The Valley, even though their terracing was huge they didn't have a stand at the lower level. This picture is from the 1930's by the way, the league team are still in existence but play in a different stadium...
Is it The Nest, former home of Norwich City?
Quote from: Supermitch on June 26, 2013, 09:08:12 PM
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 08:38:05 PM
...I know what you are getting at Admin, but it isn't The Valley, even though their terracing was huge they didn't have a stand at the lower level. This picture is from the 1930's by the way, the league team are still in existence but play in a different stadium...
Is it The Nest, former home of Norwich City?
...well done SuperMitch, I will have to award you something, I know, I'll ask David Lloyd to allow you to sell the next edition of TOOFIF at the ground..!
Quote from: Supermitch on June 26, 2013, 09:08:12 PM
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 08:38:05 PM
...I know what you are getting at Admin, but it isn't The Valley, even though their terracing was huge they didn't have a stand at the lower level. This picture is from the 1930's by the way, the league team are still in existence but play in a different stadium...
Is it The Nest, former home of Norwich City?
Quote from: Supermitch on June 26, 2013, 09:08:12 PM
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 08:38:05 PM
...I know what you are getting at Admin, but it isn't The Valley, even though their terracing was huge they didn't have a stand at the lower level. This picture is from the 1930's by the way, the league team are still in existence but play in a different stadium...
Is it The Nest, former home of Norwich City?
Yep its the Nest, mustve been an amazing place
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 09:13:02 PM
Quote from: Supermitch on June 26, 2013, 09:08:12 PM
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 08:38:05 PM
...I know what you are getting at Admin, but it isn't The Valley, even though their terracing was huge they didn't have a stand at the lower level. This picture is from the 1930's by the way, the league team are still in existence but play in a different stadium...
Is it The Nest, former home of Norwich City?
...well done SuperMitch, I will have to award you something, I know, I'll ask David Lloyd to allow you to sell the next edition of TOOFIF at the ground..!
Thanks :005:
Football grounds are as you know a bit of a hobby of mine, along with other sports stadia. I was on a tour on Monday of Wrigley Field, home of Chicago Cubs. Fantastic old ball park, second oldest with lots of character in the same way as Craven Cottage. Like Fulham the Cubs have not won too much on the pitch.
Quote from: HillingdonFFC on June 26, 2013, 09:14:54 PM
Quote from: Supermitch on June 26, 2013, 09:08:12 PM
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 08:38:05 PM
...I know what you are getting at Admin, but it isn't The Valley, even though their terracing was huge they didn't have a stand at the lower level. This picture is from the 1930's by the way, the league team are still in existence but play in a different stadium...
Is it The Nest, former home of Norwich City?
Quote from: Supermitch on June 26, 2013, 09:08:12 PM
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 08:38:05 PM
...I know what you are getting at Admin, but it isn't The Valley, even though their terracing was huge they didn't have a stand at the lower level. This picture is from the 1930's by the way, the league team are still in existence but play in a different stadium...
Is it The Nest, former home of Norwich City?
Yep its the Nest, mustve been an amazing place
Fantastic looking place. Incredible what people would put up with in terms of comfort and safety. I'm not quite old enough to have known the Nest, but when I first went to Selhurst Park the Whitehorse Lane terrace only had concrete steppings half way up, the rest was just a grassy/muddy/cinder bank. Don't think modern H&S would be impressed.
The old Crystal Palace Sports ground, venue of early Cup Finals and 110,000 crowds, is worth looking at. The National Sports Centre is there now, but the old ground survived, derelict until the Sports Centre was built in the 60s. One wonders how many of the crowd could actually see anything.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/CrystalPalace1905.jpg/900px-CrystalPalace1905.jpg)
Quote from: FFC73 on June 23, 2013, 08:57:38 AM
I played for Kingstonian (briefly) and I understand that is now a housing estate
What you on about housing estate? Kingstoniain/AFC Wimbledon are stilling playing at kingsmedow?
Kingstonian played at Richmond Road, behind the Shell Garage, until 1989.
Quote from: DiegoFulham on June 27, 2013, 12:03:32 PM
Quote from: FFC73 on June 23, 2013, 08:57:38 AM
I played for Kingstonian (briefly) and I understand that is now a housing estate
What you on about housing estate? Kingstoniain/AFC Wimbledon are stilling playing at kingsmedow?
...he is referring to when Kingstonian used to have a ramshackle ground on the Richmond Road up until (1989), I used to go there now and again in the '70's and there was a big bloke who used to shout at the top of his voice "Come On You 'K's" you could hear him all around the ground - hmm, might explain something..!
BY MARK - JUNE, 13TH 2011
After a depressing few days, let's try and lighten the mood a little as Mark Murphy brings us his memories of the former home of Kingstonian FC at Richmond Road.
I only saw the death throes of Isthmian League Kingstonian's Richmond Road ground. But it still had 'something.' And (sorry if this is "too much information") most of my dreams involving Kingstonian games are still at Richmond Road, despite it hosting its last fixtures in January 1988. Richmond Road had housed Kingstonian (Ks) since the club took on the name – and the mantle of "town club" – in 1919. Before the "great" war, there was a "Kingston-on-Thames FC" there. This club emerged from the primordial swamp of clubs which characterised organised football's development in the town at the turn of the last century. And in 1907... it split again.
Kingston-on-Thames continued at Richmond Road and the "new" club, Old Kingstonians ("Old" being the 1900s equivalent of "AFC"), played at Norbiton Sports Ground, on which now stands Kingsmeadow Stadium, where Ks now play and to where Wimbledon will bring league football in August. With war dissipating old enmities, "Kingstonian" was formed in 1919 and although the Norbiton Sports Ground was available for £2,225 in April of that year, the £2,225 was not available; a lot of money in those days etc...
Richmond Road, which had done wartime service as allotments, was owned by trustees of the Dysart Estate, representatives of a Scottish earldom which was an extensive local landowner. Ks negotiated tenancy and readied it for the 1919 Athenian League season, drawing their first home game 2-2 against Wimbledon on 13th September. There were early complications as the clearly non-football-loving Dysarts leased the ground to Leyland Motors FC the following season. After much verbal and written argument, a groundshare deal was hammered out. But Ks soon had the financial wherewithal to buy the eight-acre site for £5,000 (a LOT of money in those days etc...) and set up "permanent" home. A £1,100 stand was opened in January 1922 and was extended in 1925 by a lower stand from nearby Surbiton's Horse Show Society.
Most pictures of the ground in the late 20s were instantly recognisable as the ground which existed in the late 80s – except that there were a few (thousand) more people, mostly men in hats, around in the 20s. The piecemeal main stand – part football, part show jumping – was dwarfed by a massive 40-odd step terracing behind one goal, which would be remarkably full on big match days as Ks won two Athenian League titles in the mid-20s and were accepted into the supposedly higher-standard Isthmian League in 1929, winning two Isthmian titles in the mid-30s. But the grass banking behind the other goal was as much of a focal point, not least because it provided a view of two games at once, with Ks "reserve" pitch standing the other side of the mound, giving older supporters two opportunities for the price of one to shout "bloody rubbish, Kingston, I'm never coming again."
The inter-war years were Kingstonian's most successful, until their administration-inducing three-year spell in the Conference a decade ago. And the gradual decline in Ks fortunes after World War II was mirrored by changes to Richmond Road's layout and surroundings. While covered terracing was added opposite the main stand, and floodlights were introduced in the early 60s, the ground was all-too-often a solution to increasing financial problems. It may have been amateur football, watched by thousands of paying customers each season. But to pay what bills there were, Ks had to sell swathes of land in and around the ground. In 1956, fans entering the ground off the actual Richmond Road had to fend for attention with motor vehicles visiting the new petrol station (named 'Kingstonian') built on part of the Richmond Road frontage.
Attempts to sell the reserve pitch in 1957 for flat and maisonette development were foiled by Kingston Council. But both the mound and the reserve pitch it overlooked disappeared under a housing development and a new clubhouse and club car park in 1974, restricting standing room behind the goal from a couple of thousand to a couple of dozen. During those years, overall crowd numbers plummeted equally rapidly. And by 1984, the ground was embarrassingly larger than necessary, as well as a logistical and financial nightmare to maintain. It was a dishevelled, ramshackle Richmond Road into which I walked for the first time on March 23rd 1982 – and, no, I didn't have to look the date up. My first game was a biggie, a League Cup semi-final against a powerful Wycombe Wanderers team. And although the crowd didn't look enormous to me, it was apparently the biggest Richmond Road had seen in "many, many years."
Ks were too embarrassed to print crowd figures, and my first few league games demonstrated why. The Richmond Road terracing was big enough for each of us to have two-and-a-bit rows to ourselves. The personalities in the main stand(s) could be named individually. And the terracing opposite the main stand was almost entirely superfluous. The restricted standing room where the mound used to be was a curious exception. The clubhouse wall was so close to the action that wayward shots (of which there were plenty in the early 80s) would hammer dangerously into the brickwork, with the ball rebounding at indeterminate angles into the back of heads of fans not paying attention.
The distance between wall and pitch was so small that the terracing provided little more than a snug fit for some of our larger fans. And if the more rotund among us wanted to become less rotund, a trip to the clubhouse would do the trick. Its wall may have been right behind us. But a combination of a strategically-placed gate halfway across the terrace and the club's inability to find its key meant that a trip to the clubhouse entrance involved an entire lap of the ground. This rendered the concept of a quick half-time pint (or piss) obsolete for those who liked to stand behind that goal. So there was plenty of Richmond Road which was not missed when the land became the inevitable housing estate of the day. But the move to Kingsmeadow was as messy as the old ground had become.
The Richmond Road end had just been sold to property developers when it was announced in February 1984 that club members had voted to sell the rest, valued at "more than £1m," amid forecasts that Ks wouldn't otherwise survive the decade. Yet Ks didn't leave until 1988, by which time property values had consumed the six-figure profits initially envisaged. Kingsmeadow wasn't opened until August 1989 and Ks shared neighbouring Hampton's ground in the interim, with two "home" games in Carshalton, almost far enough away for us to develop an accent. And Kingsmeadow, though relatively impressive, was one of the identikit new stadia of the time – Aylesbury's ground, completed shortly beforehand, pretty much WAS identical. But I missed 'something' about the old place, for all its faults; probably that it was so old yet so recognisable as the ground in grainy 1920s images. It was easy to sense the excitement of former days, even if it was harder to visualise the thousands crammed into the place. And so it is that my dreams involving Kingstonian matches still usually revolve around Richmond Road.
http://twohundredpercent.net/?p=13280 (http://twohundredpercent.net/?p=13280)
Quote from: Two Ton Ted on June 27, 2013, 12:52:04 PM
Kingstonian played at Richmond Road, behind the Shell Garage, until 1989.
That's the place Two Ton Ted. I played there back in 1981 to 1983 before moving to Hampton in 1983 to 1985 (before they added the & Richmond). Just googled it and they still play Belvedere (i assume the slope is still there too)
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 06:23:44 PM
...I doubt there will be anyone old enough to remember this ground, it would be great to offer a prize for who gets this strange ground, but all we can offer is a pat on the back and a round of applause:-
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1044885_10200207833627742_294862170_n.jpg)
Is it The Dell?
Quote from: Scrumpy on June 27, 2013, 01:15:19 PM
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 26, 2013, 06:23:44 PM
...I doubt there will be anyone old enough to remember this ground, it would be great to offer a prize for who gets this strange ground, but all we can offer is a pat on the back and a round of applause:-
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1044885_10200207833627742_294862170_n.jpg)
Is it The Dell?
...see reply number 40 in this thread Scrumpy - it's Naarch's old ground..!
The Nest was actually inside a quarry.
Parts of it still existed on Rosary Road, Norwich, if anyone what's to investigate when we play there next.
I am subscribing to a newsletter from a supporters group of Third Lanark FC who are trying to elevate their club back up the Scottish Non League scene.
I very vaguely remember their results being read out on a Saturday evening (they went out of existence in 1967).
Based in Glasgow they won the Scottish League and Cup during their 90 odd year history and were runners up of the Scottish League cup as recently as 59/60..their ground had a capacity of 50,000.
Remnants of their ground Cathkin Park still exist today...if I was cleverer then I'd post them.
If anyone wants me to forward a copy of the newsletter just PM me with your e-mail and I will forward......now don't all rush at once.
Great thread.
coyw
...Barney Travers, here is a thread from nearly three years ago which was all about Third Lanark and their petition, worth another look:-
http://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?topic=6657.0 (http://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?topic=6657.0)
Something quite haunting about Cathkin Park...sad.
The old Valley with that strange old stand - and Plough Lane was memorable, if a dump.
I've just got back from Scotland and saw quite a few grounds as I drove around - Ayr, Kilmarnock, Dunfermline, Forfar, Raith Rovers (which was in Kirkcaldy, and surprisingly large) but the one that really impressed me was Arbroath. It was right on the seafront, next to the harbour and looked like a dilapidated quainter version of Leatherhead. Would love to see a match there.
Quote from: cmg on June 23, 2013, 08:51:51 PM
Quote from: SouthfieldWhite on June 23, 2013, 08:44:47 AM
One of the more Bizarre ones was Northamptons where it had 3 sides and the other side if i remeber correctly was part of Northamtonshire Cricket ground
Bramall Lane had a similar set-up on an even bigger scale. Yorkshire CCC played there until 1973.
Another Yorkshire football/cricket ground, and a lovely place, was Bradford Park Avenue. But here the grounds were divided by a double-fronted stand (a bit like the one at Headingly). Cricket is still played there, but Bradford FC are long gone.
Bradford Park Avenue still exist albeit at a different stadium, they have worked their way up to the Conference North after going bust in 1974 and re-forming as a Sunday league team!
...the lovely old Bradford PA ground stand:-
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/485858_10151973375556632_1516332308_n.jpg)
Quote from: The Wild Goat on June 28, 2013, 03:38:45 PM
Bradford Park Avenue still exist albeit at a different stadium, they have worked their way up to the Conference North after going bust in
1974 and re-forming as a Sunday league team!
Best of luck to them. I hope they thrive.
I still remember being stood in the upper deck of the cricket side of their old stand and almost having the pint of Tetley's knocked out of my hand by a six from Freddie Trueman. (Bizarre thing is that Trueman was playing against Yorkshire for Derbyshire in the Sunday League.)
Great picture.
Football grounds were much more interesting in the old days. Remember the old man taking us to away days as a kid and recall that little tingle of excitement when you glimpsed the floodlights through the houses. Love terracing and remember, Maine Road, Leeds Road, St Andrews, Turf Moor etc all having huge side terraces but nothing compared to the East terrace at the Valley.
A mate had cousins who lived about 50 yards from the Valley, he got us tickets for my first visit in 84/85, we sat in the old all seated home end. I remember watching the Fulham fans who were very numerous and vocal that day as we won 2-1 but the main recollection is mucking about on that terrace with my brother, it was absolutely massive.
A few seasons later when it was boarded up and overgrown we would go in the stands and offices and explore, it was a forlorn sight in those days.
Loved the Goldstone too, the main memory of my first trip, one hot early season game was Fulham fans fighting each other after arguing about Gordon Davies who had gone to Chelsea. Was up in the corner of the large side terrace. Had some good days there and some not so, there was a lot of trouble in Hove Park after a game there in about 87 or 88 ?The last visit we were lucky to get in as hundreds were still queuing outside as they closed the gates just after we went through the turnstiles.
The ground I really regret missing out on was Gay Meadow, reckon that would`ve been a good day out.
Quote from: HillingdonFFC on June 28, 2013, 04:31:48 PM
Football grounds were much more interesting in the old days. Remember the old man taking us to away days as a kid and recall that little tingle of excitement when you glimpsed the floodlights through the houses. Love terracing and remember, Maine Road, Leeds Road, St Andrews, Turf Moor etc all having huge side terraces but nothing compared to the East terrace at the Valley.
A mate had cousins who lived about 50 yards from the Valley, he got us tickets for my first visit in 84/85, we sat in the old all seated home end. I remember watching the Fulham fans who were very numerous and vocal that day as we won 2-1 but the main recollection is mucking about on that terrace with my brother, it was absolutely massive.
A few seasons later when it was boarded up and overgrown we would go in the stands and offices and explore, it was a forlorn sight in those days.
Loved the Goldstone too, the main memory of my first trip, one hot early season game was Fulham fans fighting each other after arguing about Gordon Davies who had gone to Chelsea. Was up in the corner of the large side terrace. Had some good days there and some not so, there was a lot of trouble in Hove Park after a game there in about 87 or 88 ?The last visit we were lucky to get in as hundreds were still queuing outside as they closed the gates just after we went through the turnstiles.
The ground I really regret missing out on was Gay Meadow, reckon that would`ve been a good day out.
Only went a couple of times to Gay Meadow..last visit was that cup defeat 96 ish...Danny Bolt took a free kick it got charged down they went and scored and goodnight vienna....no Liverpool next round ....was in the side bit with my then ten year old..told him at the time to get used to it....little did we know how life would change so dramatically for Fulham FC.
coyw
Quote from: LBNo11 on June 28, 2013, 03:44:37 PM
...the lovely old Bradford PA ground stand:-
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/485858_10151973375556632_1516332308_n.jpg)
Fantastic pic...think of Bradford PA and think of Jim Fryatt and that fastest ever goal.
coyw
...slightly off topic but such an atmospheric picture taken in 1962 after Accrington Stanley had folded. Seeing as Bobby Vee is being advertised I assume it must be a rubber ball:-
(http://i1.birminghammail.co.uk/incoming/article4712668.ece/ALTERNATES/s2197/Accrington-Stanley-No-more-football-inside-the-ground-so-three-youngsters-play-outside6th-March-1962-4712668.jpg)
Gateshead, Bradford Park Avenue, Workington, Barrow... All were league teams in my youth, now replaced by newcomers like Wimbledon, Watford, Barnet, Wigan and so on.
