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What are your favourite stadiums ever?


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49 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

Would love to have watched derby footy at a packed Knowsley Road, Central Park, Odsal or Wilderspool in late December.

Used to enjoy going to Knowsley Road and Central park but Wilderspool was a horrible place. Give me the Halliwell Jones any day.

Odsal's been an inhospitable dump for as long as I remember and that's going back to the 60s.

 

"I'm from a fishing family. Trawlermen are like pirates with biscuits." - Lucy Beaumont.

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They didn't call Wilderspool the 'Zoo' for nothing. Intimidating place to watch rugby and to also play !

Enjoyed watching Leigh there. Always tough games and always a good atmosphere.

I see Watersheddings and Thrum Hall mentioned. Something about terraced covered stands and both grounds very sorely missed.

The 'Kop' at Central Park at Central Park was something else. I remember the packed house v Manly in 87 well and a few years later when Leigh packed in 6k plus in the Kop in a huge crowd in our attempt to win and stay up a couple of year later. As usual, we got stuffed, but the crowds in them days were something else.  12k packed into Hilton Park and over 20k at Central Park would be creamed on in todays era !!

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2 hours ago, Bleep1673 said:

I used to walk my dog 3 miles to Station Road, and she would sit on the north east terrace, corner of Townsend Road & Pendlebury Road, watching Swinton, then we would walk back home afterwards. She was aware if we won or lost because of her attitude on the way home.

Is that because you kicked her if you lost and hugged her if you won?

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So many of my fondest Rugby League memories are from Central Park so that has to be my number 1 but I also really enjoyed going to Knowsley Road for the big derby games.

I captained my University team to a cup win at Belle Vue so that ground is always a favourite too.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

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15 hours ago, DoubleD said:

Belle Vue, cracking facilities 

I think you're under-selling it a bit. 

The facilities are not only cracking, they're also crumbling, collapsing and generally falling apart. 

I really liked the view at Tynecastle in Edinburgh for the London v Bradford on the road game. The ground is hemmed in by buildings so the stand was nose-bleed steep* which gives you a high vantage point but still close to the pitch. 

When I win the lottery next week I'll look into how steep I can legally make the new stands at Belle Vue. 

*Apparently, it's 34 degrees which is the maximum permissable. 

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10 minutes ago, Wholly Trinity said:

I think you're under-selling it a bit. 

The facilities are not only cracking, they're also crumbling, collapsing and generally falling apart. 

I really liked the view at Tynecastle in Edinburgh for the London v Bradford on the road game. The ground is hemmed in by buildings so the stand was nose-bleed steep* which gives you a high vantage point but still close to the pitch. 

When I win the lottery next week I'll look into how steep I can legally make the new stands at Belle Vue. 

*Apparently, it's 34 degrees which is the maximum permissable. 

First time i went to watch Featherstone at belle Vue (about 1971/2) it was a cracking ground imo. Stand behind sticks where them hospitality boxes are now and a stand on opposite side to the long stand, shame it's been left to deteriate like it as. Same as Wheldon Road they should do it up because it could be a decent ground and their history is there, better than these modern lego builds. 

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Thrum Hall with a good crowd on could be special, the slope to the bottom corner was interesting, I played there a few times and if attacking kicks and passes used to run away from you while trying to get out of there if the opposition had you pinned was like trying to climb the Eiger.

Alt Park at Huyton was a experience like no other for so many reasons, all of them bad.

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16 minutes ago, Clogiron said:

Thrum Hall with a good crowd on could be special, the slope to the bottom corner was interesting, I played there a few times and if attacking kicks and passes used to run away from you while trying to get out of there if the opposition had you pinned was like trying to climb the Eiger.

Alt Park at Huyton was a experience like no other for so many reasons, all of them bad.

I remember Huyton v Fev locked gates when we all got in, players and staff walked across pitch looking for broken glass or anything else stuck in pitch.! 

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My fondest memories are Watersheddings. A dump, but it was our dump and it had so much history. Then Rochdales athletic grounds, the old enemy, hilton park leigh,  fartown, Huddersfield,  never stood as high as I did there  . All demised now.

Also I'll never forget the first time I went to Old Trafford oldham v Featherstone 2nd division premiership. It just took my breath away. 

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4 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

Of the old ones, I had/have soft spots for Central Park (when packed, nothing like it), Craven Park, Barrow (warts and all, a cracking little set-up), Knowsley Road (fond memories, during Liverpool student days, of watching Meninga outclass the opposition), Fartown (always a sense of occasion, even when crowds dropped to a few hundred), Lawkholme Lane (great fun during Cougarmania), Mount Pleasant (a very good example of how an existing ground can be modernised), Station Road (faded grandeur), Thrum Hall (brimming with interesting features), Victory Park (such a shame Chorley never really 'got' rugby league), Watersheddings (a lovable dump), Wigginton Road (tight and atmospheric) and Wilderspool (another regular student days haunt, when Boyd, Tamati and Rathbone guaranteed entertainment - of one sort or another!).

To be fair to the 'sheddings they were all lovable dumps by the end of their day, and some of them are still going.

Managed to get to 8 of the above 12 

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14 minutes ago, The Art of Hand and Foot said:

My fondest memories are Watersheddings. A dump, but it was our dump and it had so much history. Then Rochdales athletic grounds, the old enemy, hilton park leigh,  fartown, Huddersfield,  never stood as high as I did there  . All demised now.

Also I'll never forget the first time I went to Old Trafford oldham v Featherstone 2nd division premiership. It just took my breath away. 

BOTH sets of fans applaued that day, even though we lost it was a brilliant game. 

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