What is the greatest ground in RL history?

[Fevrover]

54 minutes ago, OnStrike said:

Agree 100%. These places (old football and rugby league grounds) mean something to fans. The way some of them have been lost is cultural vandalism 

For example imo DW Stadium is not a patch on Central  Park.

[Copa]

5 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I was talking to a friend yesterday that I haven't seen for ages and they informed me they are going on a business trip to Australia and while there they would be taking in some of the women's football world cup. One of the games they will be going to is the England v Haiti game which is being held at Lang Park. 

They are not a RL fan and so I told them how jealous I was and how much I'd love to go to Lang Park and promptly offered them a quick history of Lang Park and explained its significance and standing in RL. It is certainly one stadium I have on my bucket list of stadiums to visit before I die though I don't know that I will ever get the opportunity. 

This got me thinking, what ground resonates through the sports history? Which ground has had the most iconic moments in the sport? Which ground was the most exciting to visit and watch a game from the terraces? Which ground just says RL to any casual sports fan? Essentially, which ground is the greatest in RL history? 

There are also lots of bodies under the stadium as is was built on top of where Brisbane’s first major cemetery was located. Around 5000 people were buried there and only 150 or so exhumed when officials said they wanted to build over it (well before a stadium was considered).

During the renovations that turned it into the present day stadium they unintentionally dug up quite a few of them.

[north yorks trinity]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

As a Wigan fan I have to mention Central Park. It was a special place and had a fantastic atmosphere with a good crowd on. 37k v Manly was just electric and a night never to be forgotten. It also had the perfect mix of sitting and standing and was in a great location.

Walking past going to College we would often wander in for a look around and just walk around the place in awe. Then you'd just bump into someone like Martin Offiah coming back from a warm up jog. Great times and a great place.

If there is any match in history I'd like to have been at not involving my club/country, this one would probably top the list.

[moorside roughyed]

Watersheddings, Oldham.

[daz39]

Obviously this is gonna be one of those threads where everyone just mentions their own teams ground, past or present and although i loved Fartown albeit in it's run down state when i discovered it, as a Rugby League fan first and foremost i have to say Central Park, Wigan simply because growing up this was the ground i saw on TV more than any other apart from Wembley and it was the home of the all conquering Wigan team, visions of Joe Lydon, Brett Kenny, Shaun Edwards etc with a backdrop of Central Park and the voice of Eddie Waring/Ray French was my childhood memories of Rugby League before i started going to watch Fartown live, it seemed iconic to me growing up.

I also remember visiting in 1998 when we 1st got to Super League after years of dreaming i'd get to see Fartown play there in the cup or something and it was almost a surreal experience walking into the place for the 1st time in real life, i probably spent most of the game just looking around the ground thinking it looks different on telly, obviously we lost but i got the chance to experience central park in person.

 

[Human Punk]

Of the grounds I've been to which no longer exist, I'd have to say Central Park. I was fortunate to see Tommy Martyn scoring the last ever try there, and while that was a special day, the atmosphere was always brilliant for the derby games. A real shame that it's not there any more at the heart of the town.

Of the current grounds I have a soft spot for Cas. It's obviously a bit ramshackle, but knocks the spots off any of the new grounds. Hope they can redevelop it sympathetically - Leeds seem to have managed that quite well.

[Fevrover]

4 hours ago, moorside roughyed said:

Watersheddings, Oldham.

That wa a proper Rugby ground.

[marklaspalmas]

9 hours ago, DACS said:

Suncorp isn't Lang Park. The old Lang Park was a suprisingly small dump.

The most historic grounds are probably those in use the longest. Headingley since 1890, Mount Pleasant is even older (1880s?).

You reject Suncorp as being Lang Park because of redevelopment then name Headingley. How much of that stadium was there 20 years ago?

[marklaspalmas]

double post

Edited July 4, 2023 by marklaspalmas

[Jinking Jimmy]

As one of the “older” contributors to this forum I have special memories of Central Park, Odsal, Belle View and Knowsley Road. I was at the Wigan-Saints game in 1959 when the attendance was 47,747, at Odsal in 1960 for the Wigan-Wakefield Championship Final, attendance over 83,00 and at Belle View in 1962 for a Wakefield-Wigan Challenge Cup tie when they filmed scenes for ‘This Sporting Life”, attendance over 28,00. Knowsley Road for Saints-Wigan derbies always had a great atmosphere especially in the van Vollenhoven, Murphy, Boston, Ashton etc days. Central Park with even a half decent crowd was a special place.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Jinking Jimmy

[marklaspalmas]

6 hours ago, Jim from Oz said:

As a totally biased North Sydney Bears fan, enjoying the winter sunshine while sitting on the hill at North Sydney Oval back in the day was truly magnificent.

Top of my bucket list

[M j M]

Headingley, where more first class games have been played than any other Rugby League ground.

It was there in 1895, it hosted the first Challenge Cup final and the first test series, has seen World Cup finals and Ashes deciders and more knock out cup finals and semi finals than any other ground. It saw one of those weird Rugby League/rugby union games played there in WW2 and it was there that Joe Thompson and Jonty Parkin instructed the first French tourists, who had never even seen a game, on how to play Rugby League in 1934.

[Ovenden Grunt]

I shouldn't say it as a Fax fan but Thrum Hall. The atmosphere was second to none️

[Fevrover]

4 minutes ago, Ovenden Grunt said:

I shouldn't say it as a Fax fan but Thrum Hall. The atmosphere was second to none️

Yeah it was another proper Rugby ground,i remember the 13-13 draw which gave Fax the point to be Champions and the point to keep Fev up.

[sentoffagain2]

34 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Yeah it was another proper Rugby ground,i remember the 13-13 draw which gave Fax the point to be Champions and the point to keep Fev up.

   That one when they pressed the hooter with 6 minutes left.We were all happy that day.Me and my daughter ran onto the pitch and i was old enough to know better.

[JF1]

Another vote for Fartown. Loved the steep,open side terrace though luckily for me,never experienced getting rained on.

Thought Bramley was a cracking little ground. Always a good atmosphere when the team was going well.

Sad to see modern toytown estates in the place of the old grounds eg McLaren Fields at Bramley and Crown Flatt Way at Dewsbury. There will be plenty of others.

[Fevrover]

14 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

   That one when they pressed the hooter with 6 minutes left.We were all happy that day.Me and my daughter ran onto the pitch and i was old enough to know better.

Yeah York weren't very happy.

[overtheborder]

1 hour ago, Fevrover said:

Yeah it was another proper Rugby ground,i remember the 13-13 draw which gave Fax the point to be Champions and the point to keep Fev up.

I know someone earlier mentioned about which game they'd have wanted to be at that didn't involve their team - first I've heard about this one but it's up there for me now!

[Ovenden Grunt]

18 minutes ago, overtheborder said:

I know someone earlier mentioned about which game they'd have wanted to be at that didn't involve their team - first I've heard about this one but it's up there for me now!

Believe me it was a cracker!

[Spidey]

Best ground I’ve watched a rugby league game is Suncorp, Brisbane. Right shape good view everywhere

[Padge]

9 hours ago, Fevrover said:

For example imo DW Stadium is not a patch on Central  Park.

When Wigan left Springfield Park to go to Central Park I'll bet people 25 years later people were saying its not a patch on Springfield Park.

A great ground is where your great memories are made, that means that you cannot define a great ground as it is very personal to an individuals experiences.

 

 

[overtheborder]

6 minutes ago, Padge said:

When Wigan left Springfield Park to go to Central Park I'll bet people 25 years later people were saying its not a patch on Springfield Park.

A great ground is where your great memories are made, that means that you cannot define a great ground as it is very personal to an individuals experiences.

 

 

I definitely agree - I was just about old enough to have been to a handful of games at Central Park, and it was a really quirky ground, close to the town centre etc, a proper historic one. I do always say we'd be moaning about it if we still played there though - same goes for a lot of the old grounds people have a nostalgia for I'd imagine.

[Padge]

5 minutes ago, overtheborder said:

I definitely agree - I was just about old enough to have been to a handful of games at Central Park, and it was a really quirky ground, close to the town centre etc, a proper historic one. I do always say we'd be moaning about it if we still played there though - same goes for a lot of the old grounds people have a nostalgia for I'd imagine.

When Wigan left Central Park it was a dump. It had had £m spent on it and it was sill a dump.

[Anita Bath]

4 minutes ago, Padge said:

When Wigan left Springfield Park to go to Central Park I'll bet people 25 years later people were saying its not a patch on Springfield Park.

A great ground is where your great memories are made, that means that you cannot define a great ground as it is very personal to an individuals experiences.

 

 

Yes I suppose you are right….nostalgia aint what it used to be But tis is a great thread all the same.

Unlike some football grounds, I cannot think of any rugby league ground from 1960s that I dont remember fondly ( well maybe TattersField!), despite normally walking away from them following another Rochdale Hornets loss. My first away game….knotty ash stadium, followed by Mount Pleasant, two of three easter games. My dad taking me and my bro to Wembley in ‘67. Seeing my dads face (his only visit) when we entered the bowl. Priceless…I was probably too young to appreciate as much as he did then. But I got to appreciate more on my annual trips in later years

Who did not like Wigginton Road/Clarence street, York…a thing of beauty. First visit to Central Park…a cathedral. Station Road, Swinton….huge. Getting soaked at Watersheddings. I could go on (and on).

But another favourite memory was taking my 7 year old son to Central park on a visit ‘home’ in the 1990s. Standing on the ‘covered’ terrace I sat him on the wall at the front (just as I had done as a kid) …something that would never be allowed now. This was something he could never experience in North American sports. Touching distance of the players and not one bit of bad behaviour from all the kids sat there. In the second half Dennis Betts was badly injured ( maybe broken leg) just by where he was sat…it was quite a gory injury. My son still remembers and talks about that day. Contrasts with all the baseball, hockey, basketball and grid iron games I took him till.

[Pete Grady]

14 hours ago, north yorks trinity said:

I like both of those grounds. Wakefield Trinity's Belle Vue has been in use since the late 1870s and I think I heard it is the oldest professional sports (or rugby??) ground in the world. I'm delighted Wakey are redeveloping it rather than moving.

Reminds me of 'This Sporting Life' a wonderful 'kitchen sink' film with a darkly menacing Richard Harris set at Belle Vue in the early 60's.  Based on the book by David Storey, Rachel Robert's performance is moody, sexy and the ground itself is atmospheric and just as big a dump as it is today.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Pete Grady