The old grounds - Your memories

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

Just thought of another that I only did once but had a tidy stand. Borough Park, Blackpool.

[stillcrazy]

there were two teams playing at a ground called craven park but now there is only one

[Pigeon Lofter]

57 minutes ago, Jill Halfpenny fan said:

Just thought of another that I only did once but had a tidy stand. Borough Park, Blackpool.

That main stand at Borough Park (the only stand at Borough Park!) was a cookie-cutter design that was present at a fair few grounds back in the day. Hilton Park and the Athletic Grounds had something extremely similar, if I remember correctly. Apart from that stand, there wasn't really any tiered terracing anywhere else in the ground. The Tower and the adjacent gasworks provided a good backdrop too.

I always enjoyed going to watch Oldham at Blackpool, it's an absolute shame they dissolved. I seem to remember they had those gridiron posts, as did New Hunslet when they reformed back in the 70s, but no-one seems to mention these?

[daz39]

8 hours ago, Gooleboy said:

Station Road, Swinton, and those amazing goalposts. A great big match venue in its day.

On the train to Wigan the other week we stopped at Swinton and i remember looking up the embankment to the houses where the ground once stood and although i never went there i had an image of hundreds in long coats and flat caps walking up the station steps to the game. 

I even had to tell my Grandson about the famous old ground which stood above us, needless to say at 9 years old he wasn't in the slightest bit interested.

[daz39]

7 hours ago, Rioman said:

I always remember being behind the posts at The Boulevard in the late eighties watching Wakey get another flogging, when a young teenage girl walked along the bottom around the curve pushing a pram with a toddler in, probably around three years old.     A few choice comments and observations came from  from the crowd, at which point the toddler just gave the crowd the middle finger. 

Was gonna say Mikey Lewis hasn't changed but late 80's is a bit early for him

[daz39]

5 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

Wasn’t fartown not the same ground ?

I don’t recall Leigh playing Hudds in the early 80’s but we did play them there in the mid 80’s. 
 

It was a big relic of a ground. 

Yes it was, in an effort to improve the fortunes the board made the decision to 'Americanise' the club long before it became trendy, in some ways they were ahead of the game, renaming the 1st team to Huddersfield Barracudas, the A team to Huddersfield Piranhas and the ground to Arena 84, it didn't work though as the team slid down the table and crowds dipped to just over 300 at times.

It only lasted till 1988 when it reverted back to Fartown, a new consortium took over the club in 1989 and that's when our fortunes slowly started to turn for the better.

Edited November 15, 2024 by daz39

[Leyther_Matt]

I grew up virtually across the road from Hilton Park and it played a huge part in my childhood and early adult years. I first went when I was 5 and was 22 when we left so I spent a huge chunk of my childhood on those terraces, watching rugby, Leigh RMI and BWFC reserves. Always glad my son and nephew both got to go there before we left, albeit they were toddlers with no memory of it.

Started off on the front row behind the sticks (whichever way Leigh were attacking, naturally) and the 5 of us always used to argue about who would have to stand over the grid that ran parallel to the centre of the posts and apparently a huge factor in the drainage from the pitch being so good. As we got older, we graduated further and further towards the back of the terrace and then eventually to the join the singers in the Supporters Stand (later Tommy Sale Stand) where big angry blokes like @Snowys Backside would stand.

One my fondest memories was Micky Higham scoring a blistering try against Widnes one Boxing Day in one of his first games and we knew we had a special player on our hands. 4,500+ on which felt huge at the time considering in previous years we only ever seemed to get decent gates against Hull KR or Widnes, and even then only a touch over 2,000

As others have said, that smell of wintergreen just takes me straight back there. And frying chips, stale ale and the fumes from the floodlight generator  

The place was falling apart by the end, and I think we’re fortunate that our new ground absolutely knocks the spots off the old one when it comes to atmosphere. Even when we’d have 2,000 on at LSV, the North Stand was far louder than anything we’d had at Hilton Park, for no reason other than the noise just got lost with so much of it being uncovered.  

Considering I’m only just in my late 30s, I went to a lot of the grounds no longer with us on this side of the Pennines - Wilderspool, Central Park, The Willows, Knowsley Road. I always thought the Fletch was a bit overrated as it wasn’t really that big, not compared to the Kop at Wigan or Edington at Saints, at least.

Got to say I had a real soft spot for the Willows. The Shed in full voice was hard to match, and those huge steps on the away end made for a great view. Such a shame they ended up in the middle of nowhere, with the smell of sewage replacing the wintergreen of old. 

[Wilderspoolmemories]

40 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

I grew up virtually across the road from Hilton Park and it played a huge part in my childhood and early adult years. I first went when I was 5 and was 22 when we left so I spent a huge chunk of my childhood on those terraces, watching rugby, Leigh RMI and BWFC reserves. Always glad my son and nephew both got to go there before we left, albeit they were toddlers with no memory of it.

Started off on the front row behind the sticks (whichever way Leigh were attacking, naturally) and the 5 of us always used to argue about who would have to stand over the grid that ran parallel to the centre of the posts and apparently a huge factor in the drainage from the pitch being so good. As we got older, we graduated further and further towards the back of the terrace and then eventually to the join the singers in the Supporters Stand (later Tommy Sale Stand) where big angry blokes like @Snowys Backside would stand.

One my fondest memories was Micky Higham scoring a blistering try against Widnes one Boxing Day in one of his first games and we knew we had a special player on our hands. 4,500+ on which felt huge at the time considering in previous years we only ever seemed to get decent gates against Hull KR or Widnes, and even then only a touch over 2,000

As others have said, that smell of wintergreen just takes me straight back there. And frying chips, stale ale and the fumes from the floodlight generator  

The place was falling apart by the end, and I think we’re fortunate that our new ground absolutely knocks the spots off the old one when it comes to atmosphere. Even when we’d have 2,000 on at LSV, the North Stand was far louder than anything we’d had at Hilton Park, for no reason other than the noise just got lost with so much of it being uncovered.  

Considering I’m only just in my late 30s, I went to a lot of the grounds no longer with us on this side of the Pennines - Wilderspool, Central Park, The Willows, Knowsley Road. I always thought the Fletch was a bit overrated as it wasn’t really that big, not compared to the Kop at Wigan or Edington at Saints, at least.

Got to say I had a real soft spot for the Willows. The Shed in full voice was hard to match, and those huge steps on the away end made for a great view. Such a shame they ended up in the middle of nowhere, with the smell of sewage replacing the wintergreen of old. 

The fletch wasn't that big but the atmosphere was something else. A friend of mine who supported Saints once stood in the fletch with me for a wire v saints clash. After the game he said he'd never before stood in a place with such an intimidating atmosphere!

 

[Snowys Backside]

6 hours ago, marklaspalmas said:

What you wrote was "more well known as" .

It never was

It was in my time as the only time I went to ‘Fartown’ I think was to watch Leigh was a JPS semi final v Leeds in 83. Dessi Drummond scored and seemed to drop the ball. 
 

We still lost !

Irrespective, on my perspective, it was an accurate account of what Fartown was more well known as in my eyes ! 

[Snowys Backside]

48 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

I grew up virtually across the road from Hilton Park and it played a huge part in my childhood and early adult years. I first went when I was 5 and was 22 when we left so I spent a huge chunk of my childhood on those terraces, watching rugby, Leigh RMI and BWFC reserves. Always glad my son and nephew both got to go there before we left, albeit they were toddlers with no memory of it.

Started off on the front row behind the sticks (whichever way Leigh were attacking, naturally) and the 5 of us always used to argue about who would have to stand over the grid that ran parallel to the centre of the posts and apparently a huge factor in the drainage from the pitch being so good. As we got older, we graduated further and further towards the back of the terrace and then eventually to the join the singers in the Supporters Stand (later Tommy Sale Stand) where big angry blokes like @Snowys Backside would stand.

One my fondest memories was Micky Higham scoring a blistering try against Widnes one Boxing Day in one of his first games and we knew we had a special player on our hands. 4,500+ on which felt huge at the time considering in previous years we only ever seemed to get decent gates against Hull KR or Widnes, and even then only a touch over 2,000

As others have said, that smell of wintergreen just takes me straight back there. And frying chips, stale ale and the fumes from the floodlight generator  

The place was falling apart by the end, and I think we’re fortunate that our new ground absolutely knocks the spots off the old one when it comes to atmosphere. Even when we’d have 2,000 on at LSV, the North Stand was far louder than anything we’d had at Hilton Park, for no reason other than the noise just got lost with so much of it being uncovered.  

Considering I’m only just in my late 30s, I went to a lot of the grounds no longer with us on this side of the Pennines - Wilderspool, Central Park, The Willows, Knowsley Road. I always thought the Fletch was a bit overrated as it wasn’t really that big, not compared to the Kop at Wigan or Edington at Saints, at least.

Got to say I had a real soft spot for the Willows. The Shed in full voice was hard to match, and those huge steps on the away end made for a great view. Such a shame they ended up in the middle of nowhere, with the smell of sewage replacing the wintergreen of old. 

Now Matt, we are all big when standing next to you

[moorside roughyed]

Watersheddings.

[Hopping Mad]

3 hours ago, moorside roughyed said:

Watersheddings.

A player (forget who), in a match programme Q&A, asked about his least favourite ground, responded: "Watersheddings, for reasons obvious to anyone who has been there."

I liked Watersheddings - along with most of rugby league's traditional 'lost' grounds. Final visit was for the much-delayed last game, against Swinton. Appropriately, it was played in freezing, foggy weather.

A relic from a bygone era was the dank gents under the little stand on the Thrum Hall Lane side at Halifax. Usually, it was unlit, which, after nightfall, only added to the 'fun'.

Fartown was a real favourite. Even when Huddersfield's crowds dropped to a few hundred, games there felt like an occasion. Tiny dressing rooms, mind - although not as small as the original ones at Carlisle's Gillford Park, where, IIRC, there wasn't sufficient space for everybody to change simultaneously. Intermittent hot water, too!

Remember, on a snowy, bitter, December afternoon, reporting a game at McLaren Field, Bramley. A Villagers club official brought whisky miniatures into the press box at half-time! Better than the press box at Hilton Park, Leigh. Its seats generally had a coating of pigeon poo.

The press box - its filthy windows needed cleaning before every game - in the now-demolished main stand at the Recreation Ground, Whitehaven, was horrible. For a rearranged, midweek evening game, against Hull Kingston Rovers, its solitary bulb had blown. Haven laid on a candle, which the three occupants gathered around. I got the impression the visiting Hull Daily Mail reporter, a big guy who could barely squeeze into the space available, had never seen anything like it! As ex-Leeds and Halifax half-back Neil Hague remarked: "Away games in Cumbria were like stepping off the end of the world."

When I was at university (Liverpool), I was part of a little band of sport nuts that travelled across Lancashire (and bits of Cheshire), by train or bus, to watch Sunday afternoon games. Enjoyed going to Runcorn Highfield, partly because it was a quick rail ride from (s)Lime Street and partly because, compared to, say, Knowsley Road, Wilderspool or Central Park, the atmosphere was low-key and relaxed. At opposition play-the-balls, Geoff Fletcher's voice, urging his team-mates to "Meet 'em!", would boom across the Canal Street pitch.

One of our group, a dentist, was from Worcester. He had got into rugby league through the BBC's coverage. On Sunday mornings, at breakfast, in our hall of residence, he'd look outside. If it was murky and/or raining, he'd rub his hands with glee, and remark: "Rugby league weather!"

We didn't forget our first visit to Station Road, Swinton, for a midweek evening Challenge Cup replay against Leeds. Having slogged over, from Liverpool, on the train, we arrived to find the gates locked and the ground in darkness. Between departure and arrival, the game had been postponed - pitch frozen. No social media in the mid-1980s! I felt Station Road, even when sparsely populated, had the same sense of occasion as Fartown.

By chance, in January 1987, I happened to be at the last Blackpool Borough first team game at Borough Park. First and only visit. Whitehaven won, 8-5, in front of 386 spectators. Nobody realised Borough wouldn't be back therefore no fanfare. Borough saw out the season at Bloomfield Road, the Blackpool FC ground.

Edited November 16, 2024 by Hopping Mad

[Fevrover]

43 minutes ago, Hopping Mad said:

A player (forget who), in a match programme Q&A, asked about his least favourite ground, responded: "Watersheddings, for reasons obvious to anyone who has been there."

I liked Watersheddings - along with most of rugby league's traditional 'lost' grounds. Final visit was for the much-delayed last game, against Swinton. Appropriately, it was played in freezing, foggy weather.

A relic from a bygone era was the dank gents under the little stand on the Thrum Hall Lane side at Halifax. Usually, it was unlit, which, after nightfall, only added to the 'fun'.

Fartown was a real favourite. Even when Huddersfield's crowds dropped to a few hundred, games there felt like an occasion. Tiny dressing rooms, mind - although not as small as the original ones at Carlisle's Gillford Park, where, IIRC, there wasn't sufficient space for everybody to change simultaneously. Intermittent hot water, too!

Remember, on a snowy, bitter, December afternoon, reporting a game at McLaren Field, Bramley. A Villagers club official brought whisky miniatures into the press box at half-time! Better than the press box at Hilton Park, Leigh. Its seats generally had a coating of pigeon poo.

The press box - its filthy windows needed cleaning before every game - in the now-demolished main stand at the Recreation Ground, Whitehaven, was horrible. For a rearranged, midweek evening game, against Hull Kingston Rovers, its solitary bulb had blown. Haven laid on a candle, which the three occupants gathered around. I got the impression the visiting Hull Daily Mail reporter, a big guy who could barely squeeze into the space available, had never seen anything like it! As ex-Leeds and Halifax half-back Neil Hague remarked: "Away games in Cumbria were like stepping off the end of the world."

When I was at university (Liverpool), I was part of a little band of sport nuts that travelled across Lancashire (and bits of Cheshire), by train or bus, to watch Sunday afternoon games. Enjoyed going to Runcorn Highfield, partly because it was a quick rail ride from (s)Lime Street and partly because, compared to, say, Knowsley Road, Wilderspool or Central Park, the atmosphere was low-key and relaxed. At opposition play-the-balls, Geoff Fletcher's voice, urging his team-mates to "Meet 'em!", would boom across the Canal Street pitch.

One of our group, a dentist, was from Worcester. He had got into rugby league through the BBC's coverage. On Sunday mornings, at breakfast, in our hall of residence, he'd look outside. If it was murky and/or raining, he'd rub his hands with glee, and remark: "Rugby league weather!"

We didn't forget our first visit to Station Road, Swinton, for a midweek evening Challenge Cup replay against Leeds. Having slogged over, from Liverpool, on the train, we arrived to find the gates locked and the ground in darkness. Between departure and arrival, the game had been postponed - pitch frozen. No social media in the mid-1980s! I felt Station Road, even when sparsely populated, had the same sense of occasion as Fartown.

By chance, in January 1987, I happened to be at the last Blackpool Borough first team game at Borough Park. First and only visit. Whitehaven won, 8-5, in front of 386 spectators. Nobody realised Borough wouldn't be back therefore no fanfare. Borough saw out the season at Bloomfield Road, the Blackpool FC ground.

Really interesting  , i loved the old grounds and RL more in them days.

Edited November 16, 2024 by Fevrover

[Harry Stottle]

13 hours ago, Jill Halfpenny fan said:

How many on here have been to Liverpool City at Knotty Ash.

I went, and on parking up a little kid about 9 or 10 said "50p to mind your car mister" (sounded like a little John Bishop), I was advised by a local to give it to him as it would be cheaper than the repairs!

PS actually getting mixed up albeit I did go to Notty Ash with my dad, but this happened at Alt Park Huyton in the mid seventies.

Edited November 16, 2024 by Harry Stottle

[Hopping Mad]

12 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Really interesting  , i loved the old grounds and RL more in them days.

Me, too. Part of rugby league's character was wrapped up in the traditional grounds at which it was played. Inevitably, some of that has been lost.

Always enjoyed the banter in the tin shed side stand at Post Office Road. At one game, a Fev fan had been baiting the visiting Oldham lot about being sheepshaggers. Losing patience, an Oldham bloke, in a thick Lancashire accent, yelled: "Yeah, we shag 'em then you eat 'em."

Edited November 16, 2024 by Hopping Mad

[Hopping Mad]

2 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

I went, and on parking up a little kid about 9 or 10 said "50p to mind your car mister" (sounded like a little John Bishop), I was advised by a local to give it to him as it would be cheaper than the repairs!

Must be passed down through generations. Kids were still doing that, in the mid-80s, on the roads leading to Anfield or Goodison. Probably still are!

[Fevrover]

13 minutes ago, Hopping Mad said:

Me, too. Part of rugby league's character was wrapped up in the traditional grounds at which it was played. Inevitably, some of that has been lost.

Always enjoyed the banter in the tin shed side stand at Post Office Road. At one game, a Fev fan had been baiting the visiting Oldham lot about being sheepshaggers. Losing patience, an Oldham bloke, in a thick Lancashire accent, yelled: "Yeah, we shag 'em then you eat 'em."

Bullock Shed named after our Chairman YEARS ago but it's been replaced by a lot bigger all seated stand. I've enjoyed plenty of friendly banter over the years,no need for any trouble. 

[Fevrover]

14 minutes ago, Hopping Mad said:

Must be passed down through generations. Kids were still doing that, in the mid-80s, on the roads leading to Anfield or Goodison. Probably still are!

And it went up from 50p !!!

[overtheborder]

My early days of watching Wigan were in the latter days of Central Park. I remember my first game being the game against Sheffield shortly after they'd beat us in the Challenge Cup final, although I was pretty young and so remember more about running around the terraces and the crowd than the actual games there! I only got to a handful of games there before it was knocked down, but I'm glad I got to go as I feel like that gave me more of an appreciation of the club's history.

As a side note I wonder whether any of the current "modern" grounds will come to be thought of in as fond terms as the old ones that have been mentioned in this thread. Somehow I can't quite imagine the Brick being seen in the same way, but then maybe after a hundred years or so it would after all.

[sentoffagain2]

   Thank you Hopping Mad for a superb post.

[daz39]

10 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

I grew up virtually across the road from Hilton Park and it played a huge part in my childhood and early adult years. I first went when I was 5 and was 22 when we left so I spent a huge chunk of my childhood on those terraces, watching rugby, Leigh RMI and BWFC reserves. Always glad my son and nephew both got to go there before we left, albeit they were toddlers with no memory of it.

Started off on the front row behind the sticks (whichever way Leigh were attacking, naturally) and the 5 of us always used to argue about who would have to stand over the grid that ran parallel to the centre of the posts and apparently a huge factor in the drainage from the pitch being so good. As we got older, we graduated further and further towards the back of the terrace and then eventually to the join the singers in the Supporters Stand (later Tommy Sale Stand) where big angry blokes like @Snowys Backside would stand.

One my fondest memories was Micky Higham scoring a blistering try against Widnes one Boxing Day in one of his first games and we knew we had a special player on our hands. 4,500+ on which felt huge at the time considering in previous years we only ever seemed to get decent gates against Hull KR or Widnes, and even then only a touch over 2,000

As others have said, that smell of wintergreen just takes me straight back there. And frying chips, stale ale and the fumes from the floodlight generator  

The place was falling apart by the end, and I think we’re fortunate that our new ground absolutely knocks the spots off the old one when it comes to atmosphere. Even when we’d have 2,000 on at LSV, the North Stand was far louder than anything we’d had at Hilton Park, for no reason other than the noise just got lost with so much of it being uncovered.  

Considering I’m only just in my late 30s, I went to a lot of the grounds no longer with us on this side of the Pennines - Wilderspool, Central Park, The Willows, Knowsley Road. I always thought the Fletch was a bit overrated as it wasn’t really that big, not compared to the Kop at Wigan or Edington at Saints, at least.

Got to say I had a real soft spot for the Willows. The Shed in full voice was hard to match, and those huge steps on the away end made for a great view. Such a shame they ended up in the middle of nowhere, with the smell of sewage replacing the wintergreen of old. 

My 1st memory og Hilton Park was a Regal trophy game? in 1994, to us then you were a big team as it was the 1st time i remember playing Leigh and you were a 1st division side, i think we signed Dean Hangar from you not long after that too.

We were in the side stand with terracing, i'm pretty sure there was terracing at the front and at the back where the seats were later on, obviously you can confirm or correct me, anyway things got a bit boisterious between the fans and the 2 sets were getting a bit too close for comfort until one of our lads, a larger gentleman, decided to calm tensions by dropping his undergarments and showing both sets of fans what he thought of their behaviour, everyone fell about laughing and we all got on with supporting our team.

[Gooleboy]

14 hours ago, Jill Halfpenny fan said:

Just thought of another that I only did once but had a tidy stand. Borough Park, Blackpool.

The amateur game used to play a 7 a side tournament there over a weekend after the season. A great excuse to get to Blackpool for a few days!

[Derwent]

13 hours ago, Pigeon Lofter said:

That main stand at Borough Park (the only stand at Borough Park!) was a cookie-cutter design that was present at a fair few grounds back in the day. Hilton Park and the Athletic Grounds had something extremely similar, if I remember correctly. Apart from that stand, there wasn't really any tiered terracing anywhere else in the ground. The Tower and the adjacent gasworks provided a good backdrop too.

I always enjoyed going to watch Oldham at Blackpool, it's an absolute shame they dissolved. I seem to remember they had those gridiron posts, as did New Hunslet when they reformed back in the 70s, but no-one seems to mention these?

Borough Park had a cracking nightclub underneath the stand called Stiks. Was a bit of a “grab a granny” type place but a good laugh.

[Gooleboy]

1 minute ago, Derwent said:

Borough Park had a cracking nightclub underneath the stand called Stiks. Was a bit of a “grab a granny” type place but a good laugh.

Did you grab a few?

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

5 minutes ago, daz39 said:

My 1st memory og Hilton Park was a Regal trophy game? in 1994, to us then you were a big team as it was the 1st time i remember playing Leigh and you were a 1st division side, i think we signed Dean Hangar from you not long after that too.

We were in the side stand with terracing, i'm pretty sure there was terracing at the front and at the back where the seats were later on, obviously you can confirm or correct me, anyway things got a bit boisterious between the fans and the 2 sets were getting a bit too close for comfort until one of our lads, a larger gentleman, decided to calm tensions by dropping his undergarments and showing both sets of fans what he thought of their behaviour, everyone fell about laughing and we all got on with supporting our team.

Reminds me of the infamous Gommersal (sp?) refereed drawn test between GB and NZ at Elland Road. As Lee Crooks lined up the ball to take what turned out to  be the equalizing penalty the man next to me said 'if Crooks kicks this I'll bare my a***e. Unfortunately he was a man of his word!

Always remember a mid week CC replay with Fulham at the Shay. Due to repeated weather postponements due to a frozen pitch, 'Fax had been given until the Wednesday before the next round to play the game. The only way they could get some of it thawed (there were still shards of ice dotted about the place) was to borrow a tar burner from the local road gang and run it over the pitch. It never recovered.