Once an integral part of the towns they called home, dozens of National Football League fields have disappeared over the past 30 years or so. All of which have created a wealth of memories for generations of supporters.
But what happened next? Competitor To find out, he traveled across the country, visiting a series of housing estates, retail parks and even the odd hospital along the way.
Our four-part series kicks off every Tuesday in August with perhaps the most poignant part of the series, Bradford Parkway. Park Avenue, home to League One clubs for 62 years and county cricket for more than a century, is forgotten and desolate, with one of its few visitors over the past decade being an archaeological site Excavation site…
Looking up at the row of turnstiles that once led to the football ground where England held international matches, time seemed to stand still.
“5/-” is painted high on the wall, indicating that the admission fee is five shillings in old currency. There are two other brick entrances around the corner, and a large rusty iron door with spikes on it to stop anyone trying to get in for free.
A men’s toilet is also clearly visible behind the bank, where fans last stood more than 50 years ago, and walking inside reveals two large overgrown terraces and a crumbling wall overlooking the uneven pitch. of ruins.
(Richard Sutcliffe/Competitor)
Also buried among the bushes that were allowed to grow freely were two floodlight lighthouse bases, as well as a mountain of sporting memories. Welcome to Bradford Park Avenue, the forgotten home of a former Football League club whose namesake is now a sanctuary for nature’s ghosts.
At a time when demolition crews appear to be moving in just as the doors to the great sporting cathedrals of Highbury, Roker Park and White Hart Lane close for the last time, this former sporting mecca is truly a throwback.
The cricket ground where the Yorkshire team played for more than a century before 1996 still exists, albeit in a semi-derelict state, and enough remains of the adjacent football ground – the two sports share a main stand, hosted by the famous Designed by architect Archibald Leitch – and bring tears to the eyes of a certain proponent of retro style.
A cricket match on Bradford Park Avenue in the summer of 1949 (S&G/Getty Images)
Park Avenue has always been considered superior locally to Valley Parade, the home of Bradford City – a former Premier League team now in League Two. Initially, it had a seating capacity of 14,000 people and a capacity of 37,000. The ornate Great Mosque now sits just across Horton Park Avenue, which has a train station and a tram branch, meaning thousands of fans can travel to and from the area in virtually no time.
Then there’s the Kakutei, nicknamed the “Doll’s House” by tourists. The attractive two-storey building serves a similar purpose to Fulham’s Craven Cottage, housing the football club’s dressing rooms and committee rooms, and officials can watch games from the upstairs balcony.
However, this could not save it, as Bradford’s fortunes declined significantly as the Swinging Sixties moved into the next decade.
The club was voted out of the league in 1970 and struggled in the Northern Premier League for four years before collapsing with debts of £57,652 ($73,580 at today’s exchange rates). By then the football ground had been sold to a property developer and the Avenue team played its final season on Valley Parade across the city.
Bradford Parkway as seen in 1955 (George W. Hales/Getty Images)
A restrictive covenant stipulated that the land could only be used for sports and recreational activities, meaning the football pitch eventually just withered and died, even after the local council stepped in to buy the land and set out grand plans to build a sports centre. .
By 1980, Leitch’s ornate main stand had become so unsafe that it had to be demolished. The news sparked a wave of nostalgia across the city, with hundreds of fans flocking to the old stadium for one last glimpse.
One pensioner was even helped up to the end of an overgrown Canterbury Avenue before he staggered away leaning against a rusty crash barrier, staring silently at what looked like an untidy building. place of grave.
Tim Clapham, a supporter since 1963 and now club historian, is one of the first to comment on how the wrecking ball not only took over the 4,000-seat Main Stand and its distinctive three gables, but also One of those who made one last pilgrimage before occupying the Dolls House and Houghton Park end roofs.
“Only the half-time scoreboard remains, and even the old social clubhouse was sold to a local pig farmer,” Clapham said. “It’s such a sad time. Many people come, hoping to take away a souvenir, something to remember this place.
“Some people want the letters ‘BFC’ etched into the center gable of the stand, while others want two badges at either end. But when they come down, these things are much bigger than they look. You need a It takes a truck to transport them!
As Bradford mourns the loss of a ground for a second time, it not only hosted the England v Ireland international in 1909, but also hosted the fastest goal ever scored in the Football League (4 seconds, Jim ·Fryatt against Tranmere Rovers in 1964) has the lowest number of cricket survivors.
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Until 1996, Yorkshire County Cricket Club chose Headingley as their home ground, with a small number of games being played at Scarborough each season. Other cities to lose off-field status include Middlesbrough, Harrogate and Hull, where part of the MKM Stadium now sits on the old circular cricket ground as a home for Hull City and rugby league club Hull FC Double home field.
Even before the final game in the 1996 County Championship against Leicestershire, Park Avenue was a shell of its former self.
(Richard Sutcliffe/Competitor)
Who remembers what Park Avenue was like in its heyday, and who knows what this old place will look like in 2024. In recent years, the cricket ground has been restored to a first-class standard, allowing Yorkshire’s second XI to return and play sporadic matches.
But the surrounding environment is terrible. Until the late 1980s, the site where the magnificent pavilion once stood was now just a wasteland where Fred Trueman, Ray Illingworth and others plotted to bring down visiting The batter’s place now sits in 10-foot-high bushes. When stadiums rot, time is a formidable opponent.
There are several rows of shabby seats out front, many of them vandalized, all fighting against the weeds creeping up the concrete steps. The situation is similar elsewhere, with crumbling, partially fenced-off terraces interspersed with vegetation.
The only bright spot is a mural depicting England spin bowler and local hero Adil Rashid, which was painted to mark the launch of the 2021 Hundred. It is also gradually fading, adding a shabby feel to what was once considered a site.
(Richard Sutcliffe/Competitor)
The remains of the old football stadium are equally depressing, even considering that its derelict state allowed an archaeological dig in 2015 to unearth a variety of fascinating artifacts.
The Breaking Ground art project left a legacy for posterity including boot cleats, coins, marbles, goal hooks and even diaper pins. The latter is understood to be related to the elastic band on goalkeeper Chick Farr’s shorts breaking during a game, forcing the coach to carry out an emergency repair. Farr never made peace with the incident and often found himself swamped with pins as he stood between the pillars.
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Bradford’s hopes of returning to its spiritual home were dashed in 1988 when a cricket school (now a sports hall) was built on half of the old football ground. The home of ten years no longer exists.
(Richard Sutcliffe/Competitor)
However, on the cricketing side, big plans were unveiled just a few years ago to return Yorkshire to their old stomping grounds with an ambitious £5.5m revamp.
The first phase’s state-of-the-art changing facilities, outdoor netting and scoring hut were opened in 2017, with England and Yorkshire team-mates Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Rashid all involved in cutting the ribbon. The nets were built between the midfield line and the penalty box on what was left of the old court at Boulevard, which was converted into an indoor facility last year.
The rest of the original plan – a community pavilion with changing rooms on one side of the original site, a restaurant with seating for 250 diners, 1,000 spectator seats and security fencing – never came to fruition. As a result, plans for county cricket to return to Bradford City never materialized. Instead, York joins Leeds and Scarborough as home to Yorkshire.
This could be the final nail in the coffin for any hopes of bringing professional sport back to this corner of Bradford. Now, all that remains are the ghostly presence of the past, and the derelict turnstiles and terraces that have been home to worms and weeds for the past five years.
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(Pictured above: Richard Sutcliffe, Tim Clapham)
