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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lancashire => Topic started by: paulmh on Monday 13 December 10 07:18 GMT (UK)
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Further to my research on Sheffield United I am interested in learning about the Fallowfield Stadium, Manchester and wondered if anyone had any old photographs of the ground.
The Blades once attempted to play out an FA Cup Semi-Final their in 1899 against Liverpool, however the game was abandoned with the Reds leading 0-1. United eventually won a re-played fixture and beat Derby 4-1 in the final.
My research tells me that the ground no longer exsists but an image of wiki of the ground in 1985 (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Fallowfield_stadium_1985.jpg) clearly shows the markings of it's former stands.
A real shame really as the ground had previously hosted an FA Cup Final (1893) with Wolves as victors, but I would imagine that with the slow rising of both Manchester sides; though they wouldn't have played at Old Trafford and Maine Road back then I would imagine.
I would be grateful for any help on this matter.
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Hi Paulmh
If you google 'Harris Stadium, Fallowfield' and search for images, you should get a few. You might have already discovered that the cyclist Reg Harris ran the stadium/velodrome for a while and it was renamed after him in the 60s. Although images from that era will tend to be cycle-related rather than football of course.
On a map from the 1930s and on the Godfrey edition map of 1904 for Fallowfield, it is labelled 'Manchester Athletic Ground' so that might be another term you could google for images.
:) Barbara
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Maine Road wasn't built until 1923 - City played at Hyde Road back then.
Old Trafford was first used by United in 1909. Previously using Bank Street, and originally North Road.
The 1899 FA Cup Semi-Final was abandoned due to a crush in the crowd.
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Hi Paulmh
If you google 'Harris Stadium, Fallowfield' and search for images, you should get a few. You might have already discovered that the cyclist Reg Harris ran the stadium/velodrome for a while and it was renamed after him in the 60s. Although images from that era will tend to be cycle-related rather than football of course.
On a map from the 1930s and on the Godfrey edition map of 1904 for Fallowfield, it is labelled 'Manchester Athletic Ground' so that might be another term you could google for images.
:) Barbara
Thank you for that suggestion, I certainly will google it and see what I get. In mean time I have emailed the University and asked if they have any images of some sort.
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Maine Road wasn't built until 1923 - City played at Hyde Road back then.
Old Trafford was first used by United in 1909. Previously using Bank Street, and originally North Road.
The 1899 FA Cup Semi-Final was abandoned due to a crush in the crowd.
I know that neither of the two big Manchester clubs' didn't move house (so to speak) until later on, but it seems a shame that a stadium that once hosted FA Cup football is just abanndoned like it was.
There were however two reasons why the game was abanndoned, a congestion in the crowed was the main reason but as fans held back the game sun light - or lack of it also proved a disadvantage.
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It is odd isn't it, esp in a football city like Manchester. :-\ You'd think it would be worth one of those blue/red/black plaques at least.
It was quite well known as the venue for the FA cup; my school used to use the playing fields right next to the stadium (in the 1960s) and I remember hoping that I was playing hockey on a cup final pitch!
Here's another link to a Reg Harris site, with the site owner's personal photo of the stadium. You can see the Toastrack building in the background
http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/statues/regharris.html
:) Barbara
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It is odd isn't it, esp in a football city like Manchester. :-\ You'd think it would be worth one of those blue/red/black plaques at least.
It was quite well known as the venue for the FA cup; my school used to use the playing fields right next to the stadium (in the 1960s) and I remember hoping that I was playing hockey on a cup final pitch!
Here's another link to a Reg Harris site, with the site owner's personal photo of the stadium. You can see the Toastrack building in the background
http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/statues/regharris.html
:) Barbara
Naturally I would like to find and possibly use (given permission of course) images of it during it's glory days as a football ground but from that imagine I can quite clearly see how it would have looked.
I don't know it's capacity but at standing it must have held quite a considerable amount, though the stands don't look high up, maybe this was the reason for it's demise. Also not many Football League grounds (even now) have athletic's tracks circulating the pitch - though my team (Sheffield United) was origionally a cricket pitch and was used for both sports up until 1950's and was only until 1975 when the South Stand was built that it was properly constructed to house only football.
Looking further at the Fallowfield Stadium I noticed that the terracing wasn't roofed, the photo would have been in and around 1950's when most football stadia had roofs on the ground to safe guard spectators from the wind, rain etc; maybe this was a further reason for it's demise and would have cost too much to install a roof around the ground.
Another simple reason is as suggested in an early post that the uprising of both Old Trafford and Maine Road saw no reason for the Football Association to chose Fallowfield as an FA Cup venue and without serious cash flow from that saw little point in remaining it as a football venue.
Of course these are just an opinion and theory but I hope everyone can see where I am coming from...
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Hi Paulmh
If my memory serves me correct.
The only part which I remember as being covered was the stand at the winning line.
Again I think they had two cycle meeting during the week and athletic meetings at the week-ends. They also had a rugby league team playing there for a short period of time (I believe it was Broughton Rangers.)
Regards Ericx
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Now I know that a rugby team may have played there it gives me somewhere else to research.
However I did get a reply from the Uni and they said that there are no remains of the stadium as it was demolished in 1994 and they are currently in process of having a plaque put up in memory of the stadium.
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The Liverpool Mercury Mar 19 1894
FOOTBALL: The County Cup
The tie between Everton and The Rovers on the neutral ground of Fallowfield on Saturday was universally voted as an open affair, and this being so, with every promise of a capital game, it was surprising that the attendance of the public was so small as 9,000;but perhaps it would have been larger had the ground of some football club been chosen instead of that of an athletics organisation. Of the adaptability, however, of the Fallowfield enclosure for accommodation and the evenness of the field of play, no one can dispute, and it was doubtless the only suitable ground in the County for this particular match since Ewood Park and Goodison Park were out of Court.
Re Rugby, Lancashire and Yorkshire met there in 1892 before a crowd of 15,000. A touring South African (1902) and Australian (1908) Rugby team played there in the early 1900s.
It was also noted for Lacrosse, the English Final attracting a crowd of 2,000 late 1800s.
regards
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Thank you for that, didn't realise Everton had played their too!