Football stadiums were
initially very primitive. Therefore, the first FA Cup final was held in
1872 at the Kennington Oval, a cricket ground built in 1845. The Oval
hosted the final until 1892. The following year, the final between
Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton was held at Fallowfield in
Manchester.
Goodison Park was the first purpose built football stadium in England.
It cost £8,090, and was officially opened on 24th August 1892. It
consisted of two uncovered stands, each to accommodate 4,000 and a
covered stand to accommodate 3,000 people. In 1894 it hosted the FA Cup
final between Notts County and Bolton Wanderers, a match with an
attendance of 37,000.
Women were initially allowed in free at some grounds as it was believed
that it would improve the behaviour of make fans. When Preston North End
introduced free tickets in April, 1885, over 2,000 women turned up for
the game. Free entry for women was so popular that by the late 1890s all
the football clubs had discontinued the scheme.
In 1896 Arnold Hills, the chairman of West Ham United, announced that he
had purchased land at Canning Town, Hills built what became known as the
Memorial Grounds. It cost £20,000 to build and was considered to be one
of the best stadiums in the country. Hills claimed it could hold 133,000
spectators and applied to hold an FA Cup Final at the Memorial Grounds.
This only allowed 16 inches for each person and the Football Association
turned the idea down.
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Arnold Hills wanted to hold other sporting events, including cycling and
athletics. As well as a football arena, it also had a cinder running
track, tennis courts and an outdoor swimming pool. According to one
report, the 100 feet (30.4m) long pool was the largest in England. The
Memorial Grounds was opened in June, 1897. Hills made a speech where he
pointed out that it had "the largest cycle track in London where they
would hold such monster meetings that the attention of the Metropolis
would be called to the Thames Ironworks".
The site had been chosen because it was planned to build Manor Road
railway station close to the stadium. Unfortunately the project was
delayed and it was not finished until four years later. This meant that
attendances at the ground were much lower than expected.
Season tickets for the 1897-98 were fixed at 5 shillings (25p). Tickets
for individual matches cost 4d. However, attendances at games were very
disappointing. Only 200 people saw the first game against Northfleet.
This is not surprising when you compare this with the price of other
forms of entertainment. It usually cost only 3d. to visit the musical
hall or the cinema. It has to be remembered that at this time skilled
tradesmen usually received less than £2 a week.
As Dave Russell points out in Football and the English: A Social History
of Association Football in England (1997): "in terms of social class,
crowds at Football League matches were predominantly drawn from the
skilled working and lower-middle classes... Social groups below that
level were largely excluded by the admission price." Russell adds "the
Football League, quite possibly in a deliberate attempt to limit the
access of poorer (and this supposedly "rowdier") supporters, raised the
minimum adult male admission price to 6d".
In the 1899-1900 West Ham United was promoted to the top division of the
Southern League and it was decided to increase season ticket prices. It
was now 10s. 6d (52.5p) for the grandstand and 7s. 6d. (37.5p) for the
rest of the ground. The first home game was against Chatham. The
attendance of 1,000 was lower than most games the previous season and
was probably a reaction to the price rise. However, for a FA Cup game
against local rivals, Millwall, an estimated 13,000 people turned up to
see the game.
The most important figure in the design of football stadiums was
Archibald Leitch. In 1899 he was commissioned to build Ibrox Park, the
new home ground of Rangers. The new stadium comprised large wooden
terraces and a stand accommodating some 4,500 spectators. However,
people began to question Leitch's safety features when on 5th April,
1902, when 25 people were killed and 517 injured as part of the west
terracing collapsed during the annual international game with England.
Despite this disaster Archibald Leitch was commissioned to build other
football grounds. In 1909 John Henry Davies, the chairman of Manchester
United, decided to loan the club £60,000 in order that they could build
a new stadium with an 80,000 capacity. The Old Trafford ground featured
seating in the south stand under cover, while the remaining three stands
were left as terraces and uncovered. When it was completed the stadium
had the largest grandstand in the Football League. It also had a
gymnasium, massage room, plunge baths, bars, lifts and tearooms.
The Empire Stadium at Wembley was built by Robert McAlpine for the
British Empire Exhibition of 1923, at a cost of £750,000. It was
originally intended intended to be demolished at the end of the
Exhibition. However, it was later decided to keep the building to host
football matches. The first match at Wembley, the 1923 FA Cup Final
between West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers, took place only four days
after the stadium was completed.
The Empire Stadium had a capacity of 125,000 and so the Football
Association did not consider making it an all-ticket match. After all,
both teams only had an average attendance of around 20,000 for league
games. However, it was rare for a club from London to make the final of
the FA Cup and supporters of other clubs in the city saw it as a North v
South game. It is estimated that 300,000 people attempted to get into
the ground. Over a thousand people were injured getting in and out of
the stadium.
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