Burnden Parkwas the home ofEnglishfootballclubBolton Wanderers,who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the1901 FA Cup finalreplay, in 1946 it was the scene ofone of the worst disasters in English football.The stadium was depicted in a 1953 painting byL. S. Lowry,Going to the Match.
 Burnden Park hosting the1901 FA Cup finalReplay | |
 | |
| Location | Burnden,Bolton,Greater Manchester |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 53°34′08″N2°24′58″W/ 53.56889°N 2.41611°W |
| Owner | Bolton Wanderers F.C. |
| Capacity | 70,000 (maximum) 25,000 (at closing) |
| Record attendance | 69,912, 18 February 1933[1] |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Opened | September 11, 1895 |
| Closed | April 25, 1997 |
| Demolished | 1999 |
| Tenants | |
| Bolton Wanderers F.C. (1895–1997) | |
The stadium was demolished in 1999, two years after Bolton moved toHorwichand their new home at what was then called theReebok Stadium.
Location
editSituated on Manchester Road in theBurndenarea ofBolton– less than a mile south of thetown centre– the ground served as the home of the town's football team for 102 years.
History
editBolton Wanderers was formed in 1874 as Christ Church FC, with the vicar as club president. After disagreements about the use of church premises, the club broke away and became Bolton Wanderers in a 1877 meeting at the Gladstone Hotel.[2]At this time Bolton played atPike's Lanebut needed a purpose built ground to play home matches. As a result, Bolton Wanderers Football and Athletic Club, one of the 12 founder members of the Football League, became a limited company in 1894 and shares were raised to build a ground. Land at Burnden was leased at £130 per annum and £4,000 raised to build the stadium. Burnden Park was completed in August 1895. The opening match was a benefit match against Preston and the first League match was against Everton in front of a 15,000 crowd.[3]
The stadium hosted the replay of the1901 FA Cup Final,in whichTottenham HotspurbeatSheffield United3–1.[4]
The finals of theRugby Football League's1986–87 John Player Special Trophy,and1988–89 John Player Special Trophytournaments were played at the ground before crowds of 22,144 and 20,709 respectively.[citation needed]
In its heyday, Burnden Park could hold crowds of up to 70,000, but this figure was dramatically reduced during the final 20 years of its life, mainly because of new legislation which saw virtually all English stadia reduce their capacities for safety reasons. A section of the embankment was sold off in 1986 to make way for a newNormidsuperstore. Bolton's attendances were also falling sharply by the 1980s due to the club's declining fortunes on the pitch.[citation needed]
The club's directors had decided by 1992 that it would be difficult to convert Burnden Park into an all-seater stadium adequate for a club of Bolton's ambition. They were members of the new Division Two (which was known as the Third Division until the creation of thePremier League) but the club wanted to build a stadium to meet these requirements in the event of promotion to Division One and ultimately the Premier League.
The last Wanderers game played at the historic ground was againstCharlton Athleticon 25 April 1997. Bolton, who were already promoted as Division One champions, defeated Charlton 4–1 after being 1–0 down at half time. Whites' legendJohn McGinlay,who scored more than 100 goals in five years with the club, scored the final goal shortly before Bolton received their trophy and the crowd united in singingAuld Lang Syne.[citation needed]
It was decided to build a new multimillion-pound 25,000-seater stadium (later raised to nearly 29,000) – theReebok Stadium– six miles from Burnden Park at theMiddlebrookdevelopment. The move took place in 1997, bringing an end to 102 years of football at Burnden Park.
On 20 May 1998, a massive fire swept through the stadium. Neighbours called the fire brigade around 8pm, with the Manchester Road stand well alight by the time they arrived. Initial investigations suggested that the fire may have started on the terraces, with around 60 fire fighters dispatched to tackle the blaze which destroyed the Manchester Road stand, leaving what used to be "home" to thousands of Bolton Wanderers supporters nothing more than a burned-out empty shell[5]
Burnden Park disaster
editOn 9 March 1946, the club's home was the scene of theBurnden Park disaster,which at the time was the worst tragedy in Britishfootballhistory. During anFA Cupquarter-final second leg tie between Bolton andStoke City,33 Bolton Wanderers fans were crushed to death, and another 400 injured.[6]There was an estimated 85,000-strong crowd crammed in for the game, which was at least 15,000 more than the ground's capacity. The disaster led toMoelwyn Hughes's official report, which recommended more rigorous control of crowd sizes.[7]
Outside football
edit
The railway embankment of Burnden Park was seen in the 1962 filmA Kind of Loving,starringAlan BatesandJune Ritchie.Part of theArthur Askeyfilm,The Love Match,was also filmed at Burnden Park in the early 1950s. A painting of Burnden Park in 1953 byL. S. Lowry,Going to the Match,was bought for £1.9 million by theProfessional Footballers' Association(PFA) in 1999. It is now in the collection ofThe Lowryarts centre inSalford.[8][9]
References
edit- ^"Club Facts".Bolton Wanderers official website.Archived fromthe originalon 6 August 2007.Retrieved3 March2013.
- ^History,retrieved25 January2010
- ^New Ground,archived fromthe originalon 16 July 2011,retrieved25 January2010
- ^"FA Cup finals –" Bolton "listed under 1901. (The reference to Burnden Park in 1902 is an error)".Archived fromthe originalon 5 September 2015.Retrieved4 May2006.
- ^"Investigation starts as Burden burns".The Bolton News.21 May 1998.Retrieved14 February2024.
- ^"BBC News – Burnden Park football disaster remembered 65 years on".BBC News.9 March 2011.Retrieved4 March2013.
- ^Baker, Norman (1998)."Have They Forgotten Bolton?"(PDF).The Sports Historian.18(1). The British Society of Sports History: 120–151.doi:10.1080/17460269809444773.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 16 June 2012.Retrieved4 March2013.
- ^"Going to the Match",BBC News,1 December 1999,retrieved25 January2010
- ^Sherwood, Harriet; Arts, Harriet Sherwood; correspondent, culture (19 October 2022)."Salford museum pays £7.8m for LS Lowry's Going to the Match".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved8 August2023.
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Sources
edit- Darby, Paul; Johnes, Martin; Mellor, Gavin (2005),Sport in the global society,Routledge,ISBN0-7146-4946-5
- Mangan, Tom (1999),Sport in Europe: politics, class, gender,Routledge,ISBN0-7146-5352-7
External links
edit- Burnden Park at the Stadium Guide
- Burnden Disaster
- StadiumArchived3 February 2013 at theWayback Machine
- Il disastro di Burnden Park (www.saladellamemoriaheysel.it)
