Bloomfield Road

About

Bloomfield Road is a football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool Football Club since 1901. It is the third stadium since the club's founding, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the Athletic Grounds. Largely unchanged since the 1960s, the stadium began a redevelopment phase in the early 2000s. A temporary East Stand was erected before the start of the 2010–11 season, the club's debut in the Premier League. It is still in place today. The three permanent stands are named the Stan Mortensen North Stand (denoted by the acronym "B.F.C." spelled out in white seats, the Jimmy Armfield South Stand (with "ARMFIELD" spelled out in white seats) and the Sir Stanley Matthews West Stand (with one of the club's nicknames, "SEASIDERS", spelled out in white seats). The record attendance at Bloomfield Road is 38,098, when Blackpool played Wolverhampton Wanderers on 17 September 1955. The stadium hosted three matches of the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship. It has also been the venue for the final of the Northern Rail Cup, a rugby league tournament.

Before moving to Bloomfield Road, Blackpool had called two other grounds home during their short existence. Firstly, between 1896 and 1897, they played their fifteen home Football League matches at Raikes Hall Gardens (also known as the Pleasure Gardens). In 1897, they moved to the Athletic Grounds at the present-day Stanley Park, which hosted thirty-two League matches over two seasons. After a short spell back at Raikes Hall Gardens in 1899, during their season out of the League, and again for all but the first home game of the 1900–01 campaign, Blackpool made the permanent move to Bloomfield Road. The ground was originally known as Gamble's Field, so named for the farmer who owned the land, when South Shore played there in the Lancashire League in 1899. The first competitive game played at the ground took place on 21 October 1899, when South Shore played the 1st South Lancashire Regiment. A comment at the time was: "The new ground was not quite finished on Saturday and the linesman had plenty to do besides watching the game to keep the spectators from getting over the line. The grandstand was not up, but it is expected to be ready for next Saturday. A bar is going to be erected and two dressing tents." The official opening of the ground did indeed occur on 28 October 1899, when South Shore entertained Newton Heath in an FA Cup tie. When Blackpool merged with South Shore in December 1899, the former club moved into the latter's ground and changed the name to Bloomfield Road. Additionally, the two clubs amalgamated with the Lancashire League fixtures of Blackpool, because they were deemed easier than those of South Shore. The first game after the merger took place on 23 December. Horwich R.M.I., with only ten men in their line-up, were the visitors. Blackpool won 8–0. The ground, at this time, had a small wooden grandstand along the western side of the pitch, which seated about three hundred spectators. A perimeter fence ran around the rest of the pitch to keep supporters off the playing surface. Walking to the game would have been very different from today. Coming from the south, supporters would have had to navigate their way through row after row of allotments along Central Drive from Waterloo Road. All behind the west side of the ground were railway sidings and tracks. Henry Street was only partially built up, and behind the north end of the ground lay open space and the town's waste disposer and the corporation stables. After this match, Blackpool returned to play at their Raikes Hall ground, where the Christmas Day game against Oswaldtwistle Rovers resulted in a "better attendance than ever". Raikes Hall was used for the season's remaining home games, and it was not until a practice match on 25 August 1900 that the club, then back in the Second Division, returned to Bloomfield Road. At this time there was only one stand at the ground, a small structure on the western side, which held about 300 seated. Gainsborough Trinity were the first visitors to Bloomfield Road for a Football League game. On 8 September 1900, they drew 1–1 with the Seasiders, in front of what was a "good" attendance of "just under 2,000". It was noted that the ground "conveyed the impression that at some remote period of its history it had been a ploughed field". Once again, Blackpool returned to playing their home games at Raikes Hall for the remainder of the season. "We shall not easily forget Saturday's match, or rather, to be more accurate, the conditions under which it was played", one critic said. "Unfortunately for the club, the game had to be played at Bloomfield Road, and if there is one ground in this town unsuitable for the purpose for which it is used, this is surely the one. It is out of the way, all the players and most of the committee and the spectators declared that it was impossible to play on such a pitch; and the provision for the Press was absolutely nil." In addition, commenting on the attendance, it was thought that "the figure would have been nearly double had Raikes been available". The only reason that the opening fixture was played at Bloomfield Road is that, with it being the tail end of the summer season, Raikes Hall Pleasure Gardens were still being used to entertain the public and as such the football field was unavailable. In fact, it had been agreed pre-season that Raikes Hall would be permanently used as the home ground, but that "as soon as certain improvements are completed, a move will be made to the South Shore ground". These improvements were not made to the satisfaction of the club, and they remained at Raikes Hall. It was not until the start of the 1901–02 season that Bloomfield Road became the permanent home of Blackpool Football Club. The club won its first League game at Bloomfield Road on 12 October 1901, defeating Doncaster Rovers 3–1. In 1906, the local Press were pleading with the club to provide a decent Press box, as they found themselves watching the games from the touchline. The following year, a paddock was built in front of the stand to up the capacity. A decade later, however, a serious fire all but destroyed it, necessitating a complete rebuild. Two years later, the Spion Kop, the former South Stand, was built, holding about 1,000 standing spectators. Along the east side of the ground, the concreted East Paddock was built, costing roughly £3,000, which nearly bankrupted the club but raised the ground to have a capacity of 18,000. Also in 1906, a 2,000-capacity stand was constructed on the north side of the ground. This new stand was named the Motor Stand and made Bloomfield Road one of the few grounds in England to have stands on all four sides of the ground. Partly erected, it was opened for the first time on 10 November for the visit of West Bromwich Albion. The club organist a whist drive at the Conservative Club to help defray the expense. The stand was borrowed from the Blackpool Corporation and practically filled the north side of the ground. It was purchased from the council in June 1908 at a cost of £100. On 13 January 1917, a fire in the West Stand, likely caused by the dressing-room heating system, badly damaged the structure. When the fire brigade arrived, the stand was a blazing inferno with a northerly wind causing the flames to completely destroy the entire southern end, including both the original secretary's office, the boardroom, including club records, many silver cups and a collection of historical photographs that adorned the office. It resulted in a rebuilding programme that eventually saw the ground constructed along the lines that remained for the rest of the century. In 1925, a new South Stand was built to provide a new boardroom, offices, dressing rooms, baths and refreshment bars. It cost just over £13,000 and held 4,000 people, bringing the total ground capacity to well over 20,000. Also this year, a new directors' box was built in the North-West Corner of the ground. It was used for the first time for the visit of Southampton on 29 August 1925. Ernest Lawson commented in the Gazette & Herald: "It's a nice box they have placed themselves in; it must be for safety, for it is far enough out of the way! But of what are they frightened?" He offered an answer at a later date: "The Let Me Smoke railway stokers are a choking nuisance. Now we know from what the directors are protecting themselves." He was referring to the smoke that regularly drifted in at the north-west corner of the ground, caused by passing steam trains. Lawson added: "The crowd do, however, have the last laugh when the wind comes in from the east!" An England v. Ireland amateur international was staged at the ground on 12 November 1927.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.