Fellows Park was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was the home ground of

Walsall F.C. Walsall Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Walsall, West Midlands, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club's nickname, "The Saddlers", reflects ...

from 1896 until 1990, when the team moved to the

Bescot Stadium Bescot Stadium, also known as the Poundland Bescot Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Walsall, England, and the current home ground of Walsall Football Club. It was built in 1989–90, by GMI Construction, with a reporte ...

. Fellows Park was situated about a quarter of a mile away from the club's present ground, The Bescot Stadium, at the junction of Hilary Street and Wallows Lane. The club moved to the ground from

West Bromwich Road West Bromwich Road was a sports ground in Walsall, England. It was the home ground of Walsall F.C. between 1893 and 1895, and again from 1900 until 1901. History Following complaints from local residents, Walsall left the Chuckery ground at the ...

in 1896. Until 1930 it was named Hilary Street, at which point it was renamed after H.L. Fellows, a club director. Walsall's record home attendance was at Fellows Park, when 25,453 spectators were present for the team's Second Division match against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

on 29 August 1961. By March 1988, the club was planning to build a new stadium at nearby Bescot Crescent. Within two years, construction work was underway at the new stadium site and the last league game at Fellows Park was played on 1 May 1990, when Walsall, in the process of their second successive relegation which took them into the

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

, drew 1–1 at home to

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

, with Andy Dornan scoring the last league goal at the ground – his only goal in his time at Walsall. The final game played at the ground was on 11 May 1990, when retiring defender Peter Hart's testimonial was held there with local rivals

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

providing the opposition. This game also ended in a 1–1 draw, with Gary Shaw scoring an equaliser for Walsall in the 37th minute, thus going down in history as the last player to score at the stadium, in its 94-year history. The new

was ready for the 1990–91 season. A reminder of Fellows Park remains in the new stadium, in the name of the H.L. Fellows Stand. The old stadium was demolished in early 1991 and a

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqua ...

supermarket built on the site. In December 1990, several weeks before the stadium's demolition, heavy snow caused the roof of the "cowshed" section of the stadium to collapse.

References

{{coord, 52, 34, 16.13, N, 1, 59, 50.70, W, type:landmark_scale:2000_region:GB, display=title Walsall Walsall F.C. Defunct football venues in England Defunct sports venues in the West Midlands (county) Football venues in the West Midlands (county) Sports venues completed in 1896 English Football League venues Sports venues demolished in 1991