Hoghton Road Stadium was a sports stadium on Hoghton Road,

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

, a suburb of St. Helens (population approx 100,000), the administrative centre of the

Metropolitan Borough of St Helens The Metropolitan Borough of St Helens is a local government district with borough status in Merseyside, North West England. The borough is named after its largest settlement, St Helens but also includes neighbouring towns and villages such as E ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

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 ...

Brief history

It was the ground used by

St Helens Town A.F.C. St Helens Town Association Football Club is an English football club based in St. Helens. The club are members of the , and as from season 2016–17 play their home matches at Ruskin Drive Sports Ground, which they share with local rivals Pil ...

from 1946 to 2000 when the club sold the ground and moved into

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hosted ...

, the home of

St Helens R.F.C. St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...

When the club was founded in 1946, a group of local businessmen purchased the Hoghton Road ground in Sutton for use by the club. In 2000, the final game was played on Hoghton Road when the Champions elect were beaten 1–0, and

relocated to Saints'

. The land was sold to Barratt Homes, for housing development.

Use by Highfield RLFC

In August 1990 Runcorn Highfield signed a 99-year agreement with

and moved to Hoghton Road for the 1990–91 season. In the summer of 1991, during the close season, Runcorn Highfield changed their name to plain Highfield. They continued to use the ground until

decided to increase the rent on the ground. Highfield moved to Valerie Park in Prescot during the 1994–1995 season and at the start of the 1995–1996 season, they were renamed Prescot Panthers. A full history of Hoghton Road Stadium appears on http://www.sthelenstownafc.com/ (click links to club history – then Hoghton Road History)

Greyhound racing

A short lived

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

track was opened by the St Helens Greyhound Company. The first meeting was on 2 July 1993 and the increased income helped the club make a profit. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the

National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom. History The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) was formed in 1928 and this body would be responsible for regulation, licensing and the r ...

) and was known as a flapping track, which was the nickname given to independent tracks. Despite the rugby team leaving in 2000, the last greyhound meeting was held on 9 October 2001.

References

External links

club history – Hoghton Road History
{{English greyhound tracks Defunct football venues in England Defunct sports venues in Merseyside Sport in St Helens, Merseyside Sports venues completed in 1946 Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom

Brief history

Use by Highfield RLFC

Greyhound racing

See also

References

External links