Station Road was a
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 ...
in
Pendlebury, near
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
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 of
Swinton Rugby League Club between 1929 and 1992 and was widely recognised as one of the finest grounds in the
Rugby League
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
.
Swinton moved to Station Road when they were at their peak, having won
all four major trophies ("All Four Cups") the previous season, one of only three clubs (the others being
Hunslet
Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past.
It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central parliamentar ...
and
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...
) ever to do so. The decision to purchase the land, which stood alongside the railway line and
Swinton railway station, was made after a breakdown in negotiations with their existing landlord at their
Chorley Road ground, their home since 1887.
International venue
In its heyday it boasted a capacity of 60,000, although with a record attendance of 44,621 for
Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
v
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
in the 1951
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...
semi-final this was never really tested. All in all 19 internationals (including 15
test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to:
* Test cricket
* Test match (indoor cricket)
* Test match (rugby union)
* Test match (rugby league)
* Test match (association football)
...
es), 5
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
finals, 17
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
County Cup
The county football associations are the local governing bodies of association football in England and the Crown dependencies. County FAs exist to govern all aspects of football in England. They are responsible for administering club and player ...
finals, 4
Premiership finals and 30 Rugby League
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...
semi-final
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
s were played at the ground. In addition two World Cup matches were played at Station Road.
The biggest win in any international match at Station Road was when
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
defeated
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
by 50-12 in the second
Ashes test during the 1963 Kangaroo tour. Played in front of 30,843 fans, the match became known as the "Swinton Massacre" as the Kangaroos ran riot. er
Ken Irvine
Kenneth John Irvine (5 March 1940 – 22 December 1990),
also nicknamed "Mongo", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He holds the standing Australian record for the most tries in a ...
crossed for 3 tries giving the British fans (and his opposite, Lions winger
Mick Sullivan
Michael Sullivan (12 January 1934 – 5 April 2016), also known by the nickname of "Sully", was an English World Cup winning professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1970s. He set the record fo ...
) a taste of his legendary speed, while other stars for Australia were
Reg Gasnier and
Peter Dimond
Peter Dimond (28 November 1938 – 21 April 2021) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played his club rugby league for Western Suburbs. Born in Dapto, New South Wales, he is the younger brother of former Australian test player and Ne ...
who crossed for 2 tries each, and Gasnier's partner
Graeme Langlands
Graeme Frank Langlands, MBE, (2 September 1941 – 20 January 2018), also known by the nickname of "Changa", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. and coached in the 1970s.
He retire ...
scored 2 tries and kicked 7 goals. After winning the first test 28-2 at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
, the victory saw Australia regain the
Ashes they had lost to the Lions at home in 1962.
----
1960 Rugby League World Cup
Britain's comprehensive victory over the French at Swinton was marred by the first double sending-off in World Cup annals, France's skipper
Jean Barthe
Jean Barthe (22 July 1932 – 2 December 2017) was a French Rugby League and Rugby Union player.
Playing career Rugby union
Jean Barthe was born in Lourdes and started his career at FC Lourdes. With this club, he won three French Championships ...
and Britain's second-rower
Vince Karalius
Vincent "Vince" Peter Patrick Karalius (15 October 1932 – 13 December 2008), also known as "the Wild Bull of the Pampas", was an English rugby league footballer, and coach. He played as a loose forward, and was part of the Great Britain sq ...
being despatched by Edouard Martung, a police inspector from
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
.
----
1970 Rugby League World Cup
Britain eliminated New Zealand from the tournament, cruising to victory with five tries to three.
----
''List of Great Britain matches played at Station Road''
Also seven England internationals were played at Station Road
Station Road also saw Swinton playing various
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal A ...
international touring sides.
Vandalism and closure
Fire damaged the disused Main Stand including offices and function rooms in July 1992, this was the last in a series of vandalism before the club moved out of Station Road. Station Road was sold at the end of the 1991–92 season by the club's directors to David McLean Homes for property development, part of the deal involved sponsoring the Lions in their first season post Station Road. The last match to be played at Station Road was a local derby versus
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
on 20 April 1992 with 3,487 witnessing Salford winning 26-18 and
Ian Pickavance of
Swinton scoring the last try.
The site is now a housing estate.
External links
Photos of Station Road
References
{{1970 RLWC Venues
Defunct rugby league venues in England
Rugby League World Cup stadiums
Defunct sports venues in Greater Manchester
Sports venues demolished in 1992
Swinton, Greater Manchester
Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom
1992 disestablishments in England
1929 establishments in England
Sports venues completed in 1929