Victory Park is a
football ground in
Chorley
Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...
,
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 Lancashi ...
,
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 ...
. The home ground of
Chorley F.C.
Chorley Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chorley, Lancashire, England. They currently compete in and play their home matches at Victory Park. The club was founded as a rugby union club in 1875 but switched to footba ...
, it opened in 1920.
History
Chorley originally played at Dole Lane (now the Coronation recreation ground), but moved to Rangletts recreation ground in September 1901. Victory Park was built adjacent to the recreation ground in 1919 and was opened in 1920. It was named Victory Park to commemorate the end of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The original grandstand was gutted by fire on 17 November 1945, just hours after an
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
tie against
Accrington Stanley
Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...
, with a new stand being built in May 1947 at a cost of £5,500.
Chorley's record attendance for a game at Victory Park is 9,679 for a FA Cup tie against
Darwen
Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners".
The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the sout ...
on 15 November 1932.
Rugby league
Springfield Borough moved to Victory Park in 1988 and became ''Chorley Borough RLFC''. They played there for one season before moving to
Moss Lane
Moss Lane (currently known as the J. Davidson Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a multi-purpose stadium in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. It is currently used primarily for football matches and is the home ground of Altrincham. The ...
,
Altrincham
Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...
and adopting the name ''Trafford Borough RLFC'' for the 1989–90 season. This caused a boardroom split leading to the creation of a new
Chorley Borough rugby league club based at Victory Park. Chorley's first game was against
Trafford Borough in the Lancashire Cup in front of 628 spectators. The record attendance at Victory Park was 2,851 for the visit of
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...
in January 1990.
The club went through a variety of names 'Chorley Chieftains', 'Chorley Magpies', 'Central Lancashire' (non playing period), 'Lancashire Lynx', and finally 'Chorley Lynx'. In 2004 Chorley Lynx folded due to poor attendances and the withdrawal of funding by backer
Trevor Hemmings
Trevor James Hemmings (11 June 1935 – 11 October 2021) was a British billionaire businessman.
Early life
Hemmings was born in Woolwich, London, the son of a Royal Ordnance factory worker father. During the Second World War, part of the Royal ...
.
1883 Stand
In the 2017-18 Vanarama National League North season, Chorley started work on the '1883 Stand' that would add an extra 75 seats to Victory Park for sponsors and 1883 Lounge use only. The stand has space on either side to possibly expand in the future.
Football venues in England
Defunct rugby league venues in England
Sports venues completed in 1920
Chorley
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