The Bob Lucas Stadium (formerly named the Wessex Stadium) is a football stadium in Weymouth,

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 has been the home ground of

Weymouth F.C. Weymouth Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in the town of Weymouth, Dorset. They compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the Terras due to their t ...

since 1987. It was formerly a

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 ...

and

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

stadium.

Football

The ground, which was built to hold 10,000 with 900 seated in the stand, first saw a football kicked with the visit of

Taunton Town Taunton Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Taunton, Somerset. They compete in the , the sixth tier of English football and play their home matches at Wordsworth Drive, which they moved into during the 1953 season. ...

in the Western Counties Floodlight Cup final on 18 August 1987 in front of 1,023 spectators. The league season opened on 26 August with a visit from Lincoln City – who had just suffered relegation from

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

– and the official attendance was 3,500.

Ron Greenwood Ronald Greenwood CBE (11 November 1921 – 9 February 2006) was an English football player and manager, best known for being manager of the English national football team from 1977 until 1982, as well as being manager of West Ham United for 13 ...

performed the official opening of the ground on 21 October 1987, prior to an exhibition match against

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

- which the Terras won 1–0. The attendance for this fixture was given as 4,904. In July 2010, the name of the stadium was changed from the Wessex Stadium in homage to the long-serving club president Bob Lucas, during his fight against cancer. He died a month later, aged 85.

Origins

The Wessex Stadium was built on the west side of the East Chickerell Court Lane opposite the East Chickerell Race Course in the early 1950s.

Greyhound racing

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 ...

first took place at the stadium on 5 August 1954. 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 ...

). Racing was held on Thursday and Saturday evenings. The track was described as a fast galloping grass track with an inside Sumner hare system and race distances of 300, 525, 765 and 990 yards. The racing ended in 1985.

Speedway

Speedway took place between 1954 and 1985.

References

External links

Ground of the week: The Wessex Stadium (BBC)
{{Motorcycle speedway tracks Football venues in England Bob Lucas Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Kingdom Sports venues in Dorset Sports venues completed in 1987 Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct speedway venues in England 1987 establishments in England