White City Stadium

White City Stadium was a stadium located in White City, London, England. Built for the 1908 Summer Olympics, it hosted the finish of the first modern marathon and other sports like swimming, speedway, boxing, show jumping, athletics, stock car racing, concerts and a match at the 1966 World Cup.

From 1927, it was a venue for greyhound racing, hosting the English Greyhound Derby until its closure in 1984. The stadium was demolished in 1985 and the site is now occupied by White City Place.

History

Designed by the engineer J. J. Webster and completed in 10 months by George Wimpey, on part of the site of the Franco-British Exhibition, this stadium with a seating capacity of 68,000 was opened by King Edward VII on 27 April 1908 after the first stanchion had been placed in position by Lady Desborough on 2 August 1907. The cost of construction was £60,000. Upon completion, the stadium had a running track and three laps to the mile (536 m); outside there was a , cycle track. The infield included a swimming and diving pool.

Many events of the 1908 Olympics were at the stadium itself whereas nowadays there are many arenas. The Olympic rugby union final between Australia and Great Britain was held in the stadium on 26 October 1908 and events such as archery and gymnastics took place at White City, while some others took place at Queens Club. Swimming was held at White City, in a 100 metres long pool dug in the infield.

The position of the finish line for the marathon in the 1908 Summer Olympics is commemorated by a marker in the plaza that now stands there. The distance of the modern marathon was fixed at these Games and calculated from the start of the race at Windsor Castle to a point in front of the royal box. The medal table for the 1908 Summer Olympics is also listed on a nearby wall.

The original running track continued in use until 1914. There were attempts to sell the stadium in 1922, but several athletes in the team for the 1924 Summer Olympics used it for training.

In 1926, the GRA (Greyhound Racing Association) took over the stadium and in 1927, the track was grassed over for greyhound racing and speedway. They built new covered terracing and a restaurant. From 1927 until its closure, it hosted weekly greyhound meetings and was considered the top greyhound track in Britain. It hosted the sport's premier event, the English Greyhound Derby, until 1984. Just before and after the Second World War attendances were huge, a record 92,000 spectators attended the 1939 Derby final.

In 1931, a 440yd running track was installed for the Amateur Athletic Association Championships, held there from 1932 to 1970. Besides the AAA championships, major athletics events, including international matches, were held at the stadium. In 1954, in a match against Russia Christopher Chataway broke the world 5000m record running against Vladimir Kuts. The one mile world record was broken there by Derek Ibbotson in 1957. In 1934, the second British Empire Games and the fourth Women's World Games were held at the venue.

Also in 1931, Queens Park Rangers F.C. began the first of two spells playing at the stadium, until 1933 (the second spell was from 1962 to 1963). QPR eventually decided against a permanent move to White City and stayed at Loftus Road.

Between 1932 and 1958, the stadium hosted major British boxing events, with attendances peaking as high as 90,000 for the second meeting between Len Harvey and Jack Petersen in 1934. The first major fight at the stadium was Len Harvey's unsuccessful challenge for the NBA Middleweight Championship versus Marcel Thil

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases