Brockville Park was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

stadium located on Hope Street in

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, north-west of the town centre. It was the home of

Falkirk F.C. Falkirk Football Club is a Scottish professional association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1876 and competes in Scottish League One, the third tier of Scottish football, as a member of the Scottish Prof ...

from 1885 until the end of 2002–03 Scottish football season.50 Fascinating Falkirk Facts
, stforum.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-06-26. The record attendance at Brockville Park was 23,100 on 21 February 1953 in a match against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

.Team Profile & History
, Scottish Premier League. Retrieved 2011-06-26.Brockville Park
FootballGroundMAP.com. Retrieved 2011-06-26. The stadium has since been replaced with a

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqua ...

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

. An old turnstile is on display next to the supermarket's car park.

Layout

The main stand was situated to the West of the pitch and was mostly for home supporters and directors, with a small section in the North West end allocated to away fans. The Cooperage Lane terracing was to the South of the pitch and was for home supporters. The Watson Street terracing was to the North East of the pitch and was for away fans. Away fans also used terracing on James Street at the North end. Part of the James Street end was closed in latter years as it failed to gain a safety certificate. The Hope Street end on the East side was for home fans, where it merged into Watson Street, separated by a metal 'cage'.

Controversy

SPL criteria

Falkirk were denied promotion to the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

on several occasions due to regulations and criteria which Brockville Park did not meet. The most recent was in the 2002–03 season when Falkirk, despite winning the First Division, were refused entry to the SPL. In preparation for winning the First Division that season, and the prospect of promotion, Falkirk started talks with several clubs over a ground-sharing partnership for the 2003–04 season.Falkirk to share ground
BBC Sport. 2003-01-10. Retrieved 2011-06-26. However, the SPL criteria stated at the time that ground-sharing was prohibited for clubs in the Premier LeagueFalkirk consider Airdrie switch
BBC Sport. 2003-02-19. Retrieved 2011-06-26. so Falkirk remained in the First Division and tried to make a ground-share agreement whilst Brockville Park was demolished. Two potential partners were Airdrie United with their

Excelsior Stadium The Excelsior Stadium, is a Association football, football stadium in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the home ground of Airdrieonians F.C., Airdrieonians of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). Since the 2021–22 season ...

and

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

with their ground of

Broadwood Stadium Broadwood Stadium is a multi-use community stadium and sports complex in the Westfield area of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. The stadium is currently the home of Cumbernauld Colts and Open Goal Broomhill of the Scottish Lowland Football Lea ...

in nearby Cumbernauld, a third option was to share

Ochilview Park Ochilview Park is a football stadium in Stenhousemuir in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish League Two club Stenhousemuir, and is also currently shared by Scottish Championship club Queen's Park and East ...

with local rivals Stenhousemuir and eventually an agreement was made for Falkirk to play their home games at Ochilview for one season.

Poor facilities

In 2001, when Recreation Park, the home of

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Formed as Alloa in 1880, the football club shortly changed its name to Alloa Association, and then to Alloa Ath ...

was deemed unsuitable by police to host a match against Celtic due to its small capacity, Brockville Park was chosen as the venue for the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, This was met with criticism from both clubs over the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

and their decision because the ground lacked

under-soil heating Under-soil heating is a method used in various sports stadia (with a grass surface) which heats the underside of the pitch to avoid any elements from bad weather, such as snow and ice, from building up and ultimately helps the club avoid having to ...

, which was significant because the match was scheduled to be played in January at the height of winter. Another argument was that a previous match between Alloa and Celtic was relocated to Partick Thistle's

Firhill Stadium Firhill Stadium is a football and former rugby union, rugby league and greyhound racing stadium located in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, Scotland which has been the home of Partick Thistle since 1909. The stadium is commonly referred to as s ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, which is an all-seater stadium. Alloa Athletic's manager at the time, Terry Christie, had shown confusion to why the Scottish Cup tie was not also hosted at a similar venue, rather than Falkirk's Brockville Park, which contained terracing and was not an

all-seater stadium An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in professional association football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Most association football and Ame ...

Closure

Brockville Park was demolished towards the end of 2003, having remained largely unchanged for decades, and was considered unsafe to host matches in the

due to its largely terraced spectator areas. The site was then sold to supermarket chain

who built a new branch in place of Brockville Park. The supermarket contains memorabilia commemorating Falkirk's history at Brockville Park. An old

turnstile A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a t ...

from the stadium is located just outside the supermarket. The club ground-shared with local rivals Stenhousemuir at

for the 2003–04 football season whilst their new home, the

Falkirk Stadium The Falkirk Stadium is a football stadium in Falkirk, central Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish League One club Falkirk and Lowland Football League club East Stirlingshire. The stadium has a capacity of and currently consists of t ...

was being constructed. In 2004 Falkirk moved to their newly built stadium on the outskirts of the town.Falkirk Football Club - Falkirk Stadium
, Falkirk Stadium. Retrieved 2011-06-26.

Greyhound racing

Brockville Park became the second of three

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 ...

venues in Falkirk; the first was Firs Park. Racing took place from 16 July 1932 until 15 May 1935. The racing ended due to competition from the nearby new custom built Diamond Stadium/Brockville Greyhound Racecourse. It cost an estimated £10,000 to build the greyhound track around the football pitch in 1932 and the management joined the British Greyhound Tracks Control Society (BGTCS), an organisation formed to assist tracks wishing to race under regulations and a rival to the bigger

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 ...

(NGRC). The Brockville Park management led by Racing Manager Captain John Hill O.B.E (also a qualified vet) had purchased the greyhounds from the Crewe sales one week before the opening night. A six race card with tote betting only, formed the first meeting but that would be increased to eight races at a later date. The runners were cared for by former Firs Park trainer William Hay who would take over from Captain Hill the following year. The biggest event held at the track was called the Falkirk Greyhound Derby and racing sometimes took place immediately after football matches. The hope that the racing would ease the financial problems of Falkirk FC never materialised. The track at some stage after 1935 gained a licence with the NGRC, the licence was withdrawn on 22 October 1937.

References

External links

Brockville Park at the Scottish Football Archive

Brockville Park on FootballFans.eu
contains facts about stadiums and matches {{Scottish greyhound tracks Sports venues completed in 1885 Defunct football venues in Scotland Falkirk F.C. Sports venues in Falkirk (council area) Scottish Football League venues Sports venues demolished in 2003 Buildings and structures in Falkirk Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Greyhound racing in Scotland Demolished buildings and structures in Scotland Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom