Fellows Park
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Fellows Park was a football stadium in
Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...
,
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 ground of Walsall F.C. from 1896 until 1990, when the team moved to the
Bescot Stadium Bescot Stadium, also known as the Poundland Bescot Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a association football, football stadium in Walsall, England, and the current home ground of Walsall F.C., Walsall Football Club. It was built in 1989–90, ...
. Fellows Park was situated about a quarter of a mile away from the club's present ground, The Bescot Stadium, at the junction of Hilary Street and Wallows Lane. The club moved to the ground from West Bromwich Road in 1896. Until 1930 it was named Hilary Street, at which point it was renamed after H.L. Fellows, a club director. Walsall's record home attendance was at Fellows Park, when 25,453 spectators were present for the team's Second Division match against Newcastle United on 29 August 1961. By March 1988, the club was planning to build a new stadium at nearby Bescot Crescent. Within two years, construction work was underway at the new stadium site and the last league game at Fellows Park was played on 1 May 1990, when Walsall, in the process of their second successive relegation which took them into the Football League Fourth Division, drew 1–1 at home to
Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
, with Andy Dornan scoring the last league goal at the ground – his only goal in his time at Walsall. The final game played at the ground was on 11 May 1990, when retiring defender Peter Hart's testimonial was held there with local rivals
West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
providing the opposition. This game also ended in a 1–1 draw, with Gary Shaw scoring an equaliser for Walsall in the 37th minute, thus going down in history as the last player to score at the stadium, in its 94-year history. The new
Bescot Stadium Bescot Stadium, also known as the Poundland Bescot Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a association football, football stadium in Walsall, England, and the current home ground of Walsall F.C., Walsall Football Club. It was built in 1989–90, ...
was ready for the 1990–91 season. A reminder of Fellows Park remains in the new stadium, in the name of the H.L. Fellows Stand. The old stadium was demolished in early 1991 and 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 headqu ...
supermarket built on the site. In December 1990, several weeks before the stadium's demolition, heavy snow caused the roof of the "cowshed" section of the stadium to collapse.


References

{{coord, 52, 34, 16.13, N, 1, 59, 50.70, W, type:landmark_scale:2000_region:GB, display=title Walsall Walsall F.C. Defunct football venues in England Defunct sports venues in the West Midlands (county) Football venues in the West Midlands (county) Sports venues completed in 1896 English Football League venues Sports venues demolished in 1991