Hartlepool Stadium was 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 ...

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 ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

stadium in Clarence Road,

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. It is not to be confused with

Victoria Park (Hartlepool) Victoria Park is a football ground in Hartlepool, County Durham, England, which is the home of League Two club Hartlepool United. The four sides of the ground are known as the Town End Terrace (official capacity 1,775), the Niramax Stand ( ...

which was adjacent to the stadium in Clarence Road.

Origins

The site was first used as a cricket ground in 1881 when the Hartlepool Cricket Club moved there from Burn Road. They continued to play at the ground until 1911. After the cricket team vacated the ground it was converted into a football stadium on the south side of

which was the home of

West Hartlepool R.F.C. West Hartlepool Rugby Football Club (nicknamed West) is an English rugby union club who play in Durham/Northumberland 1 in the seventh tier of the English rugby union system. History West Hartlepool Rugby Football Club was formed in 1881. Of ...

Greyhound racing

A greyhound track was constructed around the ground in 1938. The first meeting was held on 14 September 1938 drawing an attendance of 4,000 and the first winner was a greyhound called Arran Beg. During the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

the track suffered considerable bomb damage. Owned by the Hartlepool Greyhound Racing Company Ltd (HGRC) the track had a small 365 yards circumference and race distances of 266, 460 and 640 yards. There was a covered stand, a restaurant, 35 kennels and an 'Inside Sumner' hare system was used. There were seven on course bookmakers and the principal event was the Vaux Tankard. Facilities included a licensed bar and cafe. The racing was independent (unaffiliated to a governing body).

Rugby union

West Hartlepool played at the stadium from the 1920s until the 1970s.

Closure

Greyhound racing continued to be promoted by the HGRC until 1999 when the stadium closed. It was later demolished and redeveloped into a large

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

References

{{English greyhound tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct rugby union venues in England Defunct cricket grounds in England