The Athletic Grounds was a
stadium
A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
in
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...
,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It was the home of
Rochdale Hornets
The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the League 1, the third tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs tha ...
Rugby League Football Club for over 90 years until 1988. It has also been used for
speedway
Speedway may refer to:
Racing Race tracks
*Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida.
*Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta.
*Indianapolis Motor Spe ...
,
BriSCA F1 Stock Cars
BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars is a class of single seater, single-seater Stock car racing in the United Kingdom, stock-car-racing in the UK with custom-built cars, with races conducted on walled oval tracks of either shale or Asphalt concrete, tarm ...
and
greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...
.
Origins
The Athletic Grounds east of Rochdale opened in 1894 and the new stadium soon became the home of the
Rochdale Hornets
The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the League 1, the third tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs tha ...
rugby league club. Situated alongside the Oldham & Rochdale branch railway on its south side the stadium could be accessed from Milnrow Road.
Rugby league
Rochdale Hornets moved to the Athletic Grounds in 1894, their first game took place in September 1894 against Crompton. Between 1896 and 1900,
Rochdale Association Football Club
Rochdale Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. The team currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English league system. Nickna ...
played at the Athletics Grounds. Hornets became tenants of the ground in 1900, incidents from the game played on 22 March 1901 resulted in the ground being suspended by the
Northern Union
The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...
.
In the 1911–12 season, the railway stand was covered and a new covered side on the enclosure side was built. Rochdale Hornets purchased the ground in 1913.
The highest attendance at the Athletic Grounds was the 1924 Challenge Cup final between
Oldham
Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...
and
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
when 41,831 saw Wigan win 21–4.
A fire destroyed the main stand, dressing rooms and offices on 18 September 1935. A new stand built over the ashes of the old was opened on Saturday 7 March 1936 for the match against
Liverpool Stanley
Liverpool Stanley was a semi-professional rugby league club from Liverpool, England. It was renamed Liverpool City in 1951, but was otherwise unrelated to the Liverpool City (1906) (rugby league), original Liverpool club of the same name. The c ...
.
On 1 April 1939, seventeen spectators were taken to the hospital and two were killed, following the collapse of part of the centre railway stand roof during the
Salford
Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...
versus Wigan Challenge Cup semi-final. The Athletic Grounds holds the distinction of being the scene of the world record for the longest goal kick in rugby league when
Swinton,
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
and Great Britain second rower
Martin Hodgson
Martin Hodgson (26 March 1909 – 23 July 1991) was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Lauded as one of the game's greatest ever s, he represented Great Britain, England and Cumberland on many occasions. ...
landed a penalty goal from 77¾ yards in a Hornets v Swinton match played in gale force conditions on 13 April 1940.
In January 1947, a Supporters' Club bar opened under the main stand. This was followed by a Supporters' Club tea bar on 24 September 1949. A food licence was granted on appeal. This was the first tea bar since before the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Later, a small tea bar was set up on the railway side of the ground, but was destroyed by vandalism.
Hornets borrowed £3,000 from the
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...
in 1954 to build a new covered outer boundary wall and new turnstiles for the main entrance and Waithlands. The highest attendance for a league match was set on Saturday 16 October 1954, Hornets lost 4–18 to local rivals Oldham in front of 19,654 spectators.
A new popular side stand was built by the Supporters' Club in 1958–59 which increased the covered areas to a capacity of 5,000 spectators and the old railway stand, which had been damaged by vandals, was rebuilt in 1970 with the Supporters' Club contributing £1,400 towards the repairs.
Rugby league Test matches
The list of international rugby league matches played at the Athletic Grounds is:
Rugby league tour matches
The Athletic Grounds also saw the Rochdale Hornets play host to various international touring teams from
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
(sometimes playing as
Australasia
Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
) and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
from 1907 to 1967. Rochdale never won a match against a touring team.
Speedway
Speedway
Speedway may refer to:
Racing Race tracks
*Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida.
*Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta.
*Indianapolis Motor Spe ...
was first held at the Athletic Grounds on 4 August 1928.Speedway arrived in Rochdale at the
Athletic Grounds on 25 August 1928 The first speedway death in Britain occurred at the track, when Clifford Mawson was fatally injured on 21 October 1928.
The last meeting took place on 29 August 1930, Rochdale Speedway Limited decided to go into voluntary liquidation, with "waning interest in the sport" being cited as the reason for failure.
On Sunday 29 March 1970, speedway returned to the Athletics Grounds as
Rochdale Hornets speedway team took on
Crewe
Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...
. The team moved to
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...
at the end of the 1972 season.
Greyhound racing
A greyhound racing syndicate brought greyhound racing to the stadium in 1932 with the opening meeting held on 18 June 1932 under British Greyhound Tracks Control Society (BGTCS) rules, the BGTCS were the main rival to the
National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom
Greyhound racing is a sport in the United Kingdom. The industry uses a parimutuel betting tote system with on-course and off-course be ...
(NGRC) at the time.
In 1935 the BGTCS disbanded and the track switched to the NGRC and in 1938 the company failed in an attempt to purchase the ground from the rugby league club. Rochdale Greyhounds Ltd had earned significant profits from their
tote deductions alone putting them in a strong financial position as the
war
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
approached.
The track had a 450-yard circumference and the racing kennels and paddock were set well behind the main grandstand with the 120 resident kennels further behind these quite near to housing that had been constructed since the opening of the stadium. Race distances were 319, 500 and 530 yards in addition to a 465-yard
handicap. The Racing Manager during the 1950s was T H Mitchell assisted by J Edden.
[
In December 1962 the track decided to leave the NGRC due to falling profits and they went independent (unaffiliated to a governing body), J
Dickinson was the Racing Manager but Mitchell & Edden remained at the track. However, during December 1969 the greyhound racing stopped with the Rochdale Greyhounds Ltd citing unsustainable losses ][ and the landlords refusing to renew the lease.]
Stock car racing
BriSCA F1 Stock Cars
BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars is a class of single seater, single-seater Stock car racing in the United Kingdom, stock-car-racing in the UK with custom-built cars, with races conducted on walled oval tracks of either shale or Asphalt concrete, tarm ...
racing was introduced to Rochdale in May 1970. The track was used until 1972, the big criticism being the height of the inner granite kerb stones. designed to protect the rugby pitch. It returned in 1974 under the promotion of Mike Parker Promotions until 1984 when it finally closed. It was a big fast shale track, 440 yds in length. Rochdale also produced 2 of the sports biggest stars, 391 Stuart Smith and 396 Doug Cronshaw.
Closure
In 1987, both Rochdale Hornets and Rochdale A.F.C. were in financial trouble. First to receive an offer for their ground, Hornets accepted Morrison's £2.6m offer for the Athletic Grounds and, following the sale of the land bought a half share in Rochdale A.F.C.
Rochdale Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. The team currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English league system. Nickn ...
's Spotland Stadium
Spotland Stadium, known as the Crown Oil Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose sports stadium in the Spotland district of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, which is home to Rochdale A.F.C., Rochdale Association Football Club a ...
, thus saving both clubs. A Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, 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 Sco ...
supermarket now stands on the site.
References
Sources
Hornets centenary booklet
{{Motorcycle speedway tracks
Defunct sports venues in Greater Manchester
Defunct rugby league venues in England
Buildings and structures in Rochdale
Rochdale Hornets
Sport in Rochdale
Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom
Defunct speedway venues in England