Springfield Park was a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tamesid ...

. It was the home ground of Wigan Athletic F.C. until the club moved to the new

JJB Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

(now DW Stadium) after the 1998–99 season. At its largest, the stadium held 40,000. In its 102-year existence the ground only saw 32 years as a Football League venue, 11 years for

Wigan Borough F.C. Wigan Borough Football Club was an English football club from the town of Wigan, Lancashire. It was a fifth attempt at establishing football in Wigan, their forerunners were Wigan A.F.C., Wigan County, Wigan United and Wigan Town, County and ...

and 21 years for Wigan Athletic FC, before it was demolished to make way for a housing estate in 1999. The stadium had previously been home to Wigan County, Wigan United, Wigan Town, and Wigan Borough (previously Wigan United and Wigan Association) as well as

and Springfield Borough rugby league sides. It was also used for horse trotting, as a track cycling

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement c ...

, for wrestling and for athletics. Springfield Park was designed by architect Richardson Thomas Johnson and built in 1897 at a cost of £16,000. It was owned by The Wigan Trotting and Athletic Grounds Company Ltd. The first professional football match at the stadium took place in September 1897 when Wigan County played Burton Swifts in a friendly match.

Association Football

History

Wigan County were the first team to play at Springfield Park. Their greatest event was a 1–0 loss at the hands of

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

before their liquidation and extinction three years after their 1897 formation. Wigan United took the lease at Springfield Park in 1901, competing for two seasons in the Lancashire League. After being drawn away to Stalybridge Rovers in the third round of the Rawcliffe Cup, they declined to play due to a waterlogged pitch. However, the referee ruled otherwise, leaving Stalybridge to kick off, dribble and place the ball into the net. Wigan Town was the third attempt to establish football in Wigan in 1905, but it too failed to survive for more than three years. After a period of inactivity at Springfield Park due to the First World War, Wigan United beat Fleetwood 2–0 on 6 September 1919 in the West Lancs League. This was the first official game after the war and would lead to the club taking the lease for the ground on 2 December 1919 for the rest of the season. United eventually became

in 1920 and became one of the founder members of the

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

. They won their first game, against Nelson, 2–1 in front of 9,000 spectators. The club's best performance was in 1928–29 when they reached the Third round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

. This was to be the largest attendance ever recorded at Springfield Park, with 30,443 spectators watching a 3–1 loss to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

. Wigan Borough resigned from the football league during the 1931–32 season. Shortly after Borough went out of business, a new club, Wigan Athletic F.C., was formed and continued to play their home games at Springfield Park. After lengthy negotiations, Wigan Athletic purchased the ground from the owner of

Woodhouse Lane Stadium Woodhouse Lane Stadium was a greyhound racing and speedway stadium, located in Wigan. Origins The stadium was constructed and opened in 1928, in only the second year of oval track greyhound racing in the United Kingdom. The stadium known as the ...

for £2,800 with the proviso that greyhound racing never take place at Springfield Park. During the 1952–53 season, the main stand was razed to the ground by fire, resulting in major fundraising efforts for the construction of a new stand. The following season, a record crowd of 27,526 watched Wigan Athletic beat

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

4–1. To this day, it is the largest attendance ever recorded between two non-league clubs excluding Wembley finals. 19 October 1966 marked the first floodlit match at Springfield Park, when Wigan Athletic played Crewe Alexandra. This was a full year before floodlights were installed at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

. In October 1978,

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are ...

–coached by Brian Tiler, himself an ex-Latics manager– became the first national team to play at Springfield Park. Wigan won the game 2–1. Wigan Athletic F.C. moved to the new

after the 1999 season. The final competitive goal to be scored at the stadium was by Manchester City's Paul Dickov.

Attendances

Wigan Borough

=Football League

= # Stockport County, 1 April 1929. Division 3 North: 15,162 #

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete histor ...

, 14 October 1922. Division 3 North: 13,000 #

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, 27 August 1923. Division 3 North: 13,000 #

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

, 1 September 1928. Division 3 North: 12,646

=Other

= #

, 12 January 1929. FA Cup Round 3: 30,433

Wigan Athletic

=Football League

= #

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

, 26 December 1983. Division 3: 10,045 #

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park ...

, 19 April 1986. Division 3: 9,485 # Barnsley, 3 March 1979. Division 4: 9,427

=Other

= #

, 1953–54. FA Cup Round 2: 27,526 (record attendance for a match between two non-league teams at a non-league ground) #

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

, 1953–54. FA Cup Round 3: 26,500 #

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, ea ...

, 1934–35. FA Cup Round 3: 25,304

Neutral Venue

-v-

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

, 2 October 1922. Whitehaven Pit Disaster Fund: 15,000

Rugby League

Wigan Rugby League team became sub-tenants of Springfield Park (which they shared with Wigan United who had playing preference) playing their first game there on 14 September 1901. A crowd of 4,123 saw them beat Morecambe 12–0. Wigan rugby league team's record crowd at Springfield was 10,111 when they beat Widnes on 19 March 1902. The last game was on 28 April 1902 when Wigan beat the Rest of Lancashire Senior Competition. Wigan then moved to

. The only other rugby league team to play at the ground was Springfield Borough who played at Springfield Park for one season in 1987–88. A continuation of Springfield Borough still play under the guise of Blackpool Panthers in League 1.

Cycling

The concrete cycle track featured a home straight wide, while the banking was wide, rising . It was used regularly for competitions; local racing cyclists who raced there included Benjamin Jones, who competed in the

1908 London Olympic Games The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were o ...

winning two gold medals.

References

External links

*
Ultimate Wigan Athletic Website

The Springfield Park Memorial

Wigan Athletic official website

{{Wigan Warriors Defunct football venues in England Defunct rugby league venues in England Defunct velodromes in the United Kingdom Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Kingdom Defunct sports venues in Greater Manchester 1897 establishments in England 1999 disestablishments in England Sports venues completed in 1897 Sports venues demolished in 1999 Demolished buildings and structures in Greater Manchester Sport in Wigan English Football League venues Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Wigan