Victory Park is a football ground in

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

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 ...

. The home ground of Chorley F.C., it opened in 1920. It has hosted some big games, including their FA Cup game against

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

in the 2020/21 season. It has one seated stand, accompanied by 3 areas for standing.

History

Chorley originally played at Dole Lane (now the Coronation recreation ground), but moved to Rangletts recreation ground in September 1901. Victory Park was built adjacent to the recreation ground in 1919 and was opened in 1920. It was named Victory Park to commemorate the end of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The original grandstand was gutted by fire on 17 November 1945, just hours after an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

tie against

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

, with a new stand being built in May 1947 at a cost of £5,500. Chorley's record attendance for a game at Victory Park is 9,679 for a FA Cup tie against

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road, A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to ...

on 15 November 1932.

Rugby league

Springfield Borough moved to Victory Park in 1988 and became ''Chorley Borough RLFC''. They played there for one season before moving to

Moss Lane Moss Lane is a multi-purpose stadium in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. It is currently used primarily for football matches and is the home ground of Altrincham. The stadium also hosts games for Manchester United's under 17s side, and ...

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

and adopting the name ''Trafford Borough RLFC'' for the 1989–90 season. This caused a boardroom split leading to the creation of a new Chorley Borough rugby league club based at Victory Park. Chorley's first game was against Trafford Borough in the Lancashire Cup in front of 628 spectators. The record attendance at Victory Park was 2,851 for the visit of

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 ...

in January 1990. The club went through a variety of names 'Chorley Chieftains', 'Chorley Magpies', 'Central Lancashire' (non playing period), 'Lancashire Lynx', and finally 'Chorley Lynx'. In 2004 Chorley Lynx folded due to poor attendances and the withdrawal of funding by backer

Trevor Hemmings Trevor James Hemmings (11 June 1935 – 11 October 2021) was a British billionaire businessman. Early life Hemmings was born in Woolwich, London, on 11 June 1935, the son of a Royal Ordnance worker. During the Second World War, part of the Ro ...

1883 Stand

In the 2017-18 Vanarama National League North season, Chorley started work on the '1883 Stand' that would add an extra 75 seats to Victory Park for sponsors and 1883 Lounge use only. The stand has space on either side to possibly expand in the future.

References

Football venues in England Defunct rugby league venues in England Sports venues completed in 1920 Chorley {{England-sports-venue-stub