Plough Lane

Plough Lane was a football stadium in the Wimbledon area of south west London. It was the home ground of Wimbledon Football Club from September 1912 to May 1991 when it closed "(see below)". The club moved from there to Selhurst Park (the ground of Crystal Palace F.C., on a ground-share arrangement) until 2003, when it relocated controversially 62 miles north to Milton Keynes.

The Plough Lane ground is not to be confused with Wimbledon Stadium, a separate venue situated approximately 500 metres away on the same road, which continues to stage greyhound racing and motorbike speedway meetings. The famous "Wimbledon Championships" tennis grounds are over a mile away.

Wimbledon is now represented in senior football by AFC Wimbledon, who currently play at the Kingsmeadow in nearby Kingston upon Thames but have long-held ambitions to eventually return to Merton.

Closure of the ground

During Wimbledon FC's amateur days in the 1930s and 1940s, crowds of between 7,000 and 10,000 were not uncommon at Plough Lane.

Following the club's election to the professional Football League in 1977 it achieved very rapid success, climbing through the divisions in record time - rising from a non-league side to become a First Division club in less than a decade and winning the FA Cup two years later.

Although the team were now playing at the very highest level possible, their home ground had changed little from their amateur days. At the time of their acceptance into the Football League, applicants had only to meet minimal stadium criteria, and once in the League these same criteria sufficed whether the club subsequently found itself in the Fourth or the First Divisions. But this situation was rapidly to change, to Wimbledon's misfortune.

Following the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 and the subsequent Government report of 1990 the Taylor Report, the football authorities introduced strict rules giving top-flight clubs specific deadlines by which to redevelop terraced grounds or to build new all-seater stadia. The Board of the club decided that Plough Lane could not be made to comply with this economically and, in 1990, announced plans to "temporarily" ground-share at Selhurst Park with South London rivals Crystal Palace and promised to expand and redevelop the site, or at least find a new site for a ground in the borough.

With Plough Lane situated at the junction of two busy major roads, and with the River Wandle flowing directly behind one end, major redevelopment of the site as a modern all-seater football stadium was difficult, although not impossible. Wimbledon's final game at Plough Lane was played at the end of the 1990-91 season, when they finished seventh in the First Division. [WISA feasibility study into Plough Lane ground] .

The club maintained that it had "searched exhaustively with Merton Council" for a site in or around Merton on which to build a new stadium, looking at "14 different sites over a period of 5 years", in addition to commissioning feasibility studies of both Plough Lane and Wimbledon Stadium [ [http://www.mkweb.co.uk/mkdons/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=12192 Wimbledon FC, Club press release, 2003] ] . Despite this nothing became of the promise to redevelop the site or find a new ground in the borough and the club remained 'homeless' until its demise.

The final match and later use

Wimbledon's final first team match at Plough Lane, on May 4 1991, was made more painful for the 10,002 spectators when it resulted in a depressing 3-0 defeat to south London rivals and soon-to-be landlords Crystal Palace F.C..

It remained in use during the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons for the reserve teams of both Wimbledon and Crystal Palace, but then fell into total disuse and was finally demolished in 2001.

A new development of private apartments now stands on the site.

Ownership history

The Plough Lane site originally belonged to Merton Borough Council. In 1959, the Council sold the site to Wimbledon F.C. for £8,250, subject to a pre-emption covenant inserted to deter asset-strippers, that stated that were the ground to be offered for sale again then the Council had the right to re-acquire it at the same price [ [http://www.wisa.org.uk/cgi/l/files/20020530_fa.pdf Report of the Independent Commission on Wimbledon F.C.'s wish to relocate to Milton Keynes] ] .

In 1984 the Board of WFC agreed to repay some of the accrued debt it owed to its controversial Lebanese Chairman Sam Hammam, by "transferring" the site to a company controlled by him, which it then leased back to the Club. After many years of negotiating, the council finally agreed to Hammam's requests to waive its covenant relating to re-acquisition [Ibid, FA Independent Commission report] and he successfully acquired the land for £3m and applied for a change of use (to housing or light industrial development [ [http://www.wisa.org.uk/cgi/l/articles/index.cgi?action=show&id=462 WISA, Plough Lane update (1)] ] ).

Hammam sold the site to Safeway plc in 1994, making a personal profit of over £5M. Despite repeated efforts in the next 11 years, Safeway then failed to secure permission to build a supermarket, before finally giving up and selling [ [http://www.wisa.org.uk/cgi/l/articles/index.cgi?action=show&id=264 WISA, Plough Lane Sale Agreed] ] the site to a private property developer. Planning permission was given to developers, David Wilson Homes, in November 2004, with Section 106 agreement signed in October 2005, for a mixed use residential scheme on the site including 570 flats [ [http://www.wisa.org.uk/cgi/l/articles/index.cgi?action=show&id=514 WISA Plough Lane Update (2)] ] .

Notable historical events

Wimbledon's highest ever attendance figure at Plough Lane was 18,080 for an FA Amateur Cup match versus HMS Victory on March 2, 1935. The bulk of spectators were made up of navy servicemen on leave. By the time of its closure in 1991, the stadium's official capacity was 15,876 of which 2,050 were seated.

The first match under floodlights at Plough Lane was on the evening of 3 October 1960, for a London Charity Cup match versus Arsenal F.C. in front of 8,900 spectators.

Unusual features

The narrow wooden South Stand, backing on to Plough Lane itself, was originally bought from Leyton Orient F.C. in 1923, having been built in 1906. It was badly damaged by a bomb in 1940, and was still officially classed as a "war ruin" in 1950, but was eventually repaired and remained in use and unchanged until 1986, when safety laws brought about by the aftermath of the Valley Parade fire forced its temporary closure to the public.

In one corner of the stadium at Plough Lane there featured a very unusual turnstile, which became popularly known as 'The Turret'

There was also a large electricity pylon overlooking one corner of the ground, which fans would often climb up at considerable personal risk for a better view to avoid paying for a ticket. Local residents could easily see into the ground as well from their 2nd floor windows or from roofs, with many spectators watching from quite precarious positions, similar to scenes at The Oval when the England cricket team play.

Further reading

"The Football Grounds of Great Britain", (Collins Willow 1996) by Simon Inglis
* Relocation of professional sports teams

References and sources