Springfield Park (Wigan)

Springfield Park was a multi-use stadium in Wigan, England. It was the home ground of Wigan Athletic F.C. until the club moved to the new JJB Stadium after the 1999 season. At its largest, the stadium held 35,000. On average during the numerous seasons played at Springfield Park, Wigan Athletic fans numbered 3,000 in the stadium.

The stadium had previously been home to Wigan County, Wigan United, Wigan Town, and Wigan Borough as well as Wigan and Springfield Borough rugby league sides.

Springfield Park was designed by architect R.T. 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 match at the stadium took place in September 1897 when Wigan County played Burton Swifts in a friendly match. [Wigan Athletic AFC - An A-Z, Dean Hayes. ISBN 1-874181-16-0]

Football

Wigan County were the first team to play at Springfield Park. Their greatest achievement was a 1-0 loss at the hands of Manchester City before their liquidation and extinction three years after their formation in 1897. Wigan United were formed in 1901, competing for two seasons in the Lancashire Combination league. After being drawn away to Stalybridge 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 Athletic AFC - An A-Z, Dean Hayes. ISBN 1-874181-16-0] Wigan Town would be the third attempt to establish football in Wigan in 1905 after United folded, but it too would fail to survive for more than three years.

After a period of relative inactivity at Springfield Park, Wigan Borough F.C. were established in 1921 and became one of the founder members of the Football League Third Division North. They won their first game, against Nelson, 2-1. The club's best performance was in 1928-29 when they reached the Third round of the FA Cup. This was to be the largest attendance ever recorded at Springfield Park, with 30,611 spectators watching a 3-1 loss to Sheffield Wednesday.

Boro' were able to entice former Newcastle United and England centre-half Frank Barson to the club, but despite the best efforts of the supporters club were not able to sustain the players' wages much longer.

Wigan Borough resigned from the football league during the 1931-32 season. Shortly afterwards Wigan Borough went out of business and 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 Woodhouse Lane dog track for £2,800 with the proviso that greyhound racing never take place there. [Wigan Athletic AFC - An A-Z, Dean Hayes. ISBN 1-874181-16-0]

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 4-1. To this day, it is the largest attendance ever recorded between two non-league clubs excluding Wembley finals. [ [http://www.wafc.co.uk/honours/index.htm WAFC.co.uk - club honours] ]

In October 1978, Zambia became the first national team to play at Springfield Park. Coached by Brian Tiler, himself an ex-Latics manager, they could not beat Wigan who won 2-1.

Wigan Athletic F.C. moved to the new JJB Stadium after the 1999 season.

Attendances (Wigan Athletic)

Football League

# Bolton Wanderers, 26 December 1983. Division 3: 10,045
# Plymouth Argyle, 19 April 1986. Division 3: 9,485
# Barnsley, 3 March 1989. Division 4: 9,427

Other

# Hereford United, 1953-54. FA Cup Round 2: 27,526
# Newcastle United, 1953-54. FA Cup Round 3: 26,500
# Millwall, 1934-35. FA Cup Round 3: 25,304

Rugby

Wigan rugby league team became sub-tenants of Springfield Park (which they shared with Wigan United and later Wigan Town AFC) playing their first game there on 14 September 1901. A crowd of 4,000 saw them beat Morecambe 12-0. Wigan rugby league team's record crowd at Springfield was 10,000 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 relocated to Central Park.

No other rugby league team would play at the ground until 1987, when a side known as Springfield Borough played at Springfield Park for one season.

References

External links

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* [http://www.chilvers1.demon.co.uk/Borough.htm Ultimate Wigan Athletic Website]
* [http://www.wiganrl.com/ Wigan Warriors official site]
* [http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk Wigan Athletic official website]