Villa Park, England
Encyclopedia
Villa Park is an association football stadium
in the district of Witton
, Birmingham
, England with a seating capacity
of 42,786. It has been the home of Aston Villa Football Club
since 1897. The team previously played at Aston Park from 1874 to 1876 and Perry Barr
from 1876 to 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton
and Aston railway station
s and has hosted sixteen England internationals
at senior level, the first in 1899 and the most recent in 2005. It was the first English ground to stage international football in three different centuries. Villa Park has hosted more Football Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup) semi-finals than any other stadium, having hosted 55 matches in total.
In 1897 Aston Villa moved into the Aston Lower Grounds, a sports ground in a Victorian
amusement park
situated in the former grounds of Aston Hall
, a Jacobean
stately home. Prior to the purchase of the freehold in 1911, the ground was rented for £300 per annum. Over the course of its history the stadium has gone through various stages of renovation and development resulting in the current stand configuration of the Holte End, Trinity Road Stand, North Stand and the Doug Ellis Stand. The club has initial planning permission
to redevelop the North Stand, which will increase the capacity of Villa Park from 42,786 to approximately 50,000.
Before 1914 a cycling track ran around the perimeter of the pitch where regular cycling meetings were hosted as well as athletic events. Aside from football-related uses, the stadium has seen various concerts staged along with other sporting events including boxing matches and international rugby league
and rugby union
matches. The last ever final of the European Cup Winners' Cup
, the 1999 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final
, took place at Villa Park.
of Aston Hall's owner Sir Thomas Holte
, the man who gave his name to the Holte End stand, it later became a Victorian amusement park complete with aquarium and great hall. The current pitch stands on the site of the Dovehouse Pool, an ornamental pond drained in 1889. In place of the pool the owners of the Lower Grounds built a cycle track and sports ground that opened on 10 June 1889 for a combined cycling and athletics event that drew an estimated crowd of 15,000. Negotiations continued for two years before the Villa committee reached agreement with the site's owner, Edgar Flower, to rent the Lower Grounds for £300 per annum on a 21-year lease with an option to buy the site at any point during the term. The committee immediately engaged an architect who began preparing plans for the site, which included construction of a new 440 yards (402.3 m) cement cycle track to replace the existing cinder one. The main stand was to be built to the east on the Witton Lane side, with the track and pitch fully enclosed by banking. Construction of the final phase of the stadium began in the winter of 1896 following negotiations with contractors over the price. Several months behind schedule, the almost-complete stadium finally opened on 17 April 1897. The process of fixing issues with the building work would continue for a number of months thereafter. As built, the stadium could house 40,000 spectators, most of whom would stand in the open on the banking. The first match at the ground, a friendly against Blackburn Rovers
, took place on 17 April 1897, one week after Aston Villa had completed the League
and FA Cup
'Double
'.
After winning the league championship in 1899, Villa's record-breaking average crowd of 21,000 allowed the club to invest in a two-stage ground improvement programme. The first stage extended the terrace covering on the Trinity Road side at a cost of £887 while the second cost £1,300 and involved re-laying all terracing around the track to remedy a design flaw that caused poor sightlines for the majority of the crowd. In 1911, Villa bought the freehold of the ground for £8,250, the office buildings in the old aquarium and car park area for £1,500 and the carriage drive and bowling green
for £2,000. This was the first stage in plans drawn up by ambitious Villa director Frederick Rinder
, that would see the capacity of Villa Park increased to 104,000. In June 1914, another phase of enhancements began at Villa Park to compete with improvements at other grounds around the country, including Everton
's Goodison Park
, where a new two-tiered stand had just been completed. The first stage of improvements saw the cycling track removed, new banking at the Holte Hotel End (Holte End) and a re-profiling of all the terracing to bring it closer to the newly squared-off pitch. Rinder turned to the renowned architect Archibald Leitch
to design a new Villa Park. Their joint plans included large banked end stands at the Holte and Witton ends and the incorporation of the original Victorian Lower Grounds buildings, including the aquarium and the newly acquired bowling greens. The outbreak of the First World War severely hampered design and construction efforts.
As a result of the worsening economic situation, 1919 quotes for the implementation of the pre-war construction plans came to £66,000, compared to the 1914 quote of £27,000. By March 1922 this price had reduced to £41,775 and the directors pushed ahead with the plans for the new Trinity Road Stand. Construction began in April 1922 with the stand partially opened in August that year. Construction continued throughout the 1922–23 season with the stand officially opened on 26 January 1924 by the then Duke of York
, later King George VI
. He commented to Rinder that he had "no idea that a ground so finely equipped in every way—and devoted to football—existed." On completion the Trinity Road Stand was considered one of the grandest in Britain, complete with stained glass windows, Italian mosaics, Dutch gable
s in the style of Aston Hall and a sweeping staircase. Several commentators including Simon Inglis
consider it to be Leitch's masterpiece, described in 1960 by a Sunday Times reporter as the "St Pancras
of football." The final cost of the stand and associated 1922–24 ground developments was calculated at £89,000, a sum that enraged the club's directors who ordered an investigation into cost and in 1925 forced the resignation of Rinder.
Villa Park was to remain in much the same state for another 30 years with no major developments until the late 1950s. During the 1930s the earth and timber terraces with wooden crash barriers were completely replaced by concrete terracing and metal barriers, a process first begun by Rinder. In 1936 he was voted back onto the board at the age of 78 after the club were relegated to the Second Division
. Nearly 25 years after he had created his 1914 masterplan, Rinder resurrected it and looked to carry out the third phase of his developments. He died in December 1938 after Leitch who had died in April 1938, leaving his construction business to his son, Archibald Junior. The complete redevelopment and extension of the Holte End began in early 1939 supervised by Archibald Junior. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, all construction across the country stopped. Unusually, given the austerity measures in place at the time, Villa acquired a special permit to continue construction of the Holte End; Simon Inglis notes "How they achieved this is not recorded." Work on the ground was completed by April 1940 and the stand was immediately mothballed as Villa Park switched to its war time role. The Trinity Road Stand became an air-raid shelter
and ammunition store while the home dressing room became the temporary home of a rifle company from the 9th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. German bombs caused £20,000 worth of damage to the Witton Lane Stand, which was not remedied until 1954.
Apart from running repairs and fixing bomb damage, no major projects were undertaken until 1958–59 when four projects were announced. As a result, the old Bowling Green pavilion on the Trinity Road became a medical centre, the basement of the aquarium building was converted into a gym, four large floodlight pylons were installed and a training ground was purchased 500 yards (457.2 m) from Villa Park. The floodlights were first used in November 1958 for a friendly match against the Scottish side Heart of Midlothian
. In the summer of 1962, £40,000 was spent on a roof for the Holte End, the first to provide cover for the ordinary terrace fans at Villa Park since 1922. The old barrel-shaped roof on the Witton Lane Stand, the only remaining feature of the 1897 Villa Park, was removed in the summer of 1963 and replaced with a plain sloping roof in the same style as the Holte End. Villa Park was chosen by FIFA
to host three matches for the 1966 World Cup on the condition that the Witton Lane Stand became all-seater. The players' tunnel also required covering with a cage while the pitch was to be widened by 3 yards (2.7 m). Regular ground developments and innovations began in the summer of 1969 under the direction of the new chairman, Doug Ellis
, who set about redeveloping Villa Park for the modern era. Much of the stadium had fallen into various states of disrepair and was in need of modernisation. Ellis updated the infrastructure, installed a new public address system, carried out plumbing work, which included installing new toilets, resurfaced the terraces and built a new ticket office. His tenure also saw executive lounges replace the old offices in the Trinity Road Stand.
Redevelopment of the Witton End stand began in the summer of 1976. The stand had not seen any major work since 1924 and its rear remained a mound of earth. Initial renovations saw the levelling of the earthen mound and new concrete terraces constructed on the lower tier in preparation for the construction of an upper tier. Stage two began in February 1977 and was officially opened in late October that year. The stand's design and fittings were impressive for the time, including novelties such as an 'AV' logo spelled out in coloured seats and a double row of executive boxes
. As well as the new Witton End stand, renamed the North Stand, Villa Park went through further renovations throughout the ground. The cost of the work was £1.3 million. As a result and as with the construction of the Trinity Road Stand fifty years earlier, Villa were again burdened with debt. An internal investigation found that £700,000 of the £1.3 million worth of bills were unaccounted for. A later report by accountants Deloitte Haskins & Sells found that the bills were inflated by only 10% but that there were "serious breaches of recommended codes of practice and poor site supervision."
In response to the Hillsborough disaster
, the Taylor Report
of August 1989 mandated that all major stadia be converted to become all-seater
as a safety measure. During the summer of 1990, the first changes were made to comply with the report's requirements. The North Stand saw the addition of 2,900 seats to the lower tier of the stand in place of terracing, the Holte End's roof was extended in preparation for more seats, the Trinity Road Stand had its roof replaced and the Witton Lane Stand had more corporate boxes
added. By that time, all four floodlight pylons had been removed to make way for boxes or in preparation for seating and new floodlights were installed on new gantries on the Trinity and Witton stands. In February 1992, the club's application to the Council for permission to demolish the Holte Hotel was rejected. After several months of negotiations, Villa gained permission for a new stand to replace the Witton Lane Stand. The new design meant that the club had to realign Witton Lane and, as a condition of the planning permission, pay £600,000 to compulsory purchase the houses along Witton Lane and upgrade the road from a B to an A road, as well as moving its utilities. The stand was fully operational by January 1994 at a cost of £5 million with 4,686 seats, which brought Villa Park up to a capacity of 46,005. It was announced at the 70th birthday gala of chairman Doug Ellis that the stand was to be renamed the "Doug Ellis Stand", a move that caused some controversy among Villa fans with some still referring to it as the Witton Lane Stand. Nevertheless, during the 1993–94 season, the newly rebuilt Witton Lane Stand became the Doug Ellis Stand. The Holte End was the only remaining stand that did not meet the Taylor Report requirements and a structural survey revealed that putting seats onto the existing terracing would be uneconomical. Instead the decision was taken to build a new stand consisting of two tiers, just four years after construction of the new roof. The demolition of the stand began on the last day of the 1994 season. Its replacement began to open in August 1994 with 3,000 seats in the lower tier occupied for the first seating-only game at Villa Park. By December the same year it was fully operational and had a capacity of 13,501 seats, bringing the Villa Park capacity to 40,310. Upon completion, the Holte was the largest single end stand in Britain.
The next development at Villa Park was the Trinity Road Stand in 2000. It had stood since 1922 though it had seen a number of renovations and additions since. The demolition of the old stand began after the last game of the 1999–2000 season
, an event met with an element of sadness from observers such as Simon Inglis who stated that "the landscape of English football will never be the same." The new stand was much larger and more spacious than the old one, taking Villa's capacity from 39,399 to its present 42,786. It was officially opened in November 2001 by HRH The Prince of Wales, just as the old stand had been opened by his grandfather George VI, 77 years earlier.
The Holte End is a large two-tiered stand at the south end of the stadium. Originally a large terraced banking providing accommodation for more than 20,000 spectators, the current incarnation was constructed in 1994–95 and consists of two tiers with no executive boxes. The two tiers are slightly curved in a parabola to provide good sightlines from all seats while inside there are three levels of spacious concourse area as well as the Holte Suite, a large hospitality room for supporters. The roof is a variant of the "King Truss" system and the front third slopes slightly forward. Two large staircases, pediments, dutch gables and a mosaic introduced in the 2007 season in the style of the old Trinity Road Stand make up the facade, itself inspired by Aston Hall. The Holte End is the most renowned stand at Villa Park amongst home and away team supporters. Traditionally Villa's most vocal and passionate supporters gather here, including some Aston Villa hooligan firms
.
Built in 2000, the main Trinity Road Stand is the most recently completed at Villa Park and houses the dressing rooms, club offices and director's boxes. The stand is composed of three tiers with a row of executive boxes between the second and third tiers. Although much larger than the other stands, the stand has roughly the same roof level as the other three sides. The players' tunnel and the technical area where the managers and substitutes sit during the match are in the middle of the stand at pitch level. The press and the directors' VIP area are situated in the centre of the middle tier. The upper tiers of the stand extend over Trinity Road, the street that cuts behind the ground. Cars travelling along Trinity Road have to pass through what is effectively a tunnel formed by the Trinity Road Stand.
The oldest stand at Villa Park is the North Stand, formerly known as the Witton End, completed in 1977. It is a two-tiered stand, with a double row of 39 executive boxes running between the two tiers. Upper tier seats are claret with "AV" written in blue while the lower tier consists of sky blue seats. The North Stand was "the first major stand in Britain to use what is now broadly termed the 'goalpost' structure." The facade of the stand is a "textured concrete render" typical of the time. Since the segregation of supporters in the 1970s, away fans had been situated in the lower tier of the North Stand. Former manager Martin O'Neill
expressed his desire to have Villa fans seated in the North Stand to improve the atmosphere at Villa Park. For the start of the 2007–08 season
the club released cut-price season tickets for the lower tier of the stand. This meant moving the away fans to the northern end of the Doug Ellis Stand across both tiers. The Doug Ellis Stand, formerly known as the Witton Lane Stand, is a two-tiered stand with a row of executive boxes dividing the tiers. The roof was originally planned to be a goalpost structure, the same as the Holte End and North Stand, but the plans were changed to a simpler cantilever design. It saw slight refurbishment prior to the 1996 European Championships to join the corners with the lower tier of the North Stand, improve leg-room and increase the curve of the terracing to improve sightlines. The main television camera viewpoint is situated here, so televised matches at Villa Park take the point of view of a fan who is sitting on the half-way line in the Doug Ellis Stand.
In the south-west corner, between the Holte End and the Trinity Road Stand, there is a three-storey pavilion-like structure, which is used for corporate hospitality. There is also a large television screen in the same location. On 28 November 2009, a bronze statue of former Villa chairman and founder of the Football League, William McGregor was unveiled outside the stadium. Behind the North Stand is the "Villa Village" made up of club and ticket offices as well as a club shop. The buildings were bought by the club from British Telecom in the 1990s.
has expressed his support for increased capacity as average attendances increased. When completed, the capacity of Villa Park will increase to around 50,000. As of the start of the 2010 season, designs are at a conceptual stage and due to a "multi-year effort to consider business and supporter needs" there is no defined date for construction to start. In the meantime, the entrance to the North Stand, "R Block", has been redecorated inside and out. The facelift has seen the curved fascia above the turnstiles replaced with cladding and canopies similar to those in front of the Holte Suite. The "R Block" concourse has also been expanded to create a larger, brighter open space.
Villa Park was originally listed as one of the six stadiums that will hold Olympic football matches in the 2012 Summer Olympics
. On 10 August 2009 it was announced that the organising committee for the games and the football club had decided that uncertainty around expansion plans meant that the club were "unable to commit fully to hosting matches."
and four matches during Euro '96. The ground has also hosted a number of England internationals at senior level. The first was in 1899 and the most recent in 2005. Sixteen international matches have been hosted at the stadium in total.
Villa Park has been the venue for several Cup competitions. It is the most often used stadium in FA Cup semi-finals
history, having hosted 55 semi-finals. The club hosted the League Cup Final in 1980–81 when Liverpool beat West Ham 2–1 in a replay. In 1999
, the stadium hosted the last ever final of the European Cup Winners' Cup
in which Lazio
beat Real Mallorca
2–1. During the construction of the new Wembley Stadium
between 2001 and 2005, the FA Trophy
Final was held at Villa Park.
Many athletics and cycle events took place at the ground prior to the First World War
while boxing
has been hosted on several occasions. On 28 June 1948, Dick Turpin
, brother of Randolph Turpin, became the first non-white boxer to win a British title in a fight against Vince Hawkins in front of 40,000 spectators following the British Boxing Board of Control
lifting their ban on non-whites challenging for titles. On 21 June 1972 Danny McAlinden
defeated Jack Bodell
in a British and Empire Lightweight title fight.
The first ever rugby league
test series was secured by Great Britain at the ground, when they defeated the touring Australian Kangaroos side 6–5 on 14 February 1909 in front of a crowd of 9,000. A second rugby league game followed three years later on New Year's Day 1912 but only 4,000 people turned up to see Australia beat Great Britain 33–8. The stadium has also seen several international rugby union
tour matches. On 8 October 1924, a North Midlands XV lost 40–3 to the New Zealand side
touring Europe and Canada at the time. The second game took place on 30 December 1953 when Midlands Counties played another New Zealand side on their 1953–54 tour of United Kingdom, Ireland, France and North America
. The Midlands side lost 18–3. On 26 August 1985 Villa Park played host to the first ever American football
"Summerbowl," intended to be the English equivalent to the Super Bowl
. The game was played between the London Ravens and the Streatham Olympians and the low turn-out of 8,000 spectators meant that the Summerbowl was not repeated in subsequent years.
Aside from sporting uses, Villa Park has been a venue for musicians from multiple genres as well as evangelical preachers. The stadium has hosted several rock concerts, including Bruce Springsteen
who played two concerts in June 1988 as part of his Tunnel of Love
Tour. Duran Duran held a charity concert in 1983 to raise money for MENCAP
. Other singers who have played at the ground include Belinda Carlisle
, Rod Stewart
and Robert Palmer. The American evangelist Billy Graham
attracted 257,181 people to a series of prayer meetings held at the stadium over the summer of 1984. Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
held a religious gathering at the stadium in 1989.
. The highest attendance in the all-seater era was 42,788 on 29 December 2009 in a Premier League game against Liverpool
. The highest average post Second World War attendance at Villa Park was 47,168 in the 1948–49 season, while the lowest average post-war attendance was 15,237 in the 1985–86 season.
is approximately 500 metre (0.310686368324903 mi) from Villa Park, and Aston railway station is approximately 1.5 kilometre (0.93205910497471 mi). Under current owner Randy Lerner
, there have been discussions on changing the name of Witton Station to Villa Park as is the case with West Bromwich Albion
's local train station, The Hawthorns
. Aston Villa's former CEO
, Bruce Langham, has said that the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive
(Centro) are amenable to the idea as long as it is done at the expense of the club. No action has yet been taken.
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
in the district of Witton
Witton, West Midlands
Witton is an inner city area in Birmingham, England, in the metropolitan county of the West Midlands. It was within the ancient parish of Aston in the Hemlingford hundred of the historic county of Warwickshire...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England with a seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 42,786. It has been the home of Aston Villa Football Club
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
since 1897. The team previously played at Aston Park from 1874 to 1876 and Perry Barr
Perry Barr
Perry Barr is an inner-city area in north Birmingham, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Perry Barr ward and the wards of Handsworth Wood, Lozells and East Handsworth, and Oscott, which elect three councillors to...
from 1876 to 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton
Witton railway station
Witton railway station serves the Witton area of the city of Birmingham, England. It is situated on the Birmingham-Walsall Line, part of the former Grand Junction Railway, opened in 1837. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland....
and Aston railway station
Aston railway station
Aston railway station serves the districts of Aston and Nechells in Birmingham, England. The passenger entrance is on Lichfield Road.The station is situated adjacent to and above the Lichfield Road , crossed by a bridge as the railway line, part of the original Grand Junction Railway, opened in...
s and has hosted sixteen England internationals
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
at senior level, the first in 1899 and the most recent in 2005. It was the first English ground to stage international football in three different centuries. Villa Park has hosted more Football Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup) semi-finals than any other stadium, having hosted 55 matches in total.
In 1897 Aston Villa moved into the Aston Lower Grounds, a sports ground in a Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
amusement park
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
situated in the former grounds of Aston Hall
Aston Hall
Aston Hall is a municipally owned Jacobean-style mansion in Aston, Birmingham, England. Washington Irving used it as the model for Bracebridge Hall in his stories in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon.-History:...
, a Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
stately home. Prior to the purchase of the freehold in 1911, the ground was rented for £300 per annum. Over the course of its history the stadium has gone through various stages of renovation and development resulting in the current stand configuration of the Holte End, Trinity Road Stand, North Stand and the Doug Ellis Stand. The club has initial planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
to redevelop the North Stand, which will increase the capacity of Villa Park from 42,786 to approximately 50,000.
Before 1914 a cycling track ran around the perimeter of the pitch where regular cycling meetings were hosted as well as athletic events. Aside from football-related uses, the stadium has seen various concerts staged along with other sporting events including boxing matches and international rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
and rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
matches. The last ever final of the European Cup Winners' Cup
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but...
, the 1999 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final
1999 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final
The 1999 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match played between S.S. Lazio of Italy and RCD Mallorca of Spain, to determine the winner of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1998–99. The final was held at Villa Park in Birmingham on 19 May 1999...
, took place at Villa Park.
History
The Aston Lower Grounds, later renamed Villa Park, was not the first home of Aston Villa F.C. Their previous venue, the Perry Barr ground faced increasing problems including a lack of access and exorbitant rents. As a result, in 1894, Villa's committee began negotiations with the owners of the Aston Lower Grounds, "the finest sports ground in the district." Situated in the former grounds of Aston Hall, a Jacobean stately home, the Lower Grounds had seen varied uses over the years. Originally the kitchen gardenKitchen garden
The traditional kitchen garden, also known as a potager, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden - the ornamental plants and lawn areas...
of Aston Hall's owner Sir Thomas Holte
Thomas Holte
Sir Thomas Holte, 1st Baronet was the original owner of Aston Hall , the man after whom the Holte End stand of Villa Park is named, and the possessor of quite a legendary temper....
, the man who gave his name to the Holte End stand, it later became a Victorian amusement park complete with aquarium and great hall. The current pitch stands on the site of the Dovehouse Pool, an ornamental pond drained in 1889. In place of the pool the owners of the Lower Grounds built a cycle track and sports ground that opened on 10 June 1889 for a combined cycling and athletics event that drew an estimated crowd of 15,000. Negotiations continued for two years before the Villa committee reached agreement with the site's owner, Edgar Flower, to rent the Lower Grounds for £300 per annum on a 21-year lease with an option to buy the site at any point during the term. The committee immediately engaged an architect who began preparing plans for the site, which included construction of a new 440 yards (402.3 m) cement cycle track to replace the existing cinder one. The main stand was to be built to the east on the Witton Lane side, with the track and pitch fully enclosed by banking. Construction of the final phase of the stadium began in the winter of 1896 following negotiations with contractors over the price. Several months behind schedule, the almost-complete stadium finally opened on 17 April 1897. The process of fixing issues with the building work would continue for a number of months thereafter. As built, the stadium could house 40,000 spectators, most of whom would stand in the open on the banking. The first match at the ground, a friendly against Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
, took place on 17 April 1897, one week after Aston Villa had completed the League
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
and FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
'Double
The Double
The Double is a term in association football which refers to winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season...
'.
After winning the league championship in 1899, Villa's record-breaking average crowd of 21,000 allowed the club to invest in a two-stage ground improvement programme. The first stage extended the terrace covering on the Trinity Road side at a cost of £887 while the second cost £1,300 and involved re-laying all terracing around the track to remedy a design flaw that caused poor sightlines for the majority of the crowd. In 1911, Villa bought the freehold of the ground for £8,250, the office buildings in the old aquarium and car park area for £1,500 and the carriage drive and bowling green
Bowling green
A bowling green is a finely-laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of lawn for playing the game of lawn bowls.Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on them...
for £2,000. This was the first stage in plans drawn up by ambitious Villa director Frederick Rinder
Frederick Rinder
Frederick William Rinder was a committee member and later chairman of Aston Villa during the club's 'Golden Age'. Known as the 'Grand Old Man of Aston Villa'; he is widely regarded as one of the greatest association football administrators...
, that would see the capacity of Villa Park increased to 104,000. In June 1914, another phase of enhancements began at Villa Park to compete with improvements at other grounds around the country, including Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
's Goodison Park
Goodison Park
Goodison Park is a football stadium located in Walton, Liverpool, England. The stadium has been home to Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892 and is one of the world's first purpose-built football grounds...
, where a new two-tiered stand had just been completed. The first stage of improvements saw the cycling track removed, new banking at the Holte Hotel End (Holte End) and a re-profiling of all the terracing to bring it closer to the newly squared-off pitch. Rinder turned to the renowned architect Archibald Leitch
Archibald Leitch
Archibald "Offside Archie" Leitch was a Scottish architect, most famous for his work designing football stadia throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.-Early work:...
to design a new Villa Park. Their joint plans included large banked end stands at the Holte and Witton ends and the incorporation of the original Victorian Lower Grounds buildings, including the aquarium and the newly acquired bowling greens. The outbreak of the First World War severely hampered design and construction efforts.
As a result of the worsening economic situation, 1919 quotes for the implementation of the pre-war construction plans came to £66,000, compared to the 1914 quote of £27,000. By March 1922 this price had reduced to £41,775 and the directors pushed ahead with the plans for the new Trinity Road Stand. Construction began in April 1922 with the stand partially opened in August that year. Construction continued throughout the 1922–23 season with the stand officially opened on 26 January 1924 by the then Duke of York
Duke of York
The Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of the British monarch. The title has been created a remarkable eleven times, eight as "Duke of York" and three as the double-barreled "Duke of York and...
, later King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
. He commented to Rinder that he had "no idea that a ground so finely equipped in every way—and devoted to football—existed." On completion the Trinity Road Stand was considered one of the grandest in Britain, complete with stained glass windows, Italian mosaics, Dutch gable
Dutch gable
A Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a roof, like a normal gable...
s in the style of Aston Hall and a sweeping staircase. Several commentators including Simon Inglis
Simon Inglis
Simon Inglis is a British architectural historian, writer and broadcaster, most notably about football and stadiums.Inglis was born in Sparkhill, Birmingham and is currently editor of the Played in Britain series on sporting heritage, published by English Heritage...
consider it to be Leitch's masterpiece, described in 1960 by a Sunday Times reporter as the "St Pancras
St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden, between the...
of football." The final cost of the stand and associated 1922–24 ground developments was calculated at £89,000, a sum that enraged the club's directors who ordered an investigation into cost and in 1925 forced the resignation of Rinder.
Villa Park was to remain in much the same state for another 30 years with no major developments until the late 1950s. During the 1930s the earth and timber terraces with wooden crash barriers were completely replaced by concrete terracing and metal barriers, a process first begun by Rinder. In 1936 he was voted back onto the board at the age of 78 after the club were relegated to the Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
. Nearly 25 years after he had created his 1914 masterplan, Rinder resurrected it and looked to carry out the third phase of his developments. He died in December 1938 after Leitch who had died in April 1938, leaving his construction business to his son, Archibald Junior. The complete redevelopment and extension of the Holte End began in early 1939 supervised by Archibald Junior. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, all construction across the country stopped. Unusually, given the austerity measures in place at the time, Villa acquired a special permit to continue construction of the Holte End; Simon Inglis notes "How they achieved this is not recorded." Work on the ground was completed by April 1940 and the stand was immediately mothballed as Villa Park switched to its war time role. The Trinity Road Stand became an air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of the civil population as well as military personnel against enemy attacks from the air...
and ammunition store while the home dressing room became the temporary home of a rifle company from the 9th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. German bombs caused £20,000 worth of damage to the Witton Lane Stand, which was not remedied until 1954.
Apart from running repairs and fixing bomb damage, no major projects were undertaken until 1958–59 when four projects were announced. As a result, the old Bowling Green pavilion on the Trinity Road became a medical centre, the basement of the aquarium building was converted into a gym, four large floodlight pylons were installed and a training ground was purchased 500 yards (457.2 m) from Villa Park. The floodlights were first used in November 1958 for a friendly match against the Scottish side Heart of Midlothian
Heart of Midlothian F.C.
Heart of Midlothian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Gorgie, in the west of Edinburgh. They currently play in the Scottish Premier League and are one of the two principal clubs in the city, the other being Hibernian...
. In the summer of 1962, £40,000 was spent on a roof for the Holte End, the first to provide cover for the ordinary terrace fans at Villa Park since 1922. The old barrel-shaped roof on the Witton Lane Stand, the only remaining feature of the 1897 Villa Park, was removed in the summer of 1963 and replaced with a plain sloping roof in the same style as the Holte End. Villa Park was chosen by FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
to host three matches for the 1966 World Cup on the condition that the Witton Lane Stand became all-seater. The players' tunnel also required covering with a cage while the pitch was to be widened by 3 yards (2.7 m). Regular ground developments and innovations began in the summer of 1969 under the direction of the new chairman, Doug Ellis
Doug Ellis
Herbert Douglas Ellis, OBE , is an entrepreneur, best known as the former chairman of Aston Villa Football Club.-Early life:...
, who set about redeveloping Villa Park for the modern era. Much of the stadium had fallen into various states of disrepair and was in need of modernisation. Ellis updated the infrastructure, installed a new public address system, carried out plumbing work, which included installing new toilets, resurfaced the terraces and built a new ticket office. His tenure also saw executive lounges replace the old offices in the Trinity Road Stand.
Redevelopment of the Witton End stand began in the summer of 1976. The stand had not seen any major work since 1924 and its rear remained a mound of earth. Initial renovations saw the levelling of the earthen mound and new concrete terraces constructed on the lower tier in preparation for the construction of an upper tier. Stage two began in February 1977 and was officially opened in late October that year. The stand's design and fittings were impressive for the time, including novelties such as an 'AV' logo spelled out in coloured seats and a double row of executive boxes
Luxury box
A Luxury box is a special seating section located within stadiums, arenas and other sporting and entertainment venues. They are typically located in the midsection of a stadium grandstand, usually providing the best views of the event...
. As well as the new Witton End stand, renamed the North Stand, Villa Park went through further renovations throughout the ground. The cost of the work was £1.3 million. As a result and as with the construction of the Trinity Road Stand fifty years earlier, Villa were again burdened with debt. An internal investigation found that £700,000 of the £1.3 million worth of bills were unaccounted for. A later report by accountants Deloitte Haskins & Sells found that the bills were inflated by only 10% but that there were "serious breaches of recommended codes of practice and poor site supervision."
In response to the Hillsborough disaster
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....
, the Taylor Report
Taylor Report
The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report, better known as the Taylor Report is a document, whose development was overseen by Lord Taylor of Gosforth, concerning the aftermath and causes of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. An interim report was published in August 1989, and the final...
of August 1989 mandated that all major stadia be converted to become all-seater
All-seater stadium
An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Most soccer and American football stadiums in the United States and Canada are all-seaters, as are most baseball...
as a safety measure. During the summer of 1990, the first changes were made to comply with the report's requirements. The North Stand saw the addition of 2,900 seats to the lower tier of the stand in place of terracing, the Holte End's roof was extended in preparation for more seats, the Trinity Road Stand had its roof replaced and the Witton Lane Stand had more corporate boxes
Luxury box
A Luxury box is a special seating section located within stadiums, arenas and other sporting and entertainment venues. They are typically located in the midsection of a stadium grandstand, usually providing the best views of the event...
added. By that time, all four floodlight pylons had been removed to make way for boxes or in preparation for seating and new floodlights were installed on new gantries on the Trinity and Witton stands. In February 1992, the club's application to the Council for permission to demolish the Holte Hotel was rejected. After several months of negotiations, Villa gained permission for a new stand to replace the Witton Lane Stand. The new design meant that the club had to realign Witton Lane and, as a condition of the planning permission, pay £600,000 to compulsory purchase the houses along Witton Lane and upgrade the road from a B to an A road, as well as moving its utilities. The stand was fully operational by January 1994 at a cost of £5 million with 4,686 seats, which brought Villa Park up to a capacity of 46,005. It was announced at the 70th birthday gala of chairman Doug Ellis that the stand was to be renamed the "Doug Ellis Stand", a move that caused some controversy among Villa fans with some still referring to it as the Witton Lane Stand. Nevertheless, during the 1993–94 season, the newly rebuilt Witton Lane Stand became the Doug Ellis Stand. The Holte End was the only remaining stand that did not meet the Taylor Report requirements and a structural survey revealed that putting seats onto the existing terracing would be uneconomical. Instead the decision was taken to build a new stand consisting of two tiers, just four years after construction of the new roof. The demolition of the stand began on the last day of the 1994 season. Its replacement began to open in August 1994 with 3,000 seats in the lower tier occupied for the first seating-only game at Villa Park. By December the same year it was fully operational and had a capacity of 13,501 seats, bringing the Villa Park capacity to 40,310. Upon completion, the Holte was the largest single end stand in Britain.
The next development at Villa Park was the Trinity Road Stand in 2000. It had stood since 1922 though it had seen a number of renovations and additions since. The demolition of the old stand began after the last game of the 1999–2000 season
1999-2000 in English football
-Premier League:Manchester United were crowned FA Premier League champions with an 18-point margin over runners-up Arsenal and with just 3 league defeats all season. This was despite their failure to retain the European Cup and withdrawal from the FA Cup in order to compete in the FIFA Club World...
, an event met with an element of sadness from observers such as Simon Inglis who stated that "the landscape of English football will never be the same." The new stand was much larger and more spacious than the old one, taking Villa's capacity from 39,399 to its present 42,786. It was officially opened in November 2001 by HRH The Prince of Wales, just as the old stand had been opened by his grandfather George VI, 77 years earlier.
Structure and facilities
Villa Park comprises 42,789 seats split between four stands. These four stands are the Holte End to the South, the Trinity Road Stand to the West, the Doug Ellis Stand opposite the Trinity Road Stand, and the North Stand behind the northern goal. All of the stands are composed of two tiers except the Trinity Road Stand, which has three.The Holte End is a large two-tiered stand at the south end of the stadium. Originally a large terraced banking providing accommodation for more than 20,000 spectators, the current incarnation was constructed in 1994–95 and consists of two tiers with no executive boxes. The two tiers are slightly curved in a parabola to provide good sightlines from all seats while inside there are three levels of spacious concourse area as well as the Holte Suite, a large hospitality room for supporters. The roof is a variant of the "King Truss" system and the front third slopes slightly forward. Two large staircases, pediments, dutch gables and a mosaic introduced in the 2007 season in the style of the old Trinity Road Stand make up the facade, itself inspired by Aston Hall. The Holte End is the most renowned stand at Villa Park amongst home and away team supporters. Traditionally Villa's most vocal and passionate supporters gather here, including some Aston Villa hooligan firms
Football hooliganism
Football hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans...
.
Built in 2000, the main Trinity Road Stand is the most recently completed at Villa Park and houses the dressing rooms, club offices and director's boxes. The stand is composed of three tiers with a row of executive boxes between the second and third tiers. Although much larger than the other stands, the stand has roughly the same roof level as the other three sides. The players' tunnel and the technical area where the managers and substitutes sit during the match are in the middle of the stand at pitch level. The press and the directors' VIP area are situated in the centre of the middle tier. The upper tiers of the stand extend over Trinity Road, the street that cuts behind the ground. Cars travelling along Trinity Road have to pass through what is effectively a tunnel formed by the Trinity Road Stand.
The oldest stand at Villa Park is the North Stand, formerly known as the Witton End, completed in 1977. It is a two-tiered stand, with a double row of 39 executive boxes running between the two tiers. Upper tier seats are claret with "AV" written in blue while the lower tier consists of sky blue seats. The North Stand was "the first major stand in Britain to use what is now broadly termed the 'goalpost' structure." The facade of the stand is a "textured concrete render" typical of the time. Since the segregation of supporters in the 1970s, away fans had been situated in the lower tier of the North Stand. Former manager Martin O'Neill
Martin O'Neill
Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, OBE, is a Northern Irish football manager and former player.Until resigning the post on 9 August 2010, he was manager of Aston Villa. Starting his career in his native Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playing career with Nottingham...
expressed his desire to have Villa fans seated in the North Stand to improve the atmosphere at Villa Park. For the start of the 2007–08 season
2007-08 in English football
The 2007–08 season was the 128th season of competitive football in England.-European competitions:In October 2007 Arsenal equalled the UEFA Champions League record victory with a 7–0 win over Slavia Prague at the Emirates Stadium. The record was broken the following month when Liverpool...
the club released cut-price season tickets for the lower tier of the stand. This meant moving the away fans to the northern end of the Doug Ellis Stand across both tiers. The Doug Ellis Stand, formerly known as the Witton Lane Stand, is a two-tiered stand with a row of executive boxes dividing the tiers. The roof was originally planned to be a goalpost structure, the same as the Holte End and North Stand, but the plans were changed to a simpler cantilever design. It saw slight refurbishment prior to the 1996 European Championships to join the corners with the lower tier of the North Stand, improve leg-room and increase the curve of the terracing to improve sightlines. The main television camera viewpoint is situated here, so televised matches at Villa Park take the point of view of a fan who is sitting on the half-way line in the Doug Ellis Stand.
In the south-west corner, between the Holte End and the Trinity Road Stand, there is a three-storey pavilion-like structure, which is used for corporate hospitality. There is also a large television screen in the same location. On 28 November 2009, a bronze statue of former Villa chairman and founder of the Football League, William McGregor was unveiled outside the stadium. Behind the North Stand is the "Villa Village" made up of club and ticket offices as well as a club shop. The buildings were bought by the club from British Telecom in the 1990s.
Future
Aston Villa have initial planning permission to rebuild the North Stand in the same style as the Trinity Road Stand. Owner Randy LernerRandy Lerner
Randolph D. Lerner is an American entrepreneur and sports team owner.Lerner has been the owner of the American football team, the Cleveland Browns, of the National Football League since October 2002, and the Chairman of Aston Villa Football Club of the English Premier League since 2006...
has expressed his support for increased capacity as average attendances increased. When completed, the capacity of Villa Park will increase to around 50,000. As of the start of the 2010 season, designs are at a conceptual stage and due to a "multi-year effort to consider business and supporter needs" there is no defined date for construction to start. In the meantime, the entrance to the North Stand, "R Block", has been redecorated inside and out. The facelift has seen the curved fascia above the turnstiles replaced with cladding and canopies similar to those in front of the Holte Suite. The "R Block" concourse has also been expanded to create a larger, brighter open space.
Villa Park was originally listed as one of the six stadiums that will hold Olympic football matches in the 2012 Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
. On 10 August 2009 it was announced that the organising committee for the games and the football club had decided that uncertainty around expansion plans meant that the club were "unable to commit fully to hosting matches."
Other uses
Villa Park was the first English ground to stage international football in three different centuries and has hosted matches during several international tournaments. Three World Cup matches were played at the ground during the 1966 World Cup1966 FIFA World Cup
The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the World Cup for the first time, so becoming the first host to win the tournament since Italy in 1934.-Host selection:England was chosen as...
and four matches during Euro '96. The ground has also hosted a number of England internationals at senior level. The first was in 1899 and the most recent in 2005. Sixteen international matches have been hosted at the stadium in total.
Villa Park has been the venue for several Cup competitions. It is the most often used stadium in FA Cup semi-finals
FA Cup Semi-finals
The FA Cup Semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world.- Location :...
history, having hosted 55 semi-finals. The club hosted the League Cup Final in 1980–81 when Liverpool beat West Ham 2–1 in a replay. In 1999
1999 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final
The 1999 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match played between S.S. Lazio of Italy and RCD Mallorca of Spain, to determine the winner of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1998–99. The final was held at Villa Park in Birmingham on 19 May 1999...
, the stadium hosted the last ever final of the European Cup Winners' Cup
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but...
in which Lazio
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football...
beat Real Mallorca
RCD Mallorca
Real Club Deportivo Mallorca is a Spanish football team based on Palma, Majorca, in the Balearic Islands. Founded on 5 March 1916, the team currently plays in the Spanish first division, holding home games at Son Moix....
2–1. During the construction of the new Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
between 2001 and 2005, the FA Trophy
FA Trophy
The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams...
Final was held at Villa Park.
Many athletics and cycle events took place at the ground prior to the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
while boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
has been hosted on several occasions. On 28 June 1948, Dick Turpin
Dick Turpin (boxer)
Dick Turpin, was an English middleweight boxer. He was British and Commonwealth middleweight champion, reputedly being the first black fighter to win a British boxing title...
, brother of Randolph Turpin, became the first non-white boxer to win a British title in a fight against Vince Hawkins in front of 40,000 spectators following the British Boxing Board of Control
British Boxing Board of Control
The British Boxing Board of Control is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1929 from the old National Sporting Club and is headquartered in Cardiff.- Councils :...
lifting their ban on non-whites challenging for titles. On 21 June 1972 Danny McAlinden
Danny McAlinden
Danny McAlinden is a retired heavyweight boxer who was British and Commonwealth champion in 1971 when he defeated Jack Bodell in two rounds at the Aston Villa football ground....
defeated Jack Bodell
Jack Bodell
Jack Bodell is a retired English professional boxer who was active during the 1960s and 1970s....
in a British and Empire Lightweight title fight.
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
test series was secured by Great Britain at the ground, when they defeated the touring Australian Kangaroos side 6–5 on 14 February 1909 in front of a crowd of 9,000. A second rugby league game followed three years later on New Year's Day 1912 but only 4,000 people turned up to see Australia beat Great Britain 33–8. The stadium has also seen several international rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
tour matches. On 8 October 1924, a North Midlands XV lost 40–3 to the New Zealand side
The Invincibles (rugby union)
The Invincibles was a nickname given to the 1924-25 New Zealand rugby union team which toured the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Canada. The team was captained by Cliff Porter, and numbered among its top players George Nepia and brothers Cyril and Maurice Brownlie.Between September 1924 and...
touring Europe and Canada at the time. The second game took place on 30 December 1953 when Midlands Counties played another New Zealand side on their 1953–54 tour of United Kingdom, Ireland, France and North America
1953-54 New Zealand rugby union tour of the British Isles, France and North America
-Matches:-External links:*...
. The Midlands side lost 18–3. On 26 August 1985 Villa Park played host to the first ever American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
"Summerbowl," intended to be the English equivalent to the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
. The game was played between the London Ravens and the Streatham Olympians and the low turn-out of 8,000 spectators meant that the Summerbowl was not repeated in subsequent years.
Aside from sporting uses, Villa Park has been a venue for musicians from multiple genres as well as evangelical preachers. The stadium has hosted several rock concerts, including Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
who played two concerts in June 1988 as part of his Tunnel of Love
Tunnel of Love (album)
Tunnel of Love is the eighth studio album by Bruce Springsteen released in 1987.In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Tunnel of Love the 91st greatest album of all time....
Tour. Duran Duran held a charity concert in 1983 to raise money for MENCAP
Mencap
The Royal Mencap Society is a charity based in the UK that works with people with a learning disability.-Profile:Mencap is the UK's leading learning disability charity working with people with a learning disability and their families and carers...
. Other singers who have played at the ground include Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments...
, Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
and Robert Palmer. The American evangelist Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
attracted 257,181 people to a series of prayer meetings held at the stadium over the summer of 1984. Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
held a religious gathering at the stadium in 1989.
Records
The highest attendance recorded at Villa Park was 76,588, on 2 March 1946 in an FA Cup 6th Round tie against Derby CountyDerby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
. The highest attendance in the all-seater era was 42,788 on 29 December 2009 in a Premier League game against Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
. The highest average post Second World War attendance at Villa Park was 47,168 in the 1948–49 season, while the lowest average post-war attendance was 15,237 in the 1985–86 season.
Transport
Villa Park is within a short distance of two mainline railway stations. Witton railway stationWitton railway station
Witton railway station serves the Witton area of the city of Birmingham, England. It is situated on the Birmingham-Walsall Line, part of the former Grand Junction Railway, opened in 1837. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland....
is approximately 500 metre (0.310686368324903 mi) from Villa Park, and Aston railway station is approximately 1.5 kilometre (0.93205910497471 mi). Under current owner Randy Lerner
Randy Lerner
Randolph D. Lerner is an American entrepreneur and sports team owner.Lerner has been the owner of the American football team, the Cleveland Browns, of the National Football League since October 2002, and the Chairman of Aston Villa Football Club of the English Premier League since 2006...
, there have been discussions on changing the name of Witton Station to Villa Park as is the case with West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
's local train station, The Hawthorns
The Hawthorns
The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, Sandwell, England, with a capacity of 26,484. It has been the home of West Bromwich Albion F.C. since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the club. The ground was the last Football League ground to be built in the...
. Aston Villa's former CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
, Bruce Langham, has said that the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive
West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive
The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive , sometimes known as Centro, is a local government organisation responsible for certain transport services in the West Midlands county in England....
(Centro) are amenable to the idea as long as it is done at the expense of the club. No action has yet been taken.
External links
- Atmosphere and Pictures from Villa Park
- Images tagged Villa Park at FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
- Stadium Guide Article