Boundary Park
Oldham Athletic Oldham Roughyeds (Rugby League)
- Games of Oldham Athletic (since 1904)
- Games of the Oldham Roughyeds (Rugby, 1997-2001, since 2003)
The Boundary Park is a football stadium in Oldham, England. Since 1904, it is the venue of the football club Oldham Athletic. In addition to the Latics the local rugby club Oldham Roughyeds uses the stadium since 1997, almost entirely for its home games. The plant is nicknamed Ice Station Zebra. This name is due to the fact that the Boundary Park one of the coldest and highest (155 meters above sea level) is stages of the Football League.
History
The history of the Boundary Park dates back to the year 1896. For the first professional football club in the town called FC Oldham County Athletic Ground was built. Three years later, the club went bankrupt. The Pine Villa FC took over the stadium and changed its name to Oldham Athletic. After one year, the club's venue left again due to problems with the owner and moved a few hundred meters into the Hudson Ford Field. After the spectator interest rose; returned to 1904 in the Athletic Ground back.
At that time owned the stadium with the Main Stand and the Broadway stand two grandstands. The main grandstand was replaced in 1906 and 1907, the Broadway Stand was renewed after the club was admitted to the Football League. After only seven years, the stadium received a new main stand; which, in its basic structure until today. It was renovated over time, extended and now offers 2,455 seats. In 1928 was erected behind the gate in the west the Chadderton Road End.
The old Broadway stand in 1971 replaced by a modern building. In 1986 the playing field artificial turf, which remained at the stadium until the end of season 1990/91 and the terrain became a municipal sports center. In 1991, the Chadderton Road End was renovated, covered and equipped with seats. A year later, the Rochdale Road Stand was built to the east of the stadium. Following the Taylor Report seats were installed in the 1994/95 season on Broadway stand. In May 2008, the end of the Broadway stand came Viewers Rank was torn down and should be replaced by a new grandstand. Today, the stadium has 10,818 seats on the three stands. The visiting fans are located on the Rochdale Road Stand.
Attendance record
The highest number of visitors came to Boundary Park on January 25, 1930. The FA Cup match of the 5th round between Oldham Athletic and Sheffield Wednesday saw 47 671 spectators. After conversion to seat stadium is the most visited encounter is the FA Cup match of the 3rd round against Manchester City. The stands were distributed on 8 January 2005 13,171 spectators.
Future
By the late 1990s, the club had to build the plan on a vacant block of land adjoining a new stadium. This plan failed, however. In 2006 the club unveiled plans for the reconstruction of the Boundary Park in front of a modern stadium with 16,000 seats. The project went under the name Oldham Arena. The building measures included, inter alia, a 4 -star hotel with 130 beds, conference rooms for 1,000 visitors, a fitness center with swimming pool and it should hit about 80 million pounds to book.
On 14 November 2007, the club received the building permit for the construction of the new Broadway stand, as the first part of the new arena. The city council of Oldham but refused further work on the stadium. In another City Council meeting on 12 December 2007, this decision was tipped and allowed the construction again. The demolition of the Broadway Stand began on 8 May 2008 and was completed before the start of the 2008/09 season. The construction of the grandstand should start in December 2008 and take approximately 16 months to complete. Due to the financial crisis the construction project faltered. The former club chairman Simon Blitz said in an interview that it was difficult to get a loan for the new Broadway stand, or even for the entire building. The turnover of the association was decreased by 20%.
In summer 2009, the club and the city Oldham presented new plans for a stadium. For this, the club will leave the old Boundary Park and move to the Failsworth about five kilometers away. The stadium will have a capacity of 12,000 seats and be with £ 20 million significantly cheaper than the previous design. On the grounds of the old stadium houses are to be built to provide housing for employees of the nearby Hospital Royal Oldham Hospital. But some fans of Oldham Athletic have concerns about the stadium location, as he and their stadiums are only a few kilometers from the clubs Manchester United and Manchester City as well as from residents of the property. In March 2010, Oldham Athletic came the new stadium a step closer, with the council of Oldham announced its support for the stadium plans in Failsworth.
Grandstands
- Pentagon Vauxhall Main Stand - (south, grandstand, 2,455 locations, roofed)
- Leesfield Developments Stand ( Rochdale Road Stand ) - (east, stand behind, 3,754 locations, roofed)
- Detect All Alarms Stand ( Chadderton Road Stand ) - (West, stand behind, 4,609 locations, roofed)
- Broadway Stand - ( demolition in May 2008)