Re: Lost Stadiums of Rugby League : Mon Apr 13, 2020 8:36 am  

We had a considerable hooligan element in the 70's and 80's, but it had died out in the 90's. I suppose fans of other teams were sick of getting their stadiums and town centres damaged whenever we went there.
The worst violence I saw was at Wigan and Widnes. These two teams plus the Hull sides also had their share of nutters. A lot of these weren't interested in the actual game.
Someone mentioned Alan Rathbone. Before he turned professional I remember seeing him being questioned by police outside Wigan NW station after a game at Central Park, asking him about his bleeding knuckles. Used to go by the nickname of "action".
As for the arrogant Wire tag, it's just nice to have something to be arrogant about.

Re: Lost Stadiums of Rugby League : Mon Apr 13, 2020 8:55 am  

TF and the wire wrote:

As for the arrogant Wire tag, it's just nice to have something to be arrogant about.

??

Re: Lost Stadiums of Rugby League : Mon Apr 13, 2020 9:12 am  

JonnoTheGreat wrote:

I notice Runcorn got mentioned earlier in this thread. I watched a few of their games when they played at Canal Street in the late 80s which was then the home of Runcorn football club. The stadium got demolished around 2001/2002 ish years after the RL club had up sticks and moved out.

I can think of a few of the current grounds which need to join this list of 'lost stadiums of rugby league' though.

Can't think of any, now that the boulevard and fartown have gone.

Re: Lost Stadiums of Rugby League : Mon Apr 13, 2020 9:39 am  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Game-Un ... 1903158621

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Game-Un ... 1903158621

Re: Lost Stadiums of Rugby League : Mon Apr 13, 2020 10:15 am  

I remember going watching Warrington at the Willows which i think was the last game before Salford moved to Barton. It was an evening game & the ground looked quite spectacular when the Salford fans set the score board on fire.

Re: Lost Stadiums of Rugby League : Wed Apr 15, 2020 7:47 pm  

Miro wrote: Have you seen the book "The grounds of rugby league" printed in the 80s or 90s? I got this book, as suggested, and am reading it now. I think it may have answered an earlier question as to Wire being hated. One incident: A derby at Widnes in 1988 when apparently a players' brawl spilled into the terraces and fans got stuck in too. I'm amazed I never heard about this. Coincidentally, there is also a write-up of Warrington vs Wigan 'World War III' match in today's Guardian, which I had heard about but had missed by a few years. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... gby-league

Miro wrote: Have you seen the book "The grounds of rugby league" printed in the 80s or 90s? I got this book, as suggested, and am reading it now. I think it may have answered an earlier question as to Wire being hated. One incident: A derby at Widnes in 1988 when apparently a players' brawl spilled into the terraces and fans got stuck in too. I'm amazed I never heard about this. Coincidentally, there is also a write-up of Warrington vs Wigan 'World War III' match in today's Guardian, which I had heard about but had missed by a few years. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... gby-league

Re: Lost Stadiums of Rugby League : Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:37 am  

[quote="davids"]I got this book, as suggested, and am reading it now.

I think it may have answered an earlier question as to Wire being hated. One incident: A derby at Widnes in 1988 when apparently a players' brawl spilled into the terraces and fans got stuck in too. I'm amazed I never heard about this.

Not quite correct. I was there at the match and it was a long time ago but this is what I remember. It was common practice at the old Naughton Park to let kids sit on the grass on the pitch side of the wall surrounding the pitch. over on one wing, 3 wire players bundled a Widnes player into touch and all 4 of them landed in a heap on the grass colliding with some of these kids.

As play resumed on the pitch, some Widnes muppet, some say he was related to one of the kids, climbed over the wall and confronted Des Drummond and was obviously going for him. bad move and Dessie floored him with a punch,

Dessie ended up in court but got off, rightly in my opinion, 1, the kids shouldn't be sat pitchside, and 2, the specie entered the field of play.

I remember coming out after the game with my colours covered up hearing some of the locals saying "lets get tooled up". I ended up tagging along with some Widnes fans for protection back to my car.

Re: Lost Stadiums of Rugby League : Fri Apr 17, 2020 10:02 pm  

Rugby League break away August 29th 1895, 1st official game @ Belle Vue 21st Sept 1895 Wfd. T. V Wigan, - eventually 200 clubs broke from RFU. See Wikipeadia, therefore I do not know all these clubs & grounds ?

Re: Lost Stadiums of Rugby League : Sun May 31, 2020 9:16 am  

I believe some of the clubs that broke away eventually turned to soccer & that's why the vanished.