Valley Parade, Bradford.

 The following pictures were the result of my car having repairs done in a garage and me having more time than I expected to pass. I wasn't expecting to be in Bradford more than a couple of hours but my car proved more stubborn than expected and luckily I had my camera and the day wasn't too bad to pass time on.

Valley Parade is a sports stadium in the Manningham district of Bradford, West Yorkshire. Home of Bradford City since 1903 the stadium was originally the home ground of Manningham FC, the first champions of the then Northern Union(rugby league) who opened it on the site of a quarry in 1886. The ground has also been home to Bradford (Park Avenue) and Bradford Bulls RLFC during it's history.

The stadium was largely unchanged from 1908 until it became a 3 sided ground in 1952 when the Midland Road Stand was demolished due to faults found in the foundations. The problems forced the Midland Road (East) Stand to be rebuilt twice and the stadium remained largely a 3 sided ground until 1966 when the East Stand was finally completed.

The Main (JCT 600) Stand which was the scene of one of the worst disasters to occur at a sporting event on the 11th May 1985 when fire swept through the stand resulting in the deaths of 56 people and injuries to a further 265. Since the disaster the stadium has been completely rebuilt.

These pictures were taken on the 10th December 2022 with a Nikon d3300 camera, clicking any image should open a link in another window to the version on Clickasnap.

The Stadium is all seater and has a capacity of 25,136 spread across 5 stands the north western corner stand being separate to the Kop and JCT 600 stands.

The Main (West) Stand

The JCT 600 Stand also known as the Main Stand is the largest stand with a capacity of 9,004, it's unusual in that the stand only runs 3/4 of the length of the pitch, with offices occupying the last 1/4 of the pitch area. This stand also has a small uncovered area near to the offices.

The Midland Road (East) Stand

The Midland Road is a single tier stand with a capacity of 4,500, around the turn of the Millenium former chairman Geoffrey Richmond had a plan to add a second tier to the stand increasing capacity in the East Stand to 10,000. This stand is used to house away fans.

The Kop

I think this picture shows what traditional British Football Stadiums are about, having been built up around the housing that surrounds the stadium. The Kop Stand towering above the terraced housing on Rear Rock Terrace. I'm led to believe that the reason the main stand is oddly shaped is because of the right to light the houses on the eastern side of the ground enjoy prevent major development.

The Kop is the 2nd largest stand at Valley parade holding 7,492, unusually for Kop stands in British Football it has 2 tiers, traditionally Kop stands only having a single tier.

TL Dallas (South) Stand

The TL Dallas South Stand is the smallest stand at Valley Parade holding 1,840 people, it is 2 tiered and hemmed in by Holywell Ash Lane making further expansion unlikely. It is dwarfed by the rest of the stands at the ground and traditionally housing away fans.

Thanks for looking, please take a moment to share and follow me on social media.

All the images when clicked should open a link to the un-watermarked, higher resolution version on Clickasnap.

All the images remain the copyright of Colin Green.

Griffin Park, Brentford.

Not a set of football pics but a set of art works created by me of the former Griffin Park Football Stadium, Home of Brentford Football Club until 2020. 

Griffin Park opened on the 1st September 1904 with a 1-1 draw between Brentford and Plymouth Argyle, and closed after the final game between Brentford "B" and Erith Town in the London Senior Cup. The record attendance for a Brentford FC match at the ground was 38678 fora FA Cup 6th round tie against Leicester City in the February 1949, Brentford lost 2-0.

The ground has featured athletics, tennis, Gaelic Football and baseball in the early part of it's history, and was the home ground of the London Broncos Rugby League team from 2002 until 2006.

Other notes of interest about Griffin Park is the stadium being underneath the flight path of Heathrow Airport and the roof of the stands being used as giant advertising boards, and a pub being situated on each corner of the ground.

The pictures are based on aerial shots of the ground from each corner in 2019, the artwork was created by me in 2020 for someone that had requested art style prints of the ground for their Brentford supporting daughter.

Thanks for looking and please take a moment to share and follow me on social media.

Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the un-watermarked, higher resolution version on Clickasnap.

All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.

UK Rugby League Grounds from Above

 One of my hobbies is the sport of Rugby League, I am a supporter of Halifax RLFC, who recently changed there name to Halifax Panthers. The club has had it's success throughout it's history being league champions 4 times and challenge cup winners 5 times. Since relegation from Super League in 2003 the club has been a mainstay of the championship. It was from the recent decision by Super League to refuse re-entry to the competition to Toronto Wolfpack and open up a bidding process to clubs from the championship to enter super league and league ones clubs to enter the championship that I started to have a look at the grounds of the League 1 clubs.

From this interest the idea of creating a short video of each clubs ground from the air was born, originally I had planned to only show the league 1 clubs grounds, but found I had enjoyed the process as it differed from what I normally put together so I then completed videos of all the Championships clubs and Super  League clubs home stadia.

League 1.

League 1 currently features 10 clubs, with future admissions possible from a reborn Toronto Wolfpack, Ottawa Aces, New York City, Belgrade, Valencia, Bristol and Liverpool, Ottawa the only confirmed one for 2022. For the 2021 season the league will be made up of Barrow Raiders, Coventry Bears, Doncaster RLFC, Hunslet Hawks, Keighley Cougars, London Skolars, North Wales Crusaders, Rochdale Hornets, West Wales Raiders and Workington Town.

Championship.

Probably the most competitive league in the British rugby system where a good start to the season could see any one of the 14 clubs either promoted or relegated. The 2021 season will see Batley Bulldogs, Bradford Bulls, Dewsbury Rams, Featherstone Rovers, Halifax Panthers, London Broncos, Newcastle Thunder, Oldham RLFC, Sheffield Eagles, Swinton Lions, Toulouse Olympique,  Whitehaven RLFC, Widnes Vikings and York City Knights do battle.

Super League.

The Super League is the highest level of rugby league competition in the UK and the 2nd highest worldwide. After the ejection of Toronto Wolfpack, Leigh Centurions were promoted to level the competition to 12 clubs for the 2021 season and the rest are, Castleford Tigers, Catalans Dragons, Huddersfield Giants, Hull FC, Hull Kingston Rovers, Leeds Rhinos, Salford Red Devils, St Helens RFC, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, Warrington Wolves, and Wigan Warriors.

Thanks for looking and please take a moment to share. You can also follow me and subscribe to my various social media platforms via the link in the sidebar.

Stadio Pierluigi Penzo, Venice

On a visit to Venice in October - November 2018 and being a football fan I wanted to try and visit the local football stadium, I must confess I knew nothing about the local team or even if they had one, but i was intrigued enough to find out knowing the Italians passion for football. 

Upon arrival I asked a couple of people and found yes Venice does have a local football team and they aren't that successful, having gone bankrupt for a third time in 2015 and during the season 2018-19 struggling to avoid relegation from Serie B, eventually surviving a relegation play-off. The only major honour the club has won is the Coppa Italia in 1941.

The stadium itself is the 2nd oldest continually used stadium in Italy, opening in 1913 and takes it's name from fighter pilot Pier Luigi Penzo who served during World War 1. The stadium's record attendance was 26000 in 1966 for a game against AC Milan, a figure that's unlikely to broken as the stadium now has a capacity of just 7450. The stadium looks a little sad and neglected from the outside, I was unable to enter as it was locked up tight and nobody was around to ask, I had thought that you would be able to enter for a small fee. The ground is unique in that visiting teams often arrive by boat.

There are a total of 7 pictures taken around the outside of the ground, they can be seen below or full size, resolution and un-watermarked on Clickasnap.

The video below is taken from my YouTube channel.

Thanks for looking and please take a moment to share and follow me on social media. The pictures can be purchased and viewed full size, resolution and un-watermarked on my Clickasnap account.

All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.