Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

How Many Different Sports Have Been Hosted by Football Stadia?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #76
    Looks to have been a British Army Boxing Team gala to raise funds for the British Legion in 2010

    From battlefield to boxing ring, British Army boxers square up and help raise thousands of pounds for the Royal British Legion at The Battle of Stamford Bridge, at Chelsea Football Club on Armistice Day. The sporting event held at Chelsea's Great Hall saw Army Boxing Team members Army Sportsman of the Year Martin Stead, 2009 bantamweight champion James Allen and Olympic medal hopeful heavyweight Emanuel Izronritei, take on boxers from the London Amateur Boxing Association. Guests at the black-tie event enjoyed the company of serving soldiers who told of their experiences in Afghanistan. Senior commanders presented a different perspective of the battlefield and Afghan veteran Corporal Tom Neathway - who featured in the TV documentary 'Wounded' - was there supporting the event

    Comment


      #77
      In 1983, the Tug of War federation of Ireland were awarded the right to host the World championships. Where would you stage 170 big men, participating in a sport that requires you to dig your heels deeply into the ground. Where else but Dundalk's ground, Oriel park. God knows what the groundstaff thought. No wonder they have an artificial pitch now.

      Comment


        #78
        Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
        Looks to have been a British Army Boxing Team gala to raise funds for the British Legion in 2010
        Ah, good find, but that would have been in a function room rather than on the pitch, which I think is what we're essentially looking for.

        OTF would have lapped up that event. Can't think why I didn't publicise it on here.

        Comment


          #79
          Originally posted by Capybara View Post
          It's interesting that Mo Farah holds the UK 1500m record.
          12th best all-time by anybody. Curiously, most of the top 12 have been set in Monaco in its mid-July meeting.

          Comment


            #80
            I've spent the last hour looking for anything, and found that Jimmy 'The Mighty Atom' Wilde beat Joe Conn in a flyweight title bout at Stamford Bridge on 31/8/1918. Surely there must have been other boxing events there?

            Last edited by 1974ddr; 13-01-2021, 19:37.

            Comment


              #81
              Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post

              12th best all-time by anybody. Curiously, most of the top 12 have been set in Monaco in its mid-July meeting.
              Would presume the promoters have offered big cash bonuses for successful world records? Gone are the days when world records used to happen in places like Rieti and Koblenz.

              Comment


                #82
                Wasn't Oslo famous for records?

                Comment


                  #83
                  Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                  Wasn't Oslo famous for records?
                  It was quite big for it in the 70s and 80s but again it will have been outspent by other meetings in more recent years. The mile used to be a prestige event and I'm sure I remember watching it on prime time Saturday night ITV in the 80s.

                  Comment


                    #84
                    Originally posted by 1974ddr View Post
                    I've spent the last hour looking for anything, and found that Jimmy 'The Mighty Atom' Wilde beat Joe Conn in a flyweight title bout at Stamford Bridge on 31/8/1918. Surely there must have been other boxing events there?

                    You're doing a fine research job there, sir.

                    I've had a look through my books but they focus on the club and football rather than the occasional alternative uses of the stadium, unfortunately.

                    Comment


                      #85
                      Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                      Wasn't Oslo famous for records?
                      Wasn't the tightness of the Bislett track supposed to be conducive to fast times or something?

                      Comment


                        #86
                        According to Simon Inglis White City had speedway, cycling, various flavours of your disputed athletics, rugby union, rugby league (Wigan Highfield moved there), boxing, show-jumping, rodeos, prayer meetings and baseball as well as football, swimming and the dogs.

                        Wikipedia adds stock car racing and archery.

                        Our friend Mr Inglis also claims cheetah racing, although I thought that only occurred at Romford and Harringay dog tracks...
                        Last edited by The Mighty Trin; 13-01-2021, 22:04.

                        Comment


                          #87
                          Originally posted by The Mighty Trin View Post
                          rugby league (Wigan Highfield moved there),.
                          I'm fairly sure there was an RL test match there as well but Wiki fails to mention it.

                          Comment


                            #88
                            Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post

                            I'm fairly sure there was an RL test match there as well but Wiki fails to mention it.
                            London Highfield played my own team Wakefield Trinity in the first non-exhibition league game at White City on 20/9/33 at a time when there was hope of establishing rugby league in the capital. Streatham and Mitcham and Acton and Willesden were briefly set up later, but it all failed. Rugby league tests had also been played at Craven Cottage in 1911 and Highbury in 1921. As late as 3/11/1967 the Aussies beat Great Britain at White City 17-11 in front of only 17,000, although the crowds were barely much bigger oop north.

                            Comment


                              #89
                              My first ever live rugby match was Fulham v Australia at Craven Cottage.

                              Comment


                                #90
                                Originally posted by The Mighty Trin View Post

                                As late as 3/11/1967 the Aussies beat Great Britain at White City 17-11 in front of only 17,000, although the crowds were barely much bigger oop north.
                                17,000 doesn't seem too bad considering - there wouldn't have been many travelling from the North given there would have been a lot of opportunities to see the Kangaroos already on that tour, and looking at Wikipedia just now it appears it was played on a Friday night.

                                That was also the tour in which Cumberland famously beat Australia (I put some pages on the old programmes thread). What I didn't realise until looking at the tour schedule just now that Australia had played on the 9th, 11th, 13th, 16th before playing Cumberland on the 18th - I know they would have rotated players but still.

                                The French leg of that tour is interesting as well, playing to very small crowds over the Christmas period, including little more than 5,000 in the Stade Velodrome in Marseille and a test match on Christmas Eve in Carcassonne. And Wikipedia has this gem:

                                The team was captain-coached by Reg Gasnier making his third and ultimately final Kangaroo Tour. Gasnier broke his leg during the first test at Headingley that saw him sit out the remainder of the English leg. He returned to the field in France but in a minor game against Les Espoirs in Avignon, he suffered a further break. This would ultimately cause him to announce his retirement from playing at the age of just 28.

                                (The first of those was 21 October and the second 21 December).


                                Comment


                                  #91
                                  ...down the rabbit hole now - on the next Kangaroos tour in 1973 they played a test at Wembley in front of less than 10,000.

                                  Comment


                                    #92
                                    26.11.69 North West Counties v Springboks was played at White City Stadium, Manchester, but I'm not sure that stadium ever hosted football given that Old Trafford was only a mile away.

                                    England v Uruguay was moved to White City, London, in 1966 because Wembley refused to cancel its greyhounds meeting.

                                    Comment


                                      #93
                                      Originally posted by Giggler View Post
                                      The 1994 Lacrosse World Cup, held at Gigg Lane that summer.



                                      When you look at the state of the pitch before the 1994/95 season has even kicked off, it’s no wonder it looked like this in the 1995 Third Division play-offs after a full season of Bury games, a full season of Manchester United reserve games and a full season of Swinton Lions RLFC games.


                                      That reminds me of watching the highlights of the '79 World Series - Pirates v Orioles. The games played in Baltimore were at old Memorial Stadium, a grass field shared with the Colts (RIP). It was awful. I can't imagine either MLB or the NFL tolerating that now, but it was just the way it was then.



                                      Lacrosse is almost exclusively played on artificial surfaces now. But it wasn't long ago - my brief and bad lacrosse career - where digging the ball out of the mud while being beat with a stick was just part of the outdoor game. Lots of odd bounces too, so the best way to shoot was to try to bounce it in the crease. Now the sticks are so high tech and the players are so good that they just pick their spots and

                                      Penn State used to play both men's and women's lacrosse on Jeffrey Field, the soccer pitch named for the coach of the 1950 US World Cup team (and PSU coach). They played on a variety of artificial and real fields around campus, including the indoor one, but now have their own nice stadium.

                                      Our local high school stadium used to have real grass and was pretty much just used for gridiron five times a year plus the occasional flood. But since they put down artificial turf on it over 20 years go, they use it for soccer, field hockey and lacrosse.
                                      Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 14-01-2021, 16:30.

                                      Comment


                                        #94
                                        There was a stretch of a few years where the Galaxy had to play road games a few weeks in a row because their stadium was used for dirt bike races and BMX races for the ESPN X-Games. The pitch was absolute shit after that, and this was always right around the end of the season.

                                        Comment


                                          #95
                                          Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                                          Would people say that dressage, horse racing and show jumping are the same sports? I hope not!
                                          Dressage and show jumping are different? I thought they were both putting on a fancy suit and making a horse trot around and do jumps. Are there no jumps in dressage?

                                          Comment


                                            #96
                                            Dressage is horse dancing.

                                            Comment


                                              #97
                                              And show jumping is horse dancing except they also jump?

                                              Comment


                                                #98
                                                Originally posted by Incandenza View Post
                                                And show jumping is horse dancing except they also jump?
                                                They don't dance though. That minor detail aside.

                                                Comment


                                                  #99
                                                  Originally posted by ad hoc View Post

                                                  They don't dance though. That minor detail aside.
                                                  But it's not a race, right? They're judged on their style/performance from what I remember. I don't really see how that and dressage are all *that* different.

                                                  Comment


                                                    They're not judged on style, I don't think. They have to get over all the jumps in a set period of time, and each jump knocked down adds a time penalty.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X