West Ham United bid an emotional farewell to the Boleyn Ground with a stunning closing ceremony following an unforgettable 3-2 Final Game victory over Manchester United in May 2016.
The Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium located in Upton Park, east London and was briefly used by Charlton Athletic in the early 1990s during their years of financial difficulty. The seating capacity of the ground at closure was 35,016.
From the 2016–17 season, West Ham United played their home matches at the London Stadium in nearby Stratford. The last first-class match played at the Boleyn Ground was on 10 May 2016, a 3–2 win in the Premier League against Manchester United.
The Hammers ended 112 years at their historic home with a 45-minute showpiece that featured Hammer of the Year winners, dozens of former players, Slaven Bilic’s first-team squad, the Cockney Rejects and ended with the late, great Bobby Moore turning off the lights at the famous stadium.
The amazing day saw tens of thousands of supporters descend on Upton Park to be part of the occasion, just wanting to be among their fellow fans as West Ham said 'Goodbye' to a ground the Club initially moved into in 1904. Those fortunate enough to have a match ticket witnessed a wonderful spectacle on the pitch, too, with Diafra Sakho putting West Ham ahead, Manchester United roaring back through two Anthony Martial strikes, then seeing their own lead disappear as first Michail Antonio, then Winston Reid headed past David De Gea to seal an unforgettable victory.
Following a breathless 90 minutes of football between two of English football’s finest clubs, the Club put on show fitting for their illustrious home ahead of the move to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. After a season review video had played on the big screens, ceremony hosts and lifelong Hammers Bianca Westwood and Ben Shephard took centre-stage.
Proceedings kicked-off with captain Mark Noble leading the first-team around the pitch to accept the applause from a capacity crowd – many of whom were reduced to tears by the overwhelming mixture of pride, sadness and optimism that filled the stadium.
West Ham United moved to the stadium, now known as the Boleyn Ground, for the start of the 1904/05 season. The actual stadium was built on a plot of land next to and in the grounds of Green Street House. The field in which the pitch was to be laid was originally used to grow potatoes and cabbages and, as such, the pitch was often referred to by the locals as 'The Potato Field' or 'The Cabbage Patch', while the ground itself was originally named ‘The Castle’ during its initial 1904/05 season.
Initially leased from the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Authorities - but not before a lengthy debate that saw manager Syd King visit his friend, the influential MP Sir Ernest Gray - the Hammers' new home originally consisted of a small West Stand and covered terrace backing onto Priory Road, along with dressing rooms situated in the north west corner between the West Stand and North Bank.
And as a reminder of a less fortunate moment at a "stadium" and involving "fans", the anniversary of the Bradford City fire at Valley Parade, was yesterday, 11th May 1985.
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