1st September 1892
Anfield is the football stadium in Liverpool, which has been the home of Liverpool FC since the club's formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the fifth largest stadium in England. It was originally the home of Everton from 1884 to 1891, before the Toffees moved to Goodison Park, after a dispute with the club president over rent. Mere Green Field was the name of the land where Everton FC built Goodison Park in 1892, on Goodison Road, all named after a civil engineer named George Goodison, who provided a sewage report to the Walton Local Board in the mid-1800s later becoming a local landowner!!! Where there's muck there's brass! AND there were two "toffee shops" nearby-hence the club nickname!
A new club needed to be found by the stadium owners, to play at Anfield, which of course became Liverpool FC, the club, played its first-ever match on this day on September 1st, 1892, beating Midland League champions Rotherham Town 7-1 in a friendly. Around 100 turned up for that match but when Liverpool played its first serious competitive match – just two days later against Higher Walton in the Lancashire League – the Anfield crowd had swelled to around 200!!!! to witness an 8-0 victory. From small beginnings….
Goodison Park was the first major football stadium built in England. It was opened on 24 August 1892, by Lord Kinnaird and Frederick Wall of the Football Association. Somewhat confusingly, the 12,000-strong crowd watched a short athletics meeting followed by a selection of music and a fireworks display. Everton's first game there was later on 2 September 1892, when they beat Bolton 4-2.The publication 'Out Of Doors', reported in October 1892: "Behold Goodison Park! No single picture could take in the entire scene the ground presents, it is so magnificently large, for it rivals the greater American baseball pitches. On three sides of the field of play there are tall covered stands, and on the fourth side the ground has been so well banked up with thousands of loads of cinders that a complete view of the game can be had from any portion.
"It appears to be one of the finest and most complete grounds in the Kingdom, and it is hoped that the public will liberally support the promoters."
A year after moving into the new home, in 1893, Everton were FA Cup finalists. They were then runners up again in the First Division League in 1895. The ground hosted its first FA Cup final in 1894 when Notts County beat Bolton, watched by a crowd of 37,000. At this time, Everton were the richest club in the country, and regular league gates such as the 30,000 which attended in February 1893 were still regarded as enormous.
Despite the revolutionary, initial developments, however, it was not long before Goodison Park was improved even further. A new Bullens Road stand was built in 1895 at a cost of £3,407 and the open Goodison Road side was covered for £403, according to the records from the time.
Meanwhile, competition in the city was reaching peak levels. Everton were again runners up in both the league and FA Cup, while across Stanley Park, Liverpool won their first championship in 1901.
The Goodison Park of today really began to take shape after the turn of the century, beginning in 1907 with the building of a double-decker stand at the Park End, costing £13,000. In 1909, the large Main Stand on Goodison Road was built. Costing £28,000, it housed all the offices and players' facilities and survived until 1971.
Only Scotland had more advanced grounds; Rangers opened Ibrox in 1887, while Celtic Park was officially inaugurated at the same time as Goodison Park.
Everton's ground-breaking development at Mere Green was to set the trend for football stadia throughout the country. The Blues initially spent up to £3,000 on laying out the ground and building stands on three sides. Kelly Brothers of Walton built two uncovered stands each for 4000 people, and a covered stand seating 3000, at a total cost of £1,460.
Outside, hoardings cost a further £150, gates and sheds cost £132 and 10 shillings whilst 12 turnstiles added another £7 and 15 shillings to the bill.
At the same time another £12,000 was spent on concreting over the terracing and replacing the cinder running track. A reporter from ‘Athletic News' wrote in the summer of 1909: "Visitors to Goodison Park will be astonished at the immensity of the new double-decker stand". The architect was Archibold Leitch, and the front balcony bore his criss-cross trademark, which can still be seen on the Bullens Road stand opposite.
Having regained its status as the best equipped ground in the nation, Everton hosted the 1910 Cup Final replay between Newcastle and Barnsley. A massive 69,000 attended. Then on 13 July 1913, Goodison became the first league venue to be visited by a ruling monarch, when George V and Queen Mary came to visit local schoolchildren at the ground.
It certainly wasn't just football that took place at Goodison though! During the First World War it was used by the Territorial Army for drill practice. Soon after, the US baseball teams Chicago White Sox and New York Giants played an exhibition match at the ground. One player reportedly managed to hit a ball right over the Main Stand.
The next big change took place in 1926, when at a cost of £30,000 another double-decker, similar to the Main Stand, was built on the Bullens Road Side opposite. Again, Leitch was the architect.
In the 1930s, Everton borrowed an idea from Aberdeen, who they had visited for a friendly. Pittodrie was the home to what were reputedly the first ever dug-outs for coaching staff. Having adopted the idea at Goodison Park, it soon spread to other venues, and now the covered dug-out is a feature of almost every ground worldwide.
Goodison enjoyed another royal visit in 1938, when George VI and Queen Elizabeth, (the mother of current Queen Elizabeth II), came to Everton and saw the new Gwladys Street Stand, just completed for £50,000, at the north end of the stadium, behind the goal. Goodison Park thereby became the only ground in Britain to have four double-decker stands and was newly affirmed as the most advanced stadium in Britain.
Goodison Park suffered quite badly during the Second World War, because of its proximity to Liverpool's docks, and the Club received £5,000 for repairs from the War Damage Commission. Shortly after the work was completed, Everton enjoyed their highest ever attendance, 78,299 for the visit of Liverpool in Division One, on 18 September 1948.
Another familiar footballing adornment arrived at Everton in October 1957. The Goodison Park floodlights were switched on for an Everton v Liverpool friendly on 9 October.
A year later the Club made another revolutionary move, spending £16,000 installing 20 miles of electric wire underneath the pitch. The system melted frost and ice most effectively, but the drains could not handle the extra quantities of water, so in 1960 the pitch was dug up and new drainage pipes laid.
THIS AFTERNOON. I watched the last "official" game at Goodison Park, The Toffees played against The Saints! Nice occasion, provided by club, visitors, crowd and media.
HERE'S ONE FROM 2016...May 15th.
