The Victory ground

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The Victory Ground was a football stadium on the outskirts of Chudleigh, Devon, England.

The stadium was built in 1905, mainly for the "local" football team, Exeter City F.C.; however the club refused to play at the stadium because it was too far away from Exeter.

Therefore the owner of the stadium, Stephen Bradley, decided to let two football teams based in Chudleigh use the land. The deal was that Mr. Bradley would keep any money that was spent by spectators at the stadium.

The stadium was first called 'Rockviews', but the name was changed to The Victory Ground in 1906. The reason for this was because the two teams that played in the stadium were unbeaten in 45 games prior to the ground being renamed. It wasn't for three years before the stadium saw an away team win at the stadium.

The stadium had a wooden grandstand, and three small terraces on the sides of the pitch. Opposite the grandstand was a small seated stand. The wooden grandstand had around 300 seats, and a small paddock. The changing rooms and a small bar area were in this stand as well. The Stadium capacity was 4,500 when first opened.

[edit] Closure

During thesecond world war, people in Chudleigh stopped going to watch football games at the stadium, as attendance went down to as few as 35 people. The main reason for this was because one of the teams went bankrupt, and the other team had a dip in form. The Victory ground played a huge role during the second world war. Football was halted at the stadium for two years, as children from London and Plymouth stayed on the pitch, in tents. Up to one point, over 350 people lived on the Victory Ground pitch. But, nearing the end of the war, the 'tent village' was no longer needed, and it was transformed back to a football venue. A few months later, it was announced that Mr. Bradley was to sell off the stadium, due to rising costs in maintanence. On the 7th June 1941, the very last football game was played at the Victory Ground in front of 800 people.

On the 8th June 1941, the Victory Ground was totally demolished, and three new houses were built on the land. Nowadays its hard to work out where the stadium was, as the three houses described above were demolished in the 1980s to make way for new houses. Rocklands Road, near the A38 junction, is where the stadium sat. There is no evidence of the stadium at this site anymore.