Fartown Ground

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Fartown Ground, officially named the St. John's Ground but always referred to as Fartown, is a sports ground located in the Huddersfield suburb of Fartown in West Yorkshire, England and is predominantly famous for being the home ground of Hudderfield rugby league team from 1878 to 1992. It was the scene of many great games, including several Challenge Cup semi finals and internationals.

The Giants are still known as "Fartown" or "the Fartowners" by many of their older supporters. The highest attendance at the stadium to watch a Huddersfield game was 32,912 against Wigan on 4 March 1950, although a Challenge Cup semi-final between Leeds and Wakefield on April 19, 1947 attracted a crowd of 35,136.

[edit] History

The ground was originally known as the St Johns Ground, after Huddersfield St Johns Cricket Club which became its original occupants in 1868, the ground had previously been owned by the proprietor of the George Hotel in Huddersfield.

In 1875 St John's Cricket Club merged with Huddersfield Athletic Club to form the Huddersfield Cricket and Athletic Club. Although the Athletic Club had formed a rugby football section in 1866, Fartown was initially used for athletics festivals alterations made in the summer of 1878 meant that rugby could begin at the start of the 1878/79 season with the visit of Manchester Rangers on November 2. The venue quickly became synonymous with Huddersfield rugby league team.

Senior football was played at Fartown just once, an FA Cup semi final in 1882, organised as part of an attempt by the Football Association to promote the game of soccer in what was, at the time, a predominantly rugby focused town. Blackburn Rovers drew 0-0 with Sheffield Wednesday, forcing a replay at Fallowfield in Manchester. Blackburn eventually won 5-1, and went on to lose 1-0 in the final to Old Etonians.

On August 11th, 1943 an exhibition baseball game was staged between two teams of American soldiers which attracted 2,400 curious spectators.

The 1980s saw the stadium decline rapidly as Huddersfield rugby league struggled to pull in spectators. The main stand was closed due to storm damage in 1986. A new board of directors took over in 1989 when and injected some much needed financial resources into the club. As well as beginning to improve the playing staff, the new owners also carried out a considerable amount of work on the Fartown stadium and by the end of the 1989/90 season significant progress was being made.

The Huddersfield rugby league club moved to Leeds Road in 1992, and then to the McAlpine Stadium in 1994, although they continued to use Fartown as a training base until 2004. The ground is now rather dilapidated, and is only used for staging amateur rugby games.

[edit] Cricket

The rugby ground was adjoined by a cricket field, once considered to be the finest wicket in Yorkshire. A total of 76 first-class and 9 list A one day matches were played on the pitch,^[1] the first on August 28, 1873 when Yorkshire played Nottinghamshire, and the last on August 17, 1955, when Yorkshire defeated Gloucestershire by 67 runs.

Yorkshire also played games against the touring Australians and South Africans at Fartown and an England XI played the Australians there in 1884 [1].^[2] The first county one day game played there was held on 1 June 1969 in the Player's County League against Sussex CCC while the last came on 9 May 1982 in the John Player League when Yorkshire played Worcestershire CCC.

Yorkshire's highest score at Fartown was the 579 for 6 declared they accumulated against Glamorgan in 1925 while Middlesex CCC scored 527 in 1887. Worcestershire CCC were dismissed for 24 in 1903 while Yorkshire were humiliated for 31 by Essex CCC in 1935. AJ Webbe scored an unbeaten 243 in Middlesex's run spree in 1887 while the prolific Percy Holmes scored 220 not out for the Tykes against Warwickshire CCC in 1922. A.W. Mold took 9 for 41 for Lancashire in a Roses Match in 1890 while CT Spencer took 9 for 63 for Leicestershire CCC in 1954.

[edit] References

Coordinates: 53°39′45.88″N, 1°47′04.40″W