Victory Park, Chorley
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| Victory Park | |
|---|---|
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| Full name | Victory Park |
| Location | Chorley, England |
| Built | 1919 |
| Opened | 1920 |
| Owner | |
| Tenants | Chorley F.C. |
| Capacity | 4,100 (900 seated) |
Victory Park (currently known as Chorley Nissan Victory Park for sponsorship purposes) is a multi-use stadium in Chorley, England. It is primarily used for football and is the home ground of Chorley F.C..
[edit] History
[edit] Football usage
Prior to 1920 Chorley played at three other venues. Their original home was in the town centre, on Dole Lane, near where the Chorley Little Theatre now stands.
In 1901 the club moved to Rangletts Recreation Ground, which is situated next to Victory Park before moving again in 1905 to St Georges Park, the then home of the now long-defunct Chorley St Georges FC.
The final move came when the club purchased the land of the old ash tip next to Rangletts in 1919 for the princely sum of £868. After some preparation work on the site the ground was opened in 1920. It was named Victory Park to commemorate the end of World War I.
The record attendance at the ground was set on 15 November 1923 when Darwen visited for an FA Cup tie; 9,679 watched the game.
Disaster struck the club in November 1945 when the wooden main stand was destroyed by fire shortly after a crowd of over 4,000 had watched Chorley beat Football League club Accrington Stanley in the first leg of an FA Cup first-round tie.
The ground was used by Daisy Hill and Atherton Laburnum Rovers during 2006, when they played FC United, as their grounds were not large enough to cope with the high number of FC United supporters.
[edit] Rugby league usage
Springfield Borough moved to Moss Lane, Altrincham and adopted the name 'Trafford Borough' for the 1989-90 season. This caused a boardroom split leading to the creation of a new Chorley rugby league club based at Victory Park. Chorley's first game was against Trafford Borough in the Lancashire Cup in front of 628 spectators. The record attendance at Victory Park was 2,851 for the visit of Oldham in January 1990. The club became 'Chorley Borough' in the 1991-92 season.
The club went through a variety of names 'Chorley Chieftains', 'Chorley', 'Lancashire Lynx', 'Central Lancashire' and finally 'Chorley Lynx'. In 2004 Chorley Lynx folded due to poor attendances and the withdrawal of funding by backer Trevor Hemmings, though most of the players moved to new club Blackpool Panthers.
