Griffin Park
 | |
| Full name | Griffin Park |
|---|---|
| Location |
Brentford, Hounslow, London TW8 0NT |
| Coordinates | 51°29′17.46″N 0°18′9.50″W / 51.4881833°N 0.3026389°WCoordinates: 51°29′17.46″N 0°18′9.50″W / 51.4881833°N 0.3026389°W |
| Owner | Brentford F.C. |
| Capacity | 12,763 |
| Field size | 110 x 73 yd (100 x 67 metres) |
| Construction | |
| Built | January–September 1904 |
| Opened | September 1904 |
| Tenants | |
|
Brentford F.C. (1904–2016) London Broncos (2002–2006) Chelsea F.C. Reserves (2007–2010) | |
Griffin Park is a football ground in Brentford, situated in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. It has been the home ground of Championship side Brentford since it was built in 1904. The ground is known for being the only English league football ground to have a pub on each corner and is situated in a predominantly residential area.[1] The ground gets its name from the griffin, featured in the logo of Fuller's Brewery, which at one point owned the orchard on which the stadium was built.
History
Planning, construction and opening
Between forming in 1889 and prior to 1904, Brentford played at five grounds around Ealing - Clifden Road, Benns Field, Shotters Field, Cross Road and Boston Park Cricket Ground.[2] In 1903, Fulham chairman Henry Norris (a prominent estate agent), Brentford manager Dick Molyneux and club president Edwin Underwood negotiated a 21-year lease at a peppercorn rent on an orchard along the Ealing Road (owned by local brewers Fuller, Smith and Turner), with the option to buy the freehold at a later date for £5000.[2] After a gypsy camp was removed from the site, work began on building the ground in January 1904, under the guidance of architects Parr & Kates.[2]
The ground was named 'Griffin Park' after a nearby pub, The Griffin, which was owned by the Griffin Brewery and was used as dressing rooms and for accommodation.[3] After a number of trial games, Griffin Park was opened on 1 September 1904.[3] The first match at the ground was played that day - a Western League fixture versus Plymouth Argyle,[4] with 5,500 spectators watching the sides play out a draw.[2] The first Football League match to be played at the ground was on the opening day of the 1920/21 season, a 3-0 Third Division defeat to Exeter City.[5]
Development
A new grandstand was constructed on the Braemar Road side of the ground using money generated from Brentford's run to the fifth round of the FA Cup during the 1926/27 season. The pitch was moved a few metres to the west in 2006, in order to accommodate box goal nets. Numerous improvements were made after Brentford's promotion to the Championship in 2014, including resurfacing of access areas, extra CCTV, new signage, new heated seats in the dugouts and AstroTurf installed in the pitch-side run-off areas.[6] With the club placed in the Championship playoff places in January 2015, additional work was carried out on the New Road stand ahead of a 31 January deadline for submission of a report to the Premier League, which will outline development plans ahead of a potential promotion.[7]
Wartime bombing
Griffin Park was hit by a high-explosive bomb during the Second World War, between 1941 and 1942.[8] Bombs also fell on the neighbouring Braemar Road and New Road.[8] Six matches were abandoned or postponed during the Blitz.[2]
"Fortress Griffin Park"
Brentford set an English football record when they won all 21 home games during the 1929/30 Third Division South season.[2] Despite the record (which still stands), the Bees finished as runners-up to Plymouth Argyle and failed to win promotion to Second Division. Brentford finished the 2014 calendar year with the best home record in the Football League, winning 17 of 23 games (two more than the next-best tally) and accruing a 78% winning record.[9]
Ticketing
The club installed an electronic ticketing system on all turnstiles at Griffin Park in the summer of 2014.[10] Previously, supporters were able to pay on the turnstiles on match days for non-all-ticket matches.[10]
Stadium structure
When first opened, Griffin Park had no terracing and banks surrounded the pitch, covered with ashes.[2] A tiny stand was erected, which was initially refused a safety certificate.[2]
Stands
- Braemar Road Stand - A two-tiered all-seated stand located along the Braemar Road, currently known officially as the Bees United Stand. The lower tier is known as 'the Paddock'.[11] The stand also houses the dressing rooms, supporters' bar and club offices. The stand's forecourt houses the club shop and ticket office. Until 2010, the dugouts were located in front of the stand.[12]
- New Road Stand - A single-tiered all-seated stand located along the New Road. It is currently known as the Bill Axbey Stand, as a tribute to the club's oldest-ever supporter.[13] Previously a terrace, the stand was converted to seating in the summer of 1996.[2] The dugouts have been located in front of the stand since 2010 at the request of then-manager Andy Scott.[14][15] The central camera position for TV broadcasts of games is located in a gantry suspended from the roof of the stand. The Family Section is located in blocks N506, N507 and N508.[10]
- Ealing Road End - A single-tier terrace located at the Ealing Road end of the ground. Previously uncovered, the club had an application to build a roof turned down in 2004,[16] with the terrace finally receiving a roof in 2007.[17] Traditionally a home end, the stand housed away supporters at various times throughout the 2000s.
- Brook Road Stand - A two-tiered stand with seating on the upper level and terracing on the lower level, built in the mid-1980s to replace the Royal Oak Stand (Griffin Park's 'kop').[18] The stand houses away supporters. Because of the stand's appearance, it is affectionately known as 'the Wendy House'.
Floodlights
Brentford was one of the first clubs to recognise the potential of floodlit football and in 1954, a sum of £5345 was spent on erecting perimeter lights the length of the Braemar Road and New Road stands.[2] With the Football League banning competitive games under floodlights, a number of friendly matches were arranged to increase revenue, with one match against an International Managers XI attracting 21,600 spectators.[2] By the time the Football League's ban on competitive floodlit football was lifted in February 1956, the club had received over £10,000 in gate receipts from the friendly matches.[2] The original perimeter lights were replaced in August 1963 with pylons located at each corner of the ground.[2] The current floodlight pylons at the ground were purchased from West London neighbours Chelsea in 1983.[2] Electronic scoreboards are attached to two of the pylons.[19]
Attendances
Records
- Record attendance (all competitions) - 38,678 versus Leicester City, FA Cup sixth round, 24 February 1949)
- Record attendance (Football League) - 38,535 versus Arsenal, Division One, 8 September 1938)
- Record average attendance in a season - 27,716 (1936/37 Division One)
- Highest attendance in division - 13,300 (1932/33 Division Three South), 11,738 (1971/72 Division Four)
Recent years
As of 2014, Griffin Park has a capacity of 12,763. The highest attendance for a league match in recent seasons was 12,300 versus Doncaster Rovers in League One on 27 April 2013.[20] FA Cup fourth and fifth round matches versus Sunderland and Southampton drew crowds of 11,698 and 11,720 respectively in 2006 and 2005.[21][22]
Neutral venue
Football internationals
- 1942 - Netherlands 2-0 France (friendly)
- 1942 - Netherlands 0-0 Belgium (friendly)
- 1948 - England Schoolboys 0-1 Republic of Ireland Schoolboys (friendly)
- 1948 - Italy 9-0 United States (1948 Olympic Games)[23]
- 1957 - England 5-5 Netherlands (youth)
- 1963 - Soviet Union U18 0-1 Romania U18 (1963 European U18 Championship)
- 1966 - England Amateur 4-0 Republic of Ireland Amateur (friendly)
- 1988 - England U21 1-0 Brazil U21 (friendly)
- 1989 - England Women 0-0 Finland Women (friendly)
- 1991 - England U21 4-0 Republic of Ireland U21 (1992 European U21 Championship qualifying)
- 1994 - England U21 1-0 Denmark U21 (friendly)
- 1994 - England Women 10-0 Slovenia Women (friendly)
- 1996 - England Women 3-0 Portugal (1997 Women's European Championship qualifying)
- 2006 - Ghana 2-0 Togo (friendly)
- 2006 - South Africa 1-0 Egypt (Nelson Mandela Challenge)
- 2007 - Ghana 4-1 Nigeria (friendly)
- 2007 - England U17 6-1 Northern Ireland U17 (friendly)
Brentford hosted the Zambia and India international teams in pre-season friendly matches in 1994 and 2000 respectively.[2] Griffin Park hosted more FA Amateur Cup semi-finals than any other ground, with nine matches played between 1947 and 1974.[2]
Tenants
- In 2002, London Broncos rugby league team moved to Griffin Park. The club stayed at Griffin Park until the 2006 season, when it was re-branded Harlequins Rugby League and moved to The Stoop. The Broncos had earlier played two Rugby League Championship matches at Griffin Park during the 1995/96 season.[2]
- Chelsea's reserve and youth teams played their home games at Griffin Park from the beginning of the 2007–08 season until the end of 2009–10.[24] This agreement included the upgrading of the home dressing rooms in 2007. The reserve team returned to Griffin Park for a number of fixtures during the 2012–13 season.[25]
- Rugby union club London Welsh considered moving to Griffin Park in 2012, but ultimately moved to the Kassam Stadium in Oxford.[26]
Advertising
Griffin Park is beneath the flightpath of London Heathrow Airport and the roofs of the Bill Axbey and Bees United stands are used as a large advertising space. The roofs of both stands have been used to advertise KLM, Ericsson, Infogrames and Qatar Airways.[27] The Bill Axbey Stand roof is currently sponsored by Matchbook, the club's official betting partner.[28] In the late 2000s, the Braemar Road stand was sponsored by water cooler business Refreshing Solutions.[29]
"A pub on every corner"
Griffin Park is well known in football circles for being the only football ground in England to have a pub on each corner.[1][30] The pubs are:
- The Griffin - Located at the corner of Braemar Road and Brook Road.[31] The interior and exterior of the pub was used as a location in the 2004 film Green Street and is also visible in the 1954 film The Rainbow Jacket.[32][33]
- The Princess Royal - Located at the corner of Braemar Road and Ealing Road.[34]
- The New Inn - Located at the corner of New Road and Ealing Road.
- The Royal Oak - Located at the corner of New Road and Brook Road.
Appearances in media
Due to its convenient location in West London, Griffin Park has featured in a number of films, TV programmes and advertisements:
- The Winning Goal (film, 1920) - Footage was shot of a specially staged match between fictional teams Blacktown and Bichester, with both teams featuring 16 then-current international players.[2][35]
- The Great Game (film, 1954) - Scenes were shot in and around the ground and during matches.[2]
- Minder (The Long Ride Back to Scratchwood, TV, 1984) - The interior of the ground was used for football training scenes.[36]
- Standing Room Only (TV, 1991) - The interior of the ground was featured in a sketch, with an emphasis on two of the club's main sponsors at the time, KLM and Bollingmores Car Distributors.[2]
- Mike Bassett: Manager (TV, 2005) - Griffin Park doubled as the home ground of the series' fictitious team Wirral County. All Brentford-inscribed signs and notices were replaced around the ground with Wirral County equivalents.[37]
Future and ownership
The original lease on the ground ran out in 1925, but the deal was kept on ice and the club became freeholders in April 1936.[2]
With Brentford in the Fourth Division and heavily in debt in the late 1960s, in March 1968 Jim Gregory (chairman of West London rivals Queens Park Rangers) offered £250,000 to buy the ground and move Queens Park Rangers to Griffin Park.[2] Former Brentford chairman Walter Wheatley stepped in and provided the club with a £69,000 loan.[2]
In August 1973, the Middlesex Chronicle reported that the club had submitted a bid to Hounslow Council to build a new ground and leisure complex on the site of Brentford Market.[38]
In 1998, then-chairman Ron Noades acquired the freehold of Griffin Park, through his company Griffin Park Stadium Limited.[39] With Noades declaring he would only fund the club until 2000,[40] the prospect of the sale of Griffin Park for development looked likely until 2006, when supporters' trust Bees United bought his majority shareholding.[41] Noades' loans to the club were repaid by current owner Matthew Benham in 2007.[41]
Brentford's hopes of moving to a new 20,000-capacity stadium were boosted in 2007 after the club was given an option to buy a 7.6-acre (31,000 m2) site at Lionel Road, less than a mile away from Griffin Park.[42] The project was halted in 2010 due to the economic downturn and partners Barrett Homes pulled out of the deal in January 2011.[42] In June 2012, the club bought the Lionel Road side from Barrett Homes. Outline planning approval was given by the London Borough of Hounslow on 5 December 2013, with the Mayor of London's office giving their approval in February 2014.[43] Eric Pickles (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government) gave final approval for the stadium on 14 March 2014. Building work is expected to commence in the summer of 2014.[43]
Partway through the 2014/15 season, Brentford's ascension into the playoff places in the Championship raised questions about Griffin Park's suitability for Premier League football,[44] prior to the expected move to the Community Stadium in 2017.[7] Chief executive Mark Devlin explained that should improvements to Griffin Park to meet Premier League standards not be viable, Brentford will look to groundshare with another club in the vicinity.[44] As of January 2015, Wembley Stadium and Twickenham Stoop have been ruled out as potential venues.[7]
See also
- Ground improvements at English football Stadia
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Brentford: probably the most refreshing football ground in the world - interactive | Travel". theguardian.com. 2013-03-15. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 Haynes, Graham (1998). A-Z Of Bees: Brentford Encyclopaedia. Yore Publications. ISBN 1 874427 57 7.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Eddie Menday. "Looking Back with Eddie Menday: Football grew out of rowing club". getwestlondon. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ "Brentford FC History". Brentfordfc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ http://www.brentfordfchistory.co.uk/matchdetails.php?id=460
- ↑ http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/news/article/griffin-park-facelift-photo-gallery-1783580.aspx
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/11752792._/
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 University of Portsmouth, in collaboration with the National Archives and funded by JISC. "High Explosive Bomb at Braemar Road , London - Bomb Sight - Mapping the World War 2 London Blitz". Bomb Sight. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/news/article/brentford-with-best-home-record-in-football-league-2181080.aspx
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Chris Wickham. "Information from supporters on ticketing and access for Brentford FC match days at Griffin Park". Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/documents/73374-brentford-fc-stadium-map-update-final-no-icons277-1652461.pdf
- ↑ Amos, Stuart (2009-11-24). "Bees bench behind Griffin Park stalemate (From Your Local Guardian)". Yourlocalguardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "Bill Axbey: the legend of Griffin Park dies, aged 102 (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)". Richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk. 2007-05-08. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "Brentford - Dugouts on the move". Brentford.vitalfootball.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/other-sport/brentford-boss-orders-changes-griffin-6003673
- ↑ "Brentford's Local Web site". Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ Football (2007-08-27). "Terry Butcher builds on solid start at Brentford". Telegraph. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ "The Royal Oak Stand". Beesotted. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ "New Scoreboards Installed". Brentfordfc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ Brentford 0 (2013-04-27). "BBC Sport - Brentford 0-1 Doncaster". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ "BBC SPORT | Football | FA Cup | Brentford 2-1 Sunderland". BBC News. 2006-01-28. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ "BBC SPORT | Football | FA Cup | Brentford 1-3 Southampton". BBC News. 2005-03-01. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ 1948 Summer Olympics official report. pp. 45-6.
- ↑ Footymad Limited. "Chelsea Reserves' Griffin Park Fixtures 2007/08". Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ "CHELSEA UNDER-21s TO USE GRIFFIN PARK". Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ "Championship: London Welsh announce Kassam Stadium switch | Live Rugby News | ESPN Scrum". Espn.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ "Brentford's Local Web site". Brentfordtw8.com. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "Brentford Football Club agree deal with Matchbook.com to be Official Betting Partner". Brentfordfc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
- ↑ Football (2007-12-31). "Brentford notch refreshing win". Telegraph. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/documents/griffin-park-guide277-1076877.pdf
- ↑ "The Griffin - Home". Griffinbrentford.co.uk. 2013-09-15. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "Green Street Hooligans (2005)". IMDb. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ↑ "The Rainbow Jacket, 1954, The Griffin | The History of Brentford". Brentfordhistory.com. 2014-01-03. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "The Princess Royal - Home". Princessroyalbrentford.co.uk. 2013-09-15. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164233/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
- ↑ Brentford F.C. Griffin Gazette versus Stockport County 11/03/95. Quay Design of Poole. 1995. p. 33.
- ↑ Brentford Football Club Official Matchday Magazine versus Hull City 07/05/05. 2005. pp. 54, 55.
- ↑ TW8: The Home Of Football - Brentford FC versus Bristol City 13/08/02. Charlton, London: The Yellow Printing Company. 2002. p. 33.
- ↑ "BBC SPORT | BRENTFORD | Brentford may share with Woking". BBC News. 2001-03-02. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
- ↑ Leo Spall (2001-01-15). "Brentford get set for move to Woking - Sport - London Evening Standard". Standard.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 "RON NOADES 1937-2013". Brentfordfc.co.uk. 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 Street, Tim (2011-01-28). "Barratt Homes pull out on new Brentford stadium deal". Get West London. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 Culbertson, Alix (2014-03-14). "Brentford FC's new Lionel Road stadium gets the final thumbs up". Get West London. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 Tim Street. "Brentford plan for Griffin Park stay in Premier League". getwestlondon. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Griffin Park. |
- Map sources for Griffin Park can be seen as a square on the west side of Ealing Road (i.e. left side on the map). It may be labelled Brentford FC rather than Griffin Park.
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