Floodlights

[Spanishbob]

Three years before I was born I'm afraid and my dad never mentioned this one. He told me of a game at Maine Rd after the war called a victory International between England and Scotland. Their was a vast Scottish following and for some reason had come armed with frying pans which they banged together at every Scotland attack. Maine Rd one of the finest grounds in the country then and often chosen for prestigious matches.

My dad was there also. He told me the scots bought out all the pots and pans from Lewis’s store.

 

[Vienna_70]

Mrs Vienna thinks her Dad worked on preparing the concrete bases for them.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

City/Ardwick did play floodlit games at Hyde Rd and Belle Vue in 1880s/1890s. A fact I quoted is that City/Ardwick have been playing games under lights since before teams like LFC, LUFC & CFC even existed! And they talk of us having ‘no history’!

Hi Gary
When Ardwick played Newton Heath at Belle Vue "under the lights" for the miners benefit game, in 1889, where in Belle Vue was it?
The greyhound stadium opened in 1926 on Kirkmanshulme Lane and the speedway stadium on Hyde Road in 1928.
Do you know was it on either of these sites and either way, was there stands / terracing in place?
I believe Belle Vue was considered as a venue at the time Maine Road was chosen - do you know which of the 2 sites at Belle Vue was talked about?
And I assume Manchester Central played at the speedway stadium?
Thanks

 

[wahablue]

I was there as a 7yearold.Massive,awesome.

 

[City_Shirts]

Here's the shirt Billy Sowden wore in the fixture in which he scored a hat-trick and still has the Maine Road mud on it !

 

[kippaxwarrior]

Hi Gary
When Ardwick played Newton Heath at Belle Vue "under the lights" for the miners benefit game, in 1889, where in Belle Vue was it?
The greyhound stadium opened in 1926 on Kirkmanshulme Lane and the speedway stadium on Hyde Road in 1928.
Do you know was it on either of these sites and either way, was there stands / terracing in place?
I believe Belle Vue was considered as a venue at the time Maine Road was chosen - do you know which of the 2 sites at Belle Vue was talked about?
And I assume Manchester Central played at the speedway stadium?
Thanks

Your better off asking @oakiecokie as he was probably there .......

 

[KS55]

I noticed that the report mentioned Ivor Broadis as a scorer. In a peripatetic career at 6 clubs, Broadis played 74 times for City between 1951 and 1954. It was during this spell that Broadis played the majority of his 14 games for England. After retiring, he became a well known football journalist and lived to the ripe old age of 96, passing away in April 2019.
He was known as Ivor due to a mistake in the programme when he played in a wartime game at Tottenham but his real name was Ivan.

 

[Johnny Mars Bar]

I wasn’t there but head they were really tall.

 

[Gary James]

Hi Gary
When Ardwick played Newton Heath at Belle Vue "under the lights" for the miners benefit game, in 1889, where in Belle Vue was it?
The greyhound stadium opened in 1926 on Kirkmanshulme Lane and the speedway stadium on Hyde Road in 1928.
Do you know was it on either of these sites and either way, was there stands / terracing in place?
I believe Belle Vue was considered as a venue at the time Maine Road was chosen - do you know which of the 2 sites at Belle Vue was talked about?
And I assume Manchester Central played at the speedway stadium?
Thanks

The floodlit game was at the athletics stadium that eventually became the speedway stadium. It had a long history before it became speedway. I included this map from 1905 with some of the sites on it in my 1997 book Manchester The Greatest City.

Some of my research in recent years had highlighted that the site considered by City was in fact what became the greyhound track. In some reports from the period it talked of this as the ’Mount Road’ ground. Hope this helps.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

The floodlit game was at the athletics stadium that eventually became the speedway stadium. It had a long history before it became speedway. I included this map from 1905 with some of the sites on it in my 1997 book Manchester The Greatest City.

Some of my research in recent years had highlighted that the site considered by City was in fact what became the greyhound track. In some reports from the period it talked of this as the ’Mount Road’ ground. Hope this helps.

As ever Gary thank you for your time and also your knowledge. Perfect answers.