Post by bbcgull on Nov 3, 2008 0:30:22 GMT
West Ham Stadium : Thames
West Ham Stadium was a stadium that existed between 1928 and 1972 in Custom House, in East London (it was in the County Borough of West Ham, in the county of Essex, at the time of the stadium's construction). The stadium was built in 1928 on Prince Regent Lane, near the site of the present-day Prince Regent DLR station.
At first, the venue was used for greyhound racing and speedway on weekdays and was the only greyhound/speedway stadium designed by the famous Archibald Leitch. (bbcgull edit : see Merse's post about the great man here) torquayfansforum.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=groundreviews&action=display&thread=386
The Speedway Hammers were involved in the top flight leagues 1929 to 1939; 1946 to 1955 and 1964 to 1971. They won the inaugural British League in 1965.The Lakeside Hammers speedway team, formerly known as the Arena-Essex Hammers, who race at Arena Essex Raceway next to Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex, are the closest team and took their name from the defunct West Ham Hammers outfit. The official record attendance for the stadia was 83,000 for a Test match against Australia.
To fill the stadium on weekends, a football team, Thames Association FC, was founded. After two years in the Southern Football League, Thames were promoted to the Football League Third Division South in 1930. Although the stadium could hold 120,000, Thames shared a catchment area with Charlton Athletic, Clapton Orient, Millwall and West Ham United. As a result, it had trouble attracting crowds and created the lowest recorded attendance in Football League history when just 469 people turned up to watch Thames take on Luton Town on 6 December 1930. Thames resigned from the Football League in May 1932 after finishing bottom and were dissolved soon afterward. West Ham Stadium continued to function as a greyhound and speedway stadium. (bbcgull edit : Note, only two season's of league football were played here)
The stadium also hosted local baseball sides' home games in the 1930s and 1940s
Stock car racing was held in the stadium in the 1950s and 1960s
The stadium was sold to developers who evicted the speedway team and closed the stadium in 1972. It was subsequently demolished and housing was built on the cleared site, with some streets named after former speedway stars.
Despite the similarity of name, the stadium had nothing to do with West Ham United, who have played their home games at the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park since 1904.
Note: 'The NEW West Ham Stadium' : (tentative name) is a description of a proposed football stadium which would be built in London and will replace the Boleyn Ground as the home stadium of West Ham United F.C.. The project has a planned opening date of 2011. The stadium is intended to have a capacity of 50,000 spectators, with the option of extending to 60,000.
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wiki
Here is a postcard from 1928 with an aerial view of the ground. This comes from the excellent postcards section of the groundtastic site.
West Ham Stadium was a stadium that existed between 1928 and 1972 in Custom House, in East London (it was in the County Borough of West Ham, in the county of Essex, at the time of the stadium's construction). The stadium was built in 1928 on Prince Regent Lane, near the site of the present-day Prince Regent DLR station.
At first, the venue was used for greyhound racing and speedway on weekdays and was the only greyhound/speedway stadium designed by the famous Archibald Leitch. (bbcgull edit : see Merse's post about the great man here) torquayfansforum.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=groundreviews&action=display&thread=386
The Speedway Hammers were involved in the top flight leagues 1929 to 1939; 1946 to 1955 and 1964 to 1971. They won the inaugural British League in 1965.The Lakeside Hammers speedway team, formerly known as the Arena-Essex Hammers, who race at Arena Essex Raceway next to Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex, are the closest team and took their name from the defunct West Ham Hammers outfit. The official record attendance for the stadia was 83,000 for a Test match against Australia.
To fill the stadium on weekends, a football team, Thames Association FC, was founded. After two years in the Southern Football League, Thames were promoted to the Football League Third Division South in 1930. Although the stadium could hold 120,000, Thames shared a catchment area with Charlton Athletic, Clapton Orient, Millwall and West Ham United. As a result, it had trouble attracting crowds and created the lowest recorded attendance in Football League history when just 469 people turned up to watch Thames take on Luton Town on 6 December 1930. Thames resigned from the Football League in May 1932 after finishing bottom and were dissolved soon afterward. West Ham Stadium continued to function as a greyhound and speedway stadium. (bbcgull edit : Note, only two season's of league football were played here)
The stadium also hosted local baseball sides' home games in the 1930s and 1940s
Stock car racing was held in the stadium in the 1950s and 1960s
The stadium was sold to developers who evicted the speedway team and closed the stadium in 1972. It was subsequently demolished and housing was built on the cleared site, with some streets named after former speedway stars.
Despite the similarity of name, the stadium had nothing to do with West Ham United, who have played their home games at the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park since 1904.
Note: 'The NEW West Ham Stadium' : (tentative name) is a description of a proposed football stadium which would be built in London and will replace the Boleyn Ground as the home stadium of West Ham United F.C.. The project has a planned opening date of 2011. The stadium is intended to have a capacity of 50,000 spectators, with the option of extending to 60,000.
-------------------
wiki
Here is a postcard from 1928 with an aerial view of the ground. This comes from the excellent postcards section of the groundtastic site.
Should the new project for West Ham United realise fulfillment, and in the current economic climate (and in view of the fact that the club is effectively "Icelandic owned") the chances of that must have receded recently; it would mean that The Hammers would have a home in West Ham itself for the first time in their long history!
current ground is not in Upton Park either, but in fact in East Ham as the East side of Green Street on which the ground is situated marks the Western most boundary of that former borough which together with the ex borough of West Ham now form The London Borough of Newham.
