#leckwith

History

Cardiff City FC, formed in 1899 as Riverside FC and spent their early years as footballing nomads. With no stadium to call “home” they would regularly play games at Cardiff Arms Park, Sophia Gardens and various other fields across the city. In 1909 founder Bartley Wilson decided it was time for the club to invest in a stadium to allow the club to grow. Fund-raising friendly matches were arranged against local rivals Bristol City as well as Southern League side Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough of the Football League.

The money generated allowed to club to lease a former rubbish tip on Sloper Road from the Cardiff Corporation and, with financial help from former Cardiff MP Lord Ninian Edward Crichton-Stuart, they were able to clear the site and transform it into a football field. Ninian Park was ready to host football matches in September 1910, aptly named after its financial backer who would perish in 1915 fighting in the First World War.

The original Grandstand at Ninian Park - timber with a canvas roof...

The clubs growth throughout the 1910s made them the biggest side in Wales and by 1920 they were accepted in to the English Football League’s second division, at the time Ninian Park was regularly hosting crowds of 25,000 - 30,000.

Ninian nights

The stadium played host to many special events, from a European Cup semi-final against German club Hamburg to the 2001 FA Cup giant-killing of then Premier League leaders Leeds United. A 1953 goalless draw between the Bluebirds and Arsenal was watched by a club record crowd of 57,893 (pictured), although the overall record crowd at Ninian Park was actually achieved 4 years earlier when 62,634 crammed themselves in to see Wales draw 1-1 with England. The club's trophy cabinet hosted the FA Cup between 1927 and 1928 (still the only time the cup has left England) and the legendary Scottish football manager Jock Stein was last seen alive in the medical room in September 1985 after suffering a heart attack during his side's 1-1 draw with Wales.

The stadium was not just a football venue, during the 1958 Empire & Commonwealth Games the ground was used for show jumping and in 1967 it hosted a world featherweight championship boxing match between Vicente Saldivar and Welsh challenger Howard Winstone (Saldivar won on points). Bob Marley held a concert there as part of his 1976 Rastaman Vibration world tour and even Pope John Paul II got in on the act in 1982 using the ground to host mass for 30,000 people (pictured).

Development and modernisation

As the club continued to grow, it became necessary to expand, develop and modernise the stadium. The original Grandstand on the Sloper Road side was initially able to hold 200-seated supporters and was made of wood with a canvas roof - so it perhaps came as no surprise when it caught fire in January 1937. A larger brick-built grandstand was opened a year later.

Additional stands were erected on earth embankments behind each goal, these were named after two local suburbs Canton and Grangetown. The roofed Grange End terrace was constructed in 1928 and was able to house over 17,000 supporters. The stand survived largely unaltered until the 1977/78 season when it was demolished due to safety concerns and replaced by a smaller, uncovered stand. The Canton Stand was originally constructed with a very high roof-line to accommodate a number of executive boxes and corporate facilities behind (although these remained unfinished until 2001 due to a lack of demand and ongoing financial difficulties at the club.

The largest stand was the Popular Bank opposite the Grandstand, it was commonly referred to as the 'Bob Bank' as entry to it cost just one shilling (often referred to as 'a bob'). The stand was originally a large open embankment before a roof was constructed in 1958. The roof spent 41 years decorated with an advert for Captain Morgan Rum, widely believed to be the longest surviving stadium advertisment in Great Britain.

Prior to the 1990 publication of the Taylor Report advising all football stadiums to convert to "all seater", the vast majority of Ninian Park was terracing (the exception being the upper levels of the Grandstand). Seats were gradually added to the stands over the coming years and the remaining terraces (Grange End and lower Popular Bank) were phased out. The club's steady rise through the Football League in the late 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the club needing to expand the stadium, initially this was achieved by reopening the terraces following safety improvements, although this was only ever seen as a short-term measure while plans for a new stadium were drawn up.

Closure and demolition

While the finishing touches were being applied to its replacement across the road, the Bluebirds continued to use Ninian Park right up until the very end of the 2008-09 season. The final home game of the season was a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Ipswich Town, making striker Jon Stead the scorer of the last professional goal at the stadium. The season ended with the club missing out on the end-of-season play-offs by just 1 goal, making the defeat all the more significant.

After a few low-key events the stadium closed its doors in September 2009 and the site was handed over to housing developer Redrow Homes (who still had their logo painted on the roof of the Canton Stand at the time). In the subsequent months the roofs of the stands and floodlights were dismantled before the cranes moved in to demolish the buildings one-by-one. First the Grandstand was stripped of its cladding to reveal the old painted “Ninian Park” sign before being demolished along with the Grange End and Canton Stand. The roof-less Popular Bank would remain in situ for a number of weeks yet.

Modern Day

In 2009 the club moved to the modern 26,000-seater Cardiff City Stadium. Across Sloper Road the aptly named Ninian Park housing development contains a collection of 142 homes and apartments laid on a street named after the founder of the club Bartley Wilson. In the middle of the development, where the centre circle of the pitch was, a central communal garden stands as a memorial to the stadium.

The iconic blue gates of Ninian Park have also found a new home, on the opposite side of Sloper Road to where they once stood. They serve as a ‘link’ between the old ground and the new - although I can’t help but feel more could have been done to make it look a little more “part” of the new development...

Further reading and references:

Who Ate All The Goals, Dan Walsh (2011): http://www.whoateallthegoals.com/2011/04/gone-but-not-forgotten-ninian-park.html

The White City Stadium was initially built to accommodate the rapidly increasing popularity of Greyhound racing. Dog racing in Cardiff dates back to 1912 when regular Whippet race meetings were held at Grangetown Athletics Stadium near the Ferry Road/Clive Street junction. This stadium was eventually demolished in 1927 to make way for South Clive Street, but Cardiffians already bitten by the bug wouldn’t have to wait long for the arrival of Greyhound racing.

In the 1920s the Greyhound Racing Association (GRA) acquired a plot of open moorland on Sloper Road opposite Ninian Park School and set about creating a purpose-built greyhound racing arena for the city. The stadium opened to the public in 1928, and was described as a striking venue with raised terraces and white brickwork walls (mirroring those used for the GRA headquarters in West London). Although officially called the Sloper Road Stadium, and sometimes confusingly referred to as Ninian Stadium, it was colloquially known as the Welsh White City Stadium.

Decline and closure

The stadium never proved as popular as the owners would have hoped. Despite having a 40,000 capacity only 9,000 people showed up for opening night due to poor weather and regular attendances rarely exceeded 20,000 despite the track hosting the prestigious Welsh Greyhound Derby. Key to the stadium’s failure was the recently opened Greyhound track at the more conveniently located Arms Park, installed by the owners in 1927 to increase revenue at the stadium. Ultimately the Arms Park's better location and superior facilities would result in the Derby moving there permanently following the end of the Second World War

To increase their own revenue streams, the White City Stadium decided to cash in on the Australian Speedway craze and began hosting regular races. Despite initially getting attendances of over 25,000, the novelty of the internal combustion engine eventually wore off and fan numbers started to dwindle. In 1937, just 9 years after completing the stadium, the GRA decided to cut their losses and sold the venue to a local steelworks company for recreational use. After the war the Stadium hosted events sporadically until its final closure in 1954.

Penarth Road Stadium next to the Barry Railway and River Ely

Speedway enjoyed a brief renaissance in 1951 with the Cardiff Dragons speedway team and the opening of the Penarth Road Stadium, built on a former rubbish dump between Penarth Road and the embankment for the Barry Railway. This spell proved even more brief than the first and by 1953 the Dragons had been disbanded. The stadium was also home to one disastrous season of Rugby League. Despite an initial attendance of 2,500, just 199 people saw the Cardiff Rugby League team play Workington in 1952. The Rugby League experiment was also deemed a failure, and with no takers for the stadium it was closed in 1953 just 2 years after opening.

Redevelopment

Penarth Road Stadium was eventually handed over to developers in 1969 and the site was cleared to be replaced with industrial units and car showrooms. Meanwhile, the White City Stadium lay derelict until 1981 when the site was purchased by property developers and cleared to make way for the City Gardens housing estate.

Modern day

If you went looking today you wouldn’t find much evidence that there were ever any stadiums in this area, aside from an industrial back lane off Penarth Road called Stadium Close.

Further reading and references

Mortimer, D. (2013) Sporting death. http://dicmortimer.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/sporting-death/

Flower, P. (year unknown) Rugby League Second Division. http://peterflower.tripod.com/table.htm

The aerial view of the White City stadium is from the Britain from Above website, full photo available here: http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/wpw029426