Tracks around football pitches

[Guest compost]

Wasn't Hasting's track around a football pitch ?

 

Halifax (Thrum Hall) was around a cricket pitch.

 

Crystal Palace (wasn't that around the pitch used for the FA Cup final ?)

 

Chelsea (aka Stamford Bridge)

[brianbuck]

In general, tracks constructed around football or rugby pitches tend to be squarish and on the narrow side, so really it depends on the amount of room available between the edges of the football pitch and the spectator area. Birmingham's track at Perry Barr (the original 402 yarder) was an athletics track and the infield was used for a while in the 1930's by Aston Villa's reserve team for their home matches, but the track was big and wide with sweeping bends and produced some terrific racing.

The current track which was constructed inside the greyhound circuit (greyhound racing having been introduced at the stadium in 1987) is of similar shape although with shorter straights. This was possible because all of the terracing on the back straight had been removed, enabling a much wider centre green, and the modern track also produces excellent racing (although I have to admit that outside viewing in most of the stadium is very poor due to the original home straight terracing having been replaced by a flat area for the bookmakers). 

Generalising though, I have always found that tracks with no greyhound circuit usually provide better racing.

[cityrebel]

That's not always the case though Brian. Two tracks from my neck of the woods, Hackney and West Ham were two of the finest race tracks in the history of the sport.

[Mr Ore]

On 6/25/2019 at 8:52 AM, compost said:

Wasn't Hasting's track around a football pitch ?

 

Correct; most of the track is still visible too, with cars parked on the first and second bends the last time I was there, but the terracing extended on the other bends covering a lot of  the track. Always a great venue to see football at; never got home from there sober. 

[martinmauger]

Poole originally had a football pitch on the inside, with a dog track outside, and was also a bit narrow as can be seen on Pirates' 1970's prog covers.  Til the track was enlarged, then the footie club left but the dogs and speedway remained (how often does that happen) and the speedway track was changed and widened to the current circuit in about 1996.....

[cityrebel]

1 hour ago, martinmauger said:

Poole originally had a football pitch on the inside, with a dog track outside, and was also a bit narrow as can be seen on Pirates' 1970's prog covers.  Til the track was enlarged, then the footie club left but the dogs and speedway remained (how often does that happen) and the speedway track was changed and widened to the current circuit in about 1996.....

I quite enjoyed the larger track at Poole, it was far better than the original narrow version. The current circuit is a great shape, but leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to track preparation.

[Halifaxtiger]

Has anyone mentioned Isle of Wight ? That's round a football pitch. 

The racing I have seen there is usually pretty decent. 

[Piotr Pyszny]

On 6/24/2019 at 11:40 PM, Barney Rabbit said:

Went to a football match at Fleetwood a couple of years back and got talking to an elderly gent in a local pub who told me that he'd watched speedway way back at the club's Highbury ground which was around the football pitch. Still the same ground but much modernised now he told me.

I recall watching football at Fleetwood in the late 1980s. You could still see remnants of the speedway track in the stadium layout.

Never went to Craighead Park (Glasgow). The track surrounded Blantyre Celtic FC's pitch. Apparently, the old square corners problem.

Barrow started out racing round Barrow FC's Holker Street pitch. Anecdote suggests the track was narrow, dusty and not conducive to passing.

As a schoolboy, I watched Halifax at The Shay. Can't recall a huge amount of passing. Still, the racing was better than at Exeter (round Exeter RUFC's pitch). I lived in Exeter for a couple of years but only rarely went to the County Ground, where it was virtually impossible to overtake. Once you'd become accustomed to how fast the riders went, compared to everywhere else, there was very little else to see.

Liverpool Chads raced at Stanley Stadium, used also for a time by Liverpool Stanley RLFC.

Stamford Bridge (at Chelsea FC)? New Brighton (at New Brighton FC)?

Edited June 30, 2019 by Piotr Pyszny

[Fromafar]

Old Meadowbank one of the finest tracks ever ,was round a football pitch.Leith Athletic’s ground.