Burnden Park
Burnden Park was the home of
English FA Premier League football team
Bolton Wanderers F.C. between
1895 and
1997.
Situated in the Burnden area of
Bolton - approximately two miles from the centre of the town - the ground served as the spiritual home of the town's football team for 102 years. It also hosted the replay of the 1902
FA Cup final, which
Sheffield United won 2-1 against
Southampton [ FA Cup finals, Burnden Park listed under 1902 ].
Burnden Park was also the scene of the
Burnden Park Disaster. On
9 March 1946, crowd congestion led to 33
Bolton Wanderers F.C. spectators losing their lives through
asphyxiation and hundreds suffering injuries in a crowd estimated to be in excess of 85,000 people, whilst watching their team take on
Stoke City F.C. in the Sixth Round second-leg of the
F.A. Cup [ Burnden Park disaster ]. In terms of scale it was the worst disaster to hit British football stadia until the
Ibrox disaster in 1971.
The disaster led to the
Moelwyn Hughes' official report, which recommended limitations on crowd sizes
[ MSN Encarta entry on disaster (Subscription needed) ]In its heyday, Burnden Park could hold up to 60,000 supporters but this figure was dramatically reduced during the final 20 years of its life, mainly because of new legislation which saw virtually all English stadiums reduce their capacities for safety reasons. A section of terracing at the ground was sold off in 1986 to make way for a new
Normid superstore (which later closed) and the club's directors had decided by 1992 that it would be difficult to convert Burnden Park into an all-seater stadium. It was decided to build a new multi-million pound 27,000-seat stadium - the
Reebok Stadium - at nearby Lostock and the relocation went ahead in 1997.
There is now a large Asda superstore on the site. A travel agents can be found at the front and a new JJB fitness centre is in the process of being built.
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Burnden Park at the Stadium Guide
