IFA Programme 2016

Nigel Tilson charts the development of the home of Northern Ireland football over the past 102 years FROM A MEADOW TO A WORLD CLASS STADIUM

The new extension stood alongside the Balmoral stand, bringing the total number of seats on that side of the ground to 4,200. The extension was opened on September 5 1930 with a match between Glasgow Rangers and Linfield. It ended 0-0 and attracted more than 15,000 spectators. The basic shape of Windsor Park, which can still be seen today in the new-look National Football Stadium, was formed through the opening of the South Stand in 1930. Terracing was added at various stages throughout the 1920s and early 1930s and records show the capacity of the ground was around 60,000 by the mid-1930s. Following World War Two (1939-45) attendances at football grounds across the United Kingdom boomed and Windsor Park regularly hosted crowds of 50,000-plus at Home International games. Not surprisingly, work on the ground was limited during the 1940s. In 1951, however, new turnstiles and gates were added and a press box with accommodation for 100 reporters built. Also in 1951 a floodlighting system was erected at the ground – amounting to six 1,500 watt lamps – but it was not until 1956 that a full-scale system was put up. On October 10 1956 Lord Brookeborough, the then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, switched on the new floodlighting system. And 30,000 spectators watched the first game under the lights – a friendly between Linfield and Newcastle United. Just over a year later the first international match was played under them when Northern Ireland took on Romania. According to the archives, some rather cautious souls actually donned dark glasses to counter the “incredible brightness” of the lights that night! During the 1960s significant developments included installing around 600 seats under the roof at the Railway End. The move reduced the potential

The site where the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park now stands was a bog meadow when Linfield Football Club decide to purchase it in October 1904. After playing at various pitches following its formation in 1885, Linfield’s board members decided it was time for the club to have a permanent home and Rev RJ Clarke agreed to sell them the land which would be transformed into the home of Northern Ireland football. Following nearly a year of preparations, the first match was played at the pitch on 2 September 1905. Linfield took on arch Belfast rivals Glentoran that day and won the game 1-0 in front of an estimated 4,000 spectators. By 1906 the playing area at Windsor Park – the ground was named after the district in south Belfast in which it is located – had been fenced and a dressing pavilion erected at the Railway End. The following year a seated grandstand took shape on the south side of the ground. Another grandstand, created by Scottish designer Archibald Leitch, was added in 1909 on the Olympia Drive side of the ground, while in 1911 a portion of shelter was added to the south stand. The unreserved stand on the Olympia side was then extended in 1913. The Great War of 1914-18 halted development at the ground. The next recorded addition was a concrete boundary fence, erected between 1920 and 1923. Linfield continued to develop Windsor Park largely thanks to financial support from the board and club members. In 1926 the Balmoral stand, which had 1,700 seats, was bought from the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society and added on to the South Stand. A few years later the old reserved stand roof on the south side was re-erected at the Railway End of the ground to make way for a new grandstand and dressing rooms on the southern side of the ground.

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