West Ham Stadium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
West Ham Stadium was a stadium that existed between 1928 and 1972 in Custom House (which was located in the County Borough of West Ham at the time of the stadium's construction) in London. 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. 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 dissolved soon afterward. West Ham Stadium continued to function as a greyhound and speedway stadium. It also hosted local baseball sides' home games in the 1930s and 1940s, and stock car racing in the next two decades. The stadium eventually fell into disuse and was closed 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.
[edit] References
- West Ham Stadium. Newham Local History forum. Retrieved on December 1, 2006.
- West Ham's Timeline. Retrieved on December 1, 2006.
- West Ham: Worthies, entertainments, sports and pastimes. British History Online. Retrieved on December 1, 2006.
