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First County Visit:	Saturday 17th March 1979
Competition:	Football League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Wigan Athletic 2 – 0 Stockport County
Attendance:	7,610
Away Trip:	10
Away Day:	11
County Line-up	1 David Lawson; 2 Andy Thorpe; 3 John Rutter; 4 Ken Fogarty; 5 Terry Park; 6 Paul Edwards; 7 Graham Smith; 8 Carl Halford; 9 Les Bradd; 10 Mike Summerbee (12 Jim Connor); 11 Stuart Lee
Manager:	Mike Summerbee
County Visits:	10

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LESS A GRASSY KNOLL … MORE A MUDSLIDE

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Only 32 of those years saw Football league action with initially Wigan Borough, (1921 – 1932), and subsequently Wigan Athletic, (1978 – 1999), reaching the higher levels. Born of Non-League, the stadium remained that way as Athletic took the place of Southport.  Only 21 miles separated the Clubs, but since that point it has been more than chasm. 

Southport have remained in Non-League, falling as low as the Northern Premier League, (but at the time of writing managing to retain a spot in the National League), whilst Wigan have risen to the Premiership, added a famous FA Cup victory and despite a couple of relegations, become stable members of football’s upper echelons.

Arriving at Springfield Park in March 1979, I suspect that the ground had remained unchanged for many years.  A fairly imposing main Stand, dwarfing the rest of the ground, had been in place since 1954.  Other than that there was terracing, with cover down one side.  The ends were curved, perhaps suggesting that it had been used for greyhound racing at one point.  Not the case as the original land transfer to Latics precluded that kind of activity … ever!

What might have been described as the home end had, at least, the benefit of concreted terracing.  Visitors were confined to a grass bank with those lucky enough to arrive early getting access to around 5 rows of something a bit firmer under foot. At the rear was a structure, (perhaps too grand a word), which might on a good day have been better utilised as a school bike shed, with maybe sufficient capacity to house a handful of Raleigh bikes complete of course with the ubiquitous Sturmey Archer gears.  (The one product advertised in various comics of the 1960’s which seems to have impinged itself on my memory!). On a wet day the lack of cover made it a dispiriting experience but when combined with the mudslope it was more akin to a death trap.

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And so it was on 15^th August 1992.  A glorious day at the opening of the season, saw a goodly following from County.  Springfield Park was a fairly dominant part of the local scenery, sitting as it did on a hill on the outskirts of the town.  Climbing up through the surrounding terraced streets, all the talk was of the Hatters prospects for the season ahead.  It was but three months since a double trip to Wembley had ended in grief. 

A single goal defeat to Stoke in the Autoglass Final may have been disappointing but the real game was the following week.  A play-off final against Peterborough beckoned, and hopes were high of promotion to the second tier of English football.  The fact that County had to visit the national stadium on 5 occasions before victory was tasted tells its own story. On a boiling hot afternoon the Posh triumphed 2-1, with one of the goals reminding us of a Geoff Hurst strike in the World Cup Final. 

If it had been the famous “Some people think it’s all over .. it is now” clincher then it might have been a less bitter pill to swallow.  However it was Hurst’s second .. the “did it cross the line or not”.  Ken Charlery hit the ball, it hit the bar and bounced down, and the linesman that day came to the same conclusion as Mr Bhakramov back in 1966.  Cue an extremely dejected trip back up the M1 and M6.  Charlery might have been an anti-hero that day.  He was later to have a very short spell with County and played an integral role on a night of high emotion when  promotion was finally achieved at Chesterfield.

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Time is a healer of course and back in 1992, hopes were high.  Every single player turning out that day had been with the Club the previous season.  The fans knew that Danny Bergara had put together a side which would once again challenge.  So it proved 9 months down the line, but sadly it was play off misery once more down at Vale Park.

The early arrivals sat to sun themselves on the grassy knoll, but as kick off approached the skies darkened, and rain of almost biblical proportions began to fall.  A handful of lucky souls took possession of the bike shed, but for the remainder of what was a healthy following there was no respite.  Football is a great game, watching or playing, but there is simply no joy in spending nigh on two hours in teeming rain.  The sole consolation that afternoon was an opening day win.  Chris Beaumont helped himself to a double in a 2-1 triumph.

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But normality only holds good when there’s sufficient grip to halt too much forward momentum.  Pictured left is the grassy knoll on which the County fans were gathered. And there was nothing like sufficient grip. There was no chance that afternoon – it might as well have been the Cresta Run as a melee of County bodies ended up in a pile.  But even bathed in mud, and soaked to the skin their delight at Beaumont’s strike was clear for all to see. 3 points to start the season … who cares about the conditions.  We were back up and running.

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There’s an interesting clip of Springfield Park on the Vale Tarci You Tube Channel. It comes from a video about “Demolished Football Stadiums”. Here’s the Springfield Park clip (Edit Sept ’23. The video is no longer available)

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Springfield Park also provided me with my first experience of the Hatters being involved in a penalty shoot out. These have rarely been happy affairs. There have been six of them, five of which I have witnessed “in the flesh” and the other one on live TV. I missed being present at the latter, (away at Staines Town), for reasons fully outlined in my post on the Bescot Stadium.

Anyway in September 1982, a Milk Cup 1st Round tie had ended 1-1 at EP. The second leg provided a similar scoreline. It went to penalties and our dismal record started. We went down 4-5. I have a hazy recollection that it was Nigel Smith who missed – if not my humblest apologies to him!! Only in an Auto Windscreen Northern Semi-Final in 1997 against Crewe have we ever come out on top.

Wigan decamped from Springfield Park in 1999, moving to share the newly constructed JJB Stadium with the town’s more famous sporting outfit, Wigan Warriors.  Given that the football operation eventually gained access to the Premier League it was probably an important element.  I liked Springfield Park, but it’s hard to see the footballing aristocracy from Anfield and Old Trafford taking the same view!

It beckoned me 10 times for County Away Days.  Never a happy hunting ground, with 7 of those leaving the 25 mile drive home contemplating the defeat that had just been suffered, I have fond memories of a stadium with its own personality.  A far stride from the soulless breeze block identikit edifices appearing these days – and sadly you can count its successor in Wigan amongst those.  I know which I prefer.

October 2016

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Archive footage of Springfield Park in 1979, when I first visited with County

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Sat	17/03/79	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Wigan Athletic	L	0	2	7,610	11
Sat	29/12/79	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Wigan Athletic	L	1	3	6,847	22
Sat	18/04/81	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Wigan Athletic	L	1	2	3,980	41
Mon	31/08/81	Milk Cup	Round 1 – 1st Leg	Wigan Athletic	L	0	3	5,079	44
Sat	10/10/81	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Wigan Athletic	L	1	2	4,873	47
Tues	14/09/82	Milk Cup	Round 1 – 2nd Leg	Wigan Athletic	D (†)	1	1	4,008	62
Tues	03/09/91	Barclays League Division 3	Tier 3	Wigan Athletic	W	3	1	3,567	214
Sat	07/12/91	FA Cup	Round 2	Wigan Athletic	L	0	2	4,168	221
Sat	15/08/92	Barclays League Division 2	Tier 3	Wigan Athletic	W	2	1	3,536	237
Tues	16/03/93	Autoglass Trophy	Northern Final – 1st Leg	Wigan Athletic	L	1	2	4,136	255

(†) – 14/9/82 – County lost 4-5 on penalties

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – VALE PARK Next stop – FEETHAMS