Valley Parade
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Valley Parade, currently known under a naming-rights contract as Bradford and Bingley Stadium, is the home ground of Bradford City F.C. in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England.The club do not own Valley Parade and in 2005 narrowly escaped being forced to move [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bradford_city/3871717.stm).
It has a current seating capacity of 25,136.
It is divided, as are many English football grounds, into four stands, in this case known as the Carlsberg Stand, Sunwin Stand, TL Dallas Symphony Stand, and Yorkshire First Stand... in some cases also the subject of naming-rights contracts with sponsors. The Carlsberg Stand was traditionally the Kop End and the Yorkshire First Stand the Midland Road or East Stand.
On May 11, 1985, a crowd of over 11,000 were celebrating Bradford City's winning the Football League Third Division championship, equivalent to the post-2004 Football League One, and watching the final game of the season, against Lincoln City F.C. The trophy was presented before the game, and they were looking forward to the next year when they would be playing in their highest level in the English football league system since 1937. Shortly before halftime a fire engulfed the 80-year-old wooden Sunwin Stand of that day, killing 56 people ranging from children to an 86-year-old former chairman of the club. The few, narrow escape routes in some cases led to locked doors, and the easiest escape for many was onto the field.
This disaster is marked by annual remembrance ceremonies on the anniversary, and an annual Easter-weekend youth tournament drawing teams from across Europe as well as from Bradford and Lincoln. It also has as its legacy the movement for safety in modern British sports venues, which intensified after the Hillsborough disaster a few years later. The dead are also remembered by a plaque at today's Sunwin Stand.
The stadium did not reopen until December 14,1986 but is now rebuilt to far safer standards than before.
External links
- BBC historical story on the disaster (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/11/newsid_2523000/2523561.stm)
- Reminiscence on memorial ceremonies (http://www.thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/bradford/sport/city100/fire.html)
- Another account of the disaster (http://www.thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/100_years/1985.html)
- Photos of the burning stadium (http://www.bradfordtimeline.freeserve.co.uk/fire.htm)