Dozens of U.S. Football League stadiums that were once an integral part of the towns and cities they called home have disappeared over the past three decades or so — all of them taking with them the rich memories of generations of supporters.
But what happened next? Athletic To find the answer, he traveled across the country, visiting various residential neighborhoods, shopping malls and even hospitals along the way.
The first of a four-part series, published every Tuesday in August, takes a look at perhaps the most emotive site of all: Bradford Park Avenue. Home to the league club for 62 years and the home of county cricket for over a century, Park Avenue lies forgotten and lonely, and one of the few visitors in the past decade has been an archaeological dig site…
Looking up at the rows of turnstiles that once led to the football stadium where England played its international matches, time seems to stand still.
High up on the wall is the sign “5/-” indicating that the admission fee is five shillings in old money, and around the corner are two other entrances blocked off with bricks and huge rusty iron gates with nails on top to stop anyone trying to get in for free.
The men's toilet block is also clearly visible at the back of the bank where supporters last stood more than 50 years ago, and walking inside, two overgrown terraces and crumbling perimeter walls overlook the dilapidated remains of the pitch where greats such as Stanley Matthews and Len Shackleton once played.
(Richard Sutcliffe/Athletic)
Also buried amongst the neglected shrubs are the bases of two floodlight towers and a trove of sporting memorabilia. Welcome to Bradford's Park Avenue, the forgotten home of the club once known as the Football League Club and by the same name, and now a ghostly sanctuary of Mother Nature.
In an age when demolition crews swarm the great sporting halls of Highbury, Roker Park and White Hart Lane as soon as the gates close for the last time, this former sporting mecca is a truly outdated building.
Not only does the cricket ground, where Yorkshire played for over a century until 1996, still stand, albeit in a semi-ruined state, but the adjacent football ground also retains enough of its character to bring tears to the eyes of fans of a certain age, as both sports shared the same Main Stand, designed by renowned architect Archibald Leitch.
Cricket on Bradford Park Avenue in the summer of 1949 (S&G/Getty Images)
Park Avenue was considered locally to be much superior to Valley Parade, the home of former Premier League and now League Two side Bradford City: for a start, it had a capacity of 14,000, whereas the capacity was 37,000, and there was a train station and a spur of a tram line on the site of the ornate Grand Mosque across Houghton Park Avenue, allowing thousands of fans to travel to and from the area in almost no time.
And then there was the Corner Pavilion, nicknamed “The Doll's House” by visitors: this attractive two-storey building served a similar purpose to Craven Cottage at Fulham, housing the football club's changing rooms and committee rooms, and allowing officials to watch the games from the balcony on the upper floor.
This approach could not save Bradford, however, as the Swinging Sixties gave way to the next decade and their fortunes declined significantly.
Banned from the league in 1970, the club struggled in the Northern Premier League for four years before dissolving with debts of £57,652 ($73,580 at today's exchange rate). By that point, the football ground had been sold to a property developer and Avenue played their final season at Valley Parade on the other side of the city.
Bradford Park Avenue in 1955 (George W. Hales/Getty Images)
Due to a restrictive covenant which meant the land could only be used for sporting and recreational activities, the football field was eventually left to fall into disrepair and disappear, even after the local council stepped in and purchased the land with grand plans to build a sports complex.
By 1980, Reach's ornate Main Stand had become unsafe and had to be demolished. The news triggered a wave of nostalgia across the city, with hundreds of fans flocking to see the old stadium one last time.
The pensioner was helped to the weed-strewn end of Canterbury Avenue where he leaned precariously against a rusty guardrail and gazed in silence at what looked like a ruined grave.
Tim Clapham, a supporter since 1963 and now club historian, was one of those who made the final pilgrimage before demolition works destroyed not only the 4,000-seat Main Stand and its distinctive three gabled roofs, but also the roofs of the Dolls' House and Houghton Park End.
“All that remains is the half-time scoreboard and the old social club has been sold to a local pig farmer,” Clapham says. “It was a very sad time and people came together in droves to take home memorabilia to remember the stadium by.
“Some people wanted the letters 'BFC' carved into the central gable of the stand, while others wanted two coats of arms carved into either end. However, when removed, these were actually much larger than they looked – we would have needed a lorry to remove them!”
For a second time, Bradford mourned the loss of the venue which hosted not only the 1909 England v Ireland international but also the fastest goal in Football League history (Jim Fryart scored in four seconds against Tranmere Rovers in 1964), but cricket at least survived.
Going deeper
'The noise will be deafening' – Interview with the American who designed Everton's new home
Until 1996, Yorkshire County Cricket Club was primarily based at Headingley, choosing to also play a small number of matches each season in Scarborough. Other grounds that lost their status were Middlesbrough, Harrogate and Hull, where part of the MKM Stadium now stands on the old Circle Cricket Ground, home to both Hull City and rugby league club Hull FC.
Park Avenue had been a shadow of its former self long before the 1996 County Championship final against Leicestershire.
(Richard Sutcliffe/Athletic)
Who knows what those who remember Park Avenue's heyday will think of the old site in 2024. The cricket ground has been restored to a first-class standard in recent years, allowing the Yorkshire second eleven to return and play occasional matches.
But the surroundings are in a dire state: wasteland where a magnificent pavilion stood until the late 1980s, and 10-foot bushes now grow where Fred Trueman, Ray Illingworth and others plotted the downfall of visiting batsmen. When a sports ground falls into decay, time is a formidable enemy.
There are a few dilapidated rows of seating at the front, much of which has been vandalised, and the area is struggling with weeds slowly creeping up through the concrete steps. It's a similar story elsewhere, with crumbling fenced-off terraced lots dotted with banks of vegetation.
The only bright spot is a mural of England spin bowler and local hero Adil Rashid, painted to mark the start of the Hundred competition in 2021. But even the mural is faded, adding to the sense of disrepair at a ground once considered a jewel of Yorkshire cricket.
(Richard Sutcliffe/Athletic)
Despite archaeological excavations carried out in 2015 which unearthed a variety of interesting artefacts, what remains of the old football pitch is not all that grim.
The loot, photographed for posterity by the Breaking Ground Art Project, included boot studs, coins, marbles, goal hooks and even a diaper pin. The diaper pin turned out to be a reference to an incident during one game when the elastic in goalie Chick Farr's shorts snapped, forcing trainers to make an emergency repair. Farr never forgot the incident, and pins would frequently rain down on him while he stood between the goalposts.
Going deeper
“We envisioned a stadium surrounded by rock”: How Braga's home was carved into granite
Any hopes of Bradford returning to their spiritual home ended when the Cricket School (now a sports hall) was built on half of the old football field in 1988. The new Park Avenue club was formed the same year and for almost 30 years Horsfall Stadium, an athletics ground a few miles from the old ground, has been their home ground.
(Richard Sutcliffe/Athletic)
However, on the cricket side, ambitious plans were announced a few years ago to carry out a major £5.5 million refurbishment and bring Yorkshire back to its former home ground.
The first phase, which included state-of-the-art changing rooms, outdoor nets and a scorekeeping shed, was opened in 2017 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by England and Yorkshire team-mates Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Rashid. Built on what remains of the old pitch at The Avenue, between the halfway line and roughly the penalty area, the nets were converted into an indoor facility last year.
The rest of the original plans, such as a community pavilion with changing rooms to be built alongside the original building, a restaurant catering for 250, seating for 1,000 spectators and safety fencing, never materialised. As a result, the idea of returning county cricket to Bradford City never materialised. Instead, York joined Leeds and Scarborough on the roster of Yorkshire home grounds.
This may be the final nail in the coffin of any hopes of ever bringing professional sport back to this corner of Bradford. All that remains now is a ghostly presence of the past, along with the abandoned turnstiles and terraces that have been home to insects and weeds for the past 50 years.
Going deeper
Ranking of Premier League stadiums.
(Top photo: Richard Sutcliffe, Tim Clapham)
