FARTOWN A GROUND NEARLY LOST

FARTOWN AND HUDDERSFIELD RUGBY LEAGUE, CRICKET AND FOOTBALL
FEBRUARY 2019 NOSTALGIA AROUND HUDDERSFIELD

FARTOWN TODAY THE FORMER HOME OF HUDDERSFIELD RUGBY LEAGUE

The sporting complex of Fartown one mile to the north of Huddersfield town centre clings on to its existence by the skin of its teeth but is a sad reflection of its former glory days when the towns rugby league side, Yorkshire Cricket Club, FA Cup football, baseball and athletics graced its expanse.
Nostalgia is lost on youth, to badly misquote a similar observation, as you enter your more thoughtful years I guess it all starts in your 40's and then develops to 'those were the days' meanderings and in an all too infrequent feature on this blog its time to echo those thoughts once again.
Huddersfield is fairly well known to me in its centre and former Leeds Road football ground but until last summer I have to admit to being oblivious to Fartown and its sporting history.  All that though was changed by Dennis Kaye during a chance meeting at Kirkburton Cricket Club where the 82 year old waxed lyrically along with his scrapbook about the good old days at the ground.  The glory days are often seen as a time anywhere in the first 70 years of the last century when travel was not as easy and the massive industrial population turned out in numbers to support their home town sports and so the wonderful story of Fartown by Dennis set me off on this journey.
Having researched a fair bit about the ground along with the recollections of Dennis it only took me about eight months to actually get aboard the train from base station to change at Sheffield for the beautiful journey via the Penistone line, normally I would be admiring the countryside but having done this so much last summer there was a semi blasé attitude to the fore as I engrossed myself in this weeks Rugby League Express an excellent publication.

 IT ALL STARTED RIGHT HERE

Out onto the station precinct to be greeted by Huddersfield's own Harold Wilson in jovial statue form the important part of this impressive square is the George Hotel which sits to the left hand side, with our back to the station, and now sadly since 2013 a closed establishment.  The building is a smart reflection of its time and carries grade 2 listed building status.  Its relevance to todays story and
Rugby League is the initial breakaway to from rugby union to form Northern Rugby Union came about in a meeting at this hotel on 29 August 1895, later on in 1922 the change was completed to The Rugby Football League.  The proprietor of the hotel was the original owner in 1868, as Huddersfield St Johns Cricket Club who merged with the athletics club, of our intended main destination today and up until its closure housed the Rugby League Heritage Centre within its basement.
Before nostalgia could commence there would be a requirement for sustenance for the afternoon and walking along the Bradford Rd in Hillhouse Mother Hubbards Fish Restaurant was spotted a smart establishment that served up an excellent bit of fayre and also added to the days gone by feel.  The whole restaurant was adorned with old scenes of the town and its first restaurant in Bradford which was opened by Coronation St characters Stan and Hilda Ogden, those were the days!

MEMORIAL TOWER BY THE ENTRANCE TO FARTOWN COMPLEX

Cutting through the back streets and coming out onto Spaines Rd the complex opens up before you first noticing the massive stone built memorial clock tower sitting proudly in front of the cricket ground, I say clock tower but sadly that has been removed due to vandals and now has a Yorkshire white rose firmly in place. 
Its here where the history starts oozing out with Yorkshire using the ground for over 70 first class matches including touring teams the memorial pays tribute to three of Huddersfield's greatest.  Yorkshire and England players Wilfred Rhodes, George Hirst and Schofield Haigh indeed Rhodes played into his 50s and still has the record of oldest player in a test match at 52 years and 165 days in 1930.  Yorkshire first played at the ground in 1873 with the last appearance for the county game in 1955, although the Sunday and at times sponsored John Player League one day game was an irregular performer between 1969 and 1982.

LOOKING TOWARDS THE FORMER SCOREBOARD END

The cricket ground itself had a large pavilion to the left hand side of our entrance and this was fronted by a sweep of banked seating overlooking the playing area which was separated by a wide track area around the outfield.  This would probably be a reminder to the complex's original developers the athletics club and this is still within history's grasp as the clock tower sitting atop the mothballed pavilion carries the title 'HC & AC FARTOWN'.
Today sees a rugby pitch on the hallowed turf and the only activity is a walker getting their step count up by briskly completing circuits of this former glory days site.

FORMER NORTH TERRACE WITH FLOODLIGHTS AND FENCING STILL IN PLACE

Moving up the embankment and we approach the former Fartown home of Huddersfield Rugby League Club a need for structure here and not getting carried away with history is always a problem so deep breath and here goes.  Thankfully the ability to take pictures and the five set of lights sitting to the front of the former north terrace were still in situ but with just two lights on the poles the original eight were clearly no more. 
The terrace in pictures of old was a massive viewing area most viewable only show half of the terrace with the area to the top and rear closed off over the years but there area a few showing it in its entirety.  During an external walk around the site through rough walked fields I later realised I would have been stood at the summit of this terrace which is now sadly taken over by nature and full of trees and undergrowth.

LOOKING TOWARDS POPLAR ST DOWN THE MAIN STAND TOWARDS THE WEST STAND

The pitch was freshly whitewashed as thankfully St Josephs still apply their trade in amateur rugby league to this day supported by some changing room cabins which sit on the site of the demolished main stand, along this side there are still some remnants of the footings for the dug out areas.  The far end to the east the former scoreboard end is again largely overgrown as is the opposite end behind the posts this was the business end with changing rooms and the barrelled roof synonymous with many sports grounds of the day with the stone rowed houses of Poplar St still overlooking the proceedings to this day.  Again the nature of neglect showed through but strangely with the terracing ripped up, stands demolished the two consistent survivors was the pitch boundary metal fencing and the floodlights, although the chances of the latter working I guess are very remote.
The famous faces that graced the turf are too many to mention but Holmfirth born centre Harold Wagstaff was one to the top of the list making his debut for his home towns side of Underbank Rangers at 14 he moved onto the claret and golds to make his first appearance at just 15 years old.
Ground facts are many here are just a few to whet the appetite, Huddersfield Rugby League from 1878 to 1992, Challenge Cup Finals 1908 and 1910 alongside internationals and semi finals, formerly known as The St Johns Ground the record attendance was on 1947 for a cup semi final 35,136 with Huddersfield's top gate 32,912 with the polar opposite being in 1986 just 303.  The last game on the ground was against Ryedale York with 1,619 in attendance.  For the footy fans the FA even staged a FA Cup semi final at Fartown in 1882 between Blackburn and Sheffield Wednesday who fought out a 0-0 draw.  The complex even welcomed baseball for one exhibition fixture.
In the latter years as the stadium fell into need of repair the club added the suffix Barracudas and renamed the ground Arena 84 sadly not much seemed to work and the club gradually were engulfed by their ageing stadium and in 1992 moved to share at the football clubs ground Leeds Road which also went the same way before both clubs moved to their current ground sharing arrangement.
During the research I came across an interview with Keith Burhouse who has sadly passed away but his love for his club tells the story of so many people and their team.  Volunteering in the early eighties to try to get Fartown up to speed nothing was rejected as a job to help the club even his tale of climbing half way up the floodlights to change a bulb and realising he was scared of heights but then considering this was for his beloved Huddersfield Rugby League Club he gripped on harder got to the top and changed the bulb! 
A great selection of tales about Keith's involvement and then as Associate Director with the Giants makes you not only warm to the man but the sport who thankfully recognised his additional monumental efforts to also record the artefacts of the heritage museum.  It was a heart warming story and one that will put Keith and people like him forever in the clubs history.
Before leaving Fartown one recommended viewing, by the usual sources, is 'the battle of Fartown' in 1981which gives some background to the ground a particularly memorable fixture when Wigan came to town for a second division promotion fixture that ended up with Manchester referee Vin Moss sending off half a dozen players as emotion spilled over!

CENTRE SPOT AT FORMER LEEDS RD GROUND

It was time to depart Fartown and having stood and walked in the footsteps of many of the greats and spent time considering the spectators that had once packed these terracing it just remained a sad observation that there was enough electrical equipment, alongside other rubbish strewn around the site to stock your local retailer plus a nice collection in soft furnishings to make up a non matching settee.
Leaving Fartown under the Leeds bound railway line and over the canal the first site of our closing destination of The John Smths Stadium came into sight but not before we crossed the busy Leeds Road and started taking pictures of the car park floor in the B and Q retail park to the amazement of quite a few.  For here is the centre circle, nicely marked out with a memorial plaque, of the former Huddersfield Town ground, somewhere I had attended a game on a few occasions previously.
A grand old ground again with a massive stand and equally massive terracing and the famous cowshed end given its name due its barrelled roof, much like Fartown, making it look very much like a barn type of building.

THE NEW HOME FOR FOOTBALL AND RUGBY LEAGUE

Anyway before security arrived to move me on a short goal kick away is the newish home of Huddersfield Town and Huddersfield Giants its varying stadium names from Kirkless to Alfred Mcalpine and Galpharm to the current John Smiths give way to a modern unique stadium offering a very different sightline to many of the modern stadia.  Its a bowl sitting in a bowl and very difficult to take external pictures of with a game on in the evening against Wolves the whole place was very busy in preparation for kick off.  There was though time to observe a lovely nostalgic touch with a set of turnstiles and wall from the old Leeds Road ground proudly rebuilt inside the new stadium.
For the blog though it was time to bid farewell for now to Huddersfield and having missed him on arrival Felix the famous station cat was now on shift at Platform One to see me away back down the Penistone line with memories intact of an engrossing visit reliving the memories of Huddersfield sporting days which now belong to nostalgia.