This weekend marks another significant milestone in Aston Villa’s history – it will be 125 years since the club took up residence at Villa Park.
The stadium has been home to generations of Villa players and supporters – and much more. It has hosted World Cup and European Championship football; it has staged more FA Cup semi-finals than any other venue; England have played here 11 times over the course of three different centuries; and it was the stadium where the last-ever UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final took place. Other sports, such as boxing and American football, have also been staged here, as well as rock concerts and religious gatherings.
More than anything, though, Villa have been proud to call it home since Saturday 17th April 1897, moving from the club’s former Perry Barr ground a week after becoming only the second club to achieve a league and cup double. The team’s first match at the new venue was a 3-0 win against Blackburn Rovers, in front of around 14,000 spectators. No-one who was present that afternoon could have imagined that the ground would evolve into a magnificent all-seater arena with a capacity of over 42,000.
While it boasts facilities to match those of any purpose-built stadium, Villa Park has retained the distinguishing features of a traditional football ground – four individual stands, each with its own character.
The newest, the magnificent Trinity Road stand, was officially opened by Prince Charles in 2001, although it is the vast, imposing Holte End for which the venue is best-known. Formerly the largest behind-the-goal terrace in Europe, the Holte is now an imposing double-decker structure capable of accommodating over 13,000 supporters.
In March 1946, a record crowd of 76,588 witnessed an FA Cup quarter-final against Derby County and in 1948-49 the average league attendance soared to an all-time high of 47,168.
Previously known as the Aston Lower Grounds, the venue was originally a popular amusement park and gardens which attracted visitors from far and wide, and which welcomed Buffalo Bill’s famous Wild West show in 1887. Villa also played on the site during their formative years, on an adjacent area known as the Magnificent Meadow, which was also used for cricket, cycling and athletics.
It is unclear exactly when the ground became known as Villa Park, although the name was certainly being used frequently by the early part of the 20th century. During that era, the dressing rooms were in the main Witton Lane stand, which was opposite covered terracing on Trinity Road. The capacity was 50,000, including 10,000 seats.
By 1914, there were plans to create a huge stadium capable of holding 104,000, but the grand scheme was curtailed by the First World War. Even so, the first phase of chairman Fred Rinder’s masterplan – the rebuilding of both end terraces – was completed before the outbreak of hostilities with Germany. When peacetime resumed in 1918, the most pressing project was a new stand on the Trinity Road side. Escalating building costs meant this had to be delayed but the impressive new structure, which now housed the dressing rooms, was in use by the end of 1923 and received a Royal visit from the Duke of York for a game against Bolton Wanderers in January the following year.
The capacity increased further still when the huge Holte End terrace was built even higher during the 1930s, and development continued even during the Second World War, when the Trinity Road stand was used as an air-raid shelter.
Football experienced a boom time in the immediate post-war years, and Villa Park attendances reflected the game’s immense popularity. In March 1946, a record crowd of 76,588 witnessed an FA Cup quarter-final against Derby County and in 1948-49 the average league attendance soared to an all-time high of 47,168.
But it was from the 1950s that we saw the dramatic changes which have ultimately shaped the Villa Park of the 21st century. Floodlights were installed in 1958, the Holte End was covered four years later and in 1963 the distinctive barrel-shaped roof of the Witton Lane stand was replaced by a modern cover. Then, in 1977, the Witton End terrace made way for what became known as the North Stand.
The next major changes were out of necessity. In April 1989, football mourned the deaths of 96 people at the Liverpool v Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, and the subsequent Lord Justice Taylor report ruled that all top clubs should transform their grounds into all-seater stadiums.
For Villa, the directive signalled the end of an era. The Holte End was demolished after the final game of the 1993-94 season, and seven months later a replacement double-decker stand was in use for the first time. In the meantime, there had been another significant change, the relatively small Witton Lane stand being replaced by a two-tier construction named after chairman Doug Ellis.
All that remained from Villa’s bygone era was the 1923 Trinity Road stand, which was bulldozed in the summer of 2000 to make way for a three-tier structure housing nearly 13,000 seats.
Now, of course, plans are in hand for a new North Stand which will take the capacity to over 50,000. Here’s to the next 125 years!
The club marked 125 years of Villa Park with a special edition of the matchday programme at Saturday's game against Tottenham. Copies are available to purchase here.
We'll also be releasing various features about our famous stadium on the club website and social channels throughout the week, so stay tuned!
