Big Lil, or any other really old Reds fans?

Out of interest, there's been lots of mentions about Reds trips to Valley Parade over the years ........ did you guys ever visit Park Avenue?

From what I understand, for much of the 60's / early 70's Barnsley and BPA had similar histories. The ground was supposedly better than Valley Parade at the time and a lot of Bradfordians think it was a crying shame that City never relocated to the better ground. Alas it went to ruin.

My memories of it .... I walked up a couple of times as a young lad to watch BPA non-league games with my Dad. I was also mascot there when my Dads team got to a local league final. I went up to lift the cup with the skipper. I remember getting a trophy myself in lieu of a medal and was proud as punch.

After that, in the mid-70's when I used to go watch Yorkshire cricket there in the summer, me and my mates would climb through the fencing for a kick-about at lunch breaks - atmospheric indeed playing in a 'proper' stadium.

I came across this on Facebook. If our histories were close, then this could very well have been our own beloved West Stand Bogs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBNVEqoL6wY&feature=youtu.be

 

I saw Barnsley play at Park Avenue (Aberystwyth) in 2000. It was almost the next game after the Wembley play off final.

There was no trouble at all, except a few sheep ran on the pitch.

But I suspect you are talking about another Park Avenue.

 

The first time I went to Bradford PA, back in our first 4th division season, we lost 7-2. Their scorers were Kevin Hector 5 and Bobby Ham 2. I cannot remember our scorers but George Kerr and Martin Ferguson (Alec's brother) scored most of our goals that season. I remember the ground as neat, tidy and very compact with an old wooden main stand. I can also remember that the entry concourse (next to the cricket field) was very tight. It felt very homely, but I doubt is would have met modern safety requirements.

The season afterwards, Hector was gone (Derby County) and so was Ham. For us both Kerr (Bury) and Ferguson had also moved on. I went to Bradford again, but there was now a feeling of depression about the place. We stood on the end terracing behind the goal and watched our centre forward, a young lad totally out of his depth, miss a string of chances and we lost again 1-0. After the first 10 games of that season, Ernest Dennis and Geoff Buckle invested £10,000 in the club to bring in Barry Thomas and Johnny Evans and the club's fortunes turned around, but I remember my visits to Bradford PA as being part of our lowest ebb.

 

Cheers for that Red Rain. Interesting read.

 

Bradford PA was my first away game in 1963 - we drew 1-1
The terraces were open behind the goal but my dad had paid for us to sit in the stand that backed onto the cricket pitch.
That's what stuck in my mind - it was an old wooden stand with two facings - the football stand used the same back wall as the cricket stand - rather like the old back to back terraced houses.
I remember we had to walk in through the cricket ground to take our seats - I'd never seen anything like it.
Can remember bugger all about the game but that stand lingers in my memory.

 

That's the stand I was in when I was mascot

Cheers mate.

 

somewhere in the attic I have a programme of the last match played at BPA (I wasn't there!) -

can't remember the date nor the name of the other team.

 

Morning, Andy.
Even though I'm REALLY old D), I never actually saw us play Bradford PA in a league game. I started watching us in our first season back in the Third Division (1968/69) and Bradford were in the Fourth. They failed to be re elected in 1970 and were replaced by Cambridge United.
I did see us play them at home in the FA Cup 1st Round, November 1970. We won 1-0, with a penalty from Les Lea (I think!). Bradford had the Lancashire and England opening batsman Barry Wood playing at centre forward for them.

 

I went to a Yorkshire v Sussex John Player League game there with my dad in 1978. I was more fascinated with the derelict football ground, than the rain affected cricket match. The pitch was very overgrown and all the stands were still there. My memory must be playing tricks though, as I thought there was all the pre-decimal prices still on the turnstiles, but I've just read that they didn't leave until 1973.

 

Ok, here are my memories of Bradford Park Avenue, based on memory plus a quick look at our historical records.

The game that Red Rain refers to, when we lost 7-2, was on the 20th November 1965. I wasn't there but we were clearly undone by the "Hector and Ham" show. Kevin Hector was probably in the same bracket for them as Sam Winnall is for us - in other words, a natural goal scorer. He went for big money at the end of that season to Derby County and had a good long career with them, and he played for England twice. His scoring record is actually phenomenal but I wonder if he only ever bagged five in just the one game, against us!

The following season though I was there as part of a big following from Barnsley to watch the resurgent Reds win 3-1. This was on the 15th February 1967 and we were now being led from the front by the wonderful pairing of Barrie Thomas and Johnny Evans. The club's fortunes had been transformed by the purchase of two players and, although we ended 16th that season, the seeds were sown for promotion the following year.

I think that may have been my only visit to Park Avenue and all I remember is being behind the goal and being chanted at by the Bradford fans who were marching around the track in front of us, at half time (not sure what that was all about unless they were unable to switch stands in the normal way because there were so many of us behind that goal). Obviously, the song was "Hector got five....." blah blah. We should have been singing "Where's your Kevin gone?" or something similar - maybe we did?

I just recall that, at that time, the PA ground was definitely better appointed than Valley Parade which was a crumbling wreck in those days. By that, I mean that the PA terracing was a lot tidier, and the capacity was bigger than City's ground. I imagine there are some photos lurking around the system somewhere.

 

As a 'senior citizen' I did visit Park Avenue once although not to see the Reds. I lived in Keighley at the time (probably around 1964) and as a young boy wanted to visit all the local grounds. I persuaded my Dad to take me on a very wet Saturday afternoon. Very memorable because it remains the only game I have been to which was abandoned due to the weather. I went a few times to watch Yorkshire there as well.

 

Did Bradford PA ever play Bradford City?

 

http://www.11v11.com/teams/bradford-city/tab/opposingTeams/opposition/Bradford Park Avenue/

 

I was there at that 3-1 win too, what recall was wooden stands, small ground nothing much else stood out, been to city ground as well but later than that, city's was bigger but depressing, a bit like Oldhams back then, theirs was really depressing

 

I must have seen them play Bradford P A in the 66/7 season but the only game I remember is that cup game when they had been dumped,into the Northern Premier League. According to the stats it was Norman Dean who got the penalty but I remember that we were out played and lucky to get through. Our luck did not last though and we lost to the might of Rhyl in round 2 in the second replay.

 

Memory like a sieve with regards to the scorer, old mate.
I DO remember us being second best throughout the game, though. As you rightly say, we copped for it in the next round.

 

Th afore mentioned Barrie Wood gave our defence the runaround in much the same way as he tormented our bowlers on Roses Games through,the 70s. Well not the same way as football is a very different game to cricket but I hope you get my drift. I am starting to ramble in my dotage.

 

Thanks for the memories chaps, some good reads up there.

FYI Pontyender, the pre-decimal thing is right. All the old prices stayed up for years, and if memory serves last time I drove past there I'm sure the old .d prices are still on the walls - well faded but still there.

 

As a kid, it baffled me how someone a little as Wood who was not a full time footballer (along with a rollocking from my Dad for being ignorant) could cause us so much trouble. It taught me never to be as disrespectful again.

 

I went a couple or so times

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...0447f40351&cbn=EntityAnswer&cbi=0&FORM=IARRTH

here's a few images of Horton Park.