[Official Site] CK BECKETT SOUTH STAND TO BE RENAMED

What about 'Winstandley'

 

Voted for Norman Rimmington but I'm not entirely comfortable with naming stands after people.

It'll always be the Ponty/Ponte end to me. Has been since the first time I went there in the 1980s.

And, while I understand the reason clubs change the name of their grounds for sponsorship money, it'll always be Oakwell to me.

 

The difference is I don't for one moment think of it as alienation. It really doesn't bother me at all what they call the stands. I don't call it the 'CK Beckett ponty end' as you think it should be.
Most folk I speak to refer to it as the Ponty. It allus will be. Nobody I know refer to any of the stands by the sponsors names. CK Becket. Investment room. Or the Barry Murphy stand. As to grove st. You have a point. But never do I ever hear it as grove st only on here. I think YT gave an explanation at to the programme title. But I gave up buying programmes. And if you look at the address it still says Oakwell stadium.
I voted for Rimmo because that was my choice given his connections. And some people like the idea. I get that. But I will probably never refer to it as that to anyone in conversation. Even in the box office.
In the scheme of things. I can't see folk losing any sleep.

 

Well said. What happens in the years to come if someone becomes more deserving of a stand than those who already have one at that point? Do we take away the name of a legend to name the stand after another? Someone bands in 200 goals for us in a long Barnsley career in the future and all that will be left to name after them will be the bogs.

 

It will still be the Ponty End. But it’s a lovely nod to someone’s past at the same time.

It’s called the South Stand because it’s on the South side. It’s for similar reasons that the North is the North, East is East (great film) and the West the West. It’s not a conspiracy. The stands often have sponsors rights, therefore titles. Doesn’t stop it being the West, North, East or South Stand.

But the South is referred to as the Ponty End because Pontefract Road is down that end. Maybe the West should be the Grovey End?

We play at Oakwell, which is situated ‘off’ Grove Street and is home to multiple pitches used by the academy, with the main one being referred to as the Showcase pitch. There’s no conspiracy. It’s just a reference point. It’s really not that deep.

I don’t think anything that’s happened in the last few months is sign of any breaking of connection, at all. If anything, things should appear more connected than ever.

Wait til you see the new programme name…

 

Is it going to be called "Supertyke Presents... Grove Street Review"?

 

This is part of my issue with using people's names. As unlikely as it is in the modern game there's always the chance that someone is more worthy in the future.

Surely there's an argument to be made for one of the stands to be named Tiverton Preedy - we're never going to have another founder?

Either way, I understand the desire for naming stands and I understand the usage of the NSEW labels, but Ponty will always be Ponty.

 

It's on the south side but the only people wanting to call it the south stand are you and people at the club. Why? What benefit is there to continually calling it that to supporters? Have you ever had a supporter thankyou for doing so? In your honest opinion do you think the supporters prefer to refer to it as the Ponty End or the south stand? If your answer is south stand I believe you are massively out of touch. If your answer is Ponty End then why the hell would you then choose to ignore that information and call it the south stand? It's the little details.

 

The Tiverton Preedy stand does have a nice ring to it, good call @jptykes!

 

When I was a young lad first attending in the 80s, I stood in the Brewery Stand. There was no stand to the right of me. The one opposite was the West, or ‘posh seats’ as my dad called it. And the Ponty End to my left.

Since then, three sides of Oakwell were newly built. Three new stands. Called East, South and North. To go with the West. Seems proper clear to me why they were referred to by the club in that manner, from the 90s onward.

I can’t speak for before my time, so I’ve no idea when the South side of the stadium was first referred to as the Ponty End. But it’s all I’ve ever known. And it’s what I refer to it as. I then call the West the West, East the East and I call the North the away end. That’s just me. Even though I have known Barry Murphy for years now, and love the bloke and count him as a great pal. It’s still the away end to me. But I was proud to be at the club and involved in seeing a stand named in the great man’s honour.

And I’m delighted that we are now in a position where we can honour another legendary Reds figure. It was tough to put it to a vote, because we’ve had many, many figures deserving of such recognition. But it was something regularly brought up by fans at meetings, forums etc over the last few years - why couldn’t we have stands named after club legends, like other clubs have done. So here we are.

Just as it was constantly made clear to us, that we should sell Season Tickets. Not Season Cards, not Seasonal Passes, not Memberships. We listened.

We’ve also made an effort to stop using Grove Street in the last few months. Again, because it has clearly irked some folk, despite its genuinely innocent usage as a term of reference. That was my decision/fault. The programme name will change with that too, naturally. We’ve refurbished the signage on the Brendan O’Connell Pontefract Road South Ora Stand. We’ve spent a fortune on CCTV. The security has been brought in-house. We are trying to improve the catering offering. We’ve our biggest open day ever. The recruitment of players and manager has looked different also. Because we are trying to engage, connect and sing from the same hymn sheet as our supporters - the most important people related to the Club we all love.

We are doing our best I feel. But it’s not going to be perfect overnight. Things take time. In fact, things will likely never be perfect. It’s impossible to please all of the people all of the time.

I certainly feel like I’ve tried to help with the connection of club/history/stadium/fans in my time here. We established a Hall of Fame. We delivered an Alumni. We’ve been to Preedy’s resting place. We are going again soon. We take new signings to Barnsley landmarks, we let them know what this club means to people. Whether it makes a difference is up for debate. And we constantly try to use the club for good. Whether that’s helping out smaller local clubs, foodbanks, Weston Park, the hospital and hospice, using local businesses, or involving regular Barnsley folk and fans in the things that we produce. Whether it’s Shaun Dooley, Neil Richardson, Joe from Red All Over, the Tykes TV lads, Chris Ridyard, Ben Mosley, Eyup n Darn. And many more. Only today we released a 13 minute video on iFollow with a Reds fan talking about his Oakwell Memories. About the Ponty End!

Everything is done with the best intentions.

Back on topic - Fans can call it the Ponty End. I’ll continue to call it that. I’ve definitely called it that on certain articles over the years. I remember one in particular during the COVID season, titled Pack the Ponty. When we had flags behind the net etc. But in some content, especially things like access information articles, the ‘information’ is for home and away fans and worded to comply with health and safety and ground regulations in what is a modern, PC world. So we use the general titles. Same on other similar copy. There’s no conspiracy.

I hope this has helped in some way! Up the Tykes. X

 

If they did say that he shouldnt be on the list imo

 

Nice nod to East is East there what a film!

 

Nailed it

 

the current Mrs Didcot Red used to work with his cousin for a while.

 

You can’t look anywhere in sport these days without a sponsor’s name obliterating traditional ground names, although there are exceptions of course - thank goodness we still have an “Oakwell”. A lot of clubs have no option but to give up their established ground titles for financial reasons. Cheltenham Town always played at Whaddon Road but now it’s called the Jonny-Rocks Stadium. Peterborough United play at London Road, but it’s now known as the Weston Homes Stadium. That famous old London club Leyton Orient have played at Brisbane Road since 1937, but their fans now have to call it the Matchroom Stadium.

There are plenty of other examples and the ludicrous thing is that when a club gets a new ground built it is naturally known by its sponsor’s name, but that name can change every couple of years. I suppose sponsorship of sport is here to stay but I hope the day never comes in my lifetime that the corporates hijack our ground name. Imagine if we had to watch the Reds at the Pacific Media Group Arena, or some such abomination!!

 

perhaps the option to vote to keep the name 'Ponty-End' should have been included ?

 

I voted for Rimmo. But where was the Tom Kennedy option?

 

It is the Ponty End. It's what we all know it as.

If anyone posts on here saying they call it the CK Beckett Stand, then they're C K Beckett.

That's it. End of.

Anything else going beyond this point is becoming either commercial or meaningless.

Stick big red letters on it spelling something out if that's what the club wishes. Makes no difference.

I'll still be sitting in the Carl Tyler Stand.