Iconic Grounds: The Legacy of the Original Wembley Stadium

On April twenty eighth, nineteen twenty three, the famous Wimbley Stadium is opened for the first time in London, which becomes the location to some of the most iconic moments in British sports history. Let's dive in to what makes this stadium so iconic today on Daily Sports History. So Wimbley Stadium actually gets its name from where it was located in Wimbley Park, and the location was chosen and the reason why it was going to be built was because they were having the British Empire Exhibition, which was supposed to be similar to the World's Fair often held in America and help drive economic growth and highlight the country of England and all it had to offer, and they wanted a stadium to help encourage that. And on this stadium there is actually something that was previous being built called the Watkins Tower, which was a folly, which means it was built and meant to come down at some point. And this tower was supposed to be taller than even the Eiffel Tower but looked very similar in design, but it never got finished. They tore it down to make room for this new stadium, which was to be known as the British Empire Exhibition Stadium or for short, Empire Stadium, and they budgeted for seven hundred thousand pounds to build this stadium, which is roughly forty six million dollars to date. And they got started and they had to move over two hundred and fifty tons of dirt to make room for the new stadium, which was going to have a capacity of one hundred and twenty seven thousand, and they wanted this to be done in under ten months so that it would be ready for the opening of the exhibition. And we mentioned that the Watkins Tower was a folly before and the stadium was actually supposed to be a as well, as it was meant to be demolished at the exhibition, which was supposed to last a year. And we often hear about struggles of major constructions such as skyscrapers and stadiums, but they were able to build this exactly on time. They built the whole stadium in under three hundred days. Now, the stadium itself was very basic, as it was an oval stadium with multiple rows of seats, but what made it iconic was they built these two pillars at the entrance that almost looked castle like with a dome like top, and they stood one hundred and twenty six feet high and they really stood out as they were white and really stuck out during the facade. And the first sporting event they had was the FA Cup Final on April twenty third, only five days after its opening. This is often known as the White Horse Final. The reason being is they did not give out tickets for this game. It was a general admission and they had a capacity of one hundred and twenty seven thousand, and the crowd grew in. The estimated fan totals was around two hundred and forty to three hundred thousand. People attended more than double the capacity, so much so that fans were overflowing onto the field and the police were mounted pushing back the fans so they could start the match. And the reason why this is called the white Horse Finale is because there was a white horse that police Constable George Gory was riding named Billy in iconic photos pushing back the fans and they were able to start the match. They were able to start the match just forty five minutes after it was supposed to start, where the Bolton Wanderers beat the west Ham United and there's even a bridge outside the stadium called Billy's Bridge, named after that white horse. But after that first year of the British Exposition, which was a financial flop for the country, they started selling off different pieces of the exhibition, and the only thing they have left was the stadium, which they actually planned on demolishing like they had previously thought. But Arthur Elvin, who had actually worked at a tobacco kiosk at the expedition, made a financial deal with James White, who had owned the property, saying that he would pay him one hundred and twenty seven thousand for the property, just a fraction of what they paid to build it, and give him a twenty seven thousand pounds down payment paid the rest over ten years. And though they agreed to this deal, James White was facing bankruptcy due to the exposition not being successful, and in the face of him being financially ruined, he took his life in nineteen twenty seven, which made it much more difficult for Elvin to buy the stadium, as even though he had a deal in place, it was only a handshake deal and they were not going to honor it as they could not prove the deal was in place, so he had to raise the money to by the whole team for the one hundred and twenty seven thousand that he had agreed on, or else they were going to demolish the stadium. Within two weeks he was able to find some partners and form a new company called the Wimbley Stadium and Greyhound Racecourse Company, and the greyhound racing helped actually provide a stable income for the Wimbley Stadium and they had greyhound racing events all the way till nineteen ninety nine, and the stadium had remained largely unaltered until nineteen sixty three when they added a circling roof to the top, not enclosingly the field but adding shade for the patrons, and it was made out of aluminium and translucent glass, and they also added an electronics scoreboard as this has become a location that had been known to hold multiple events, including the nineteen forty eight Olympics, in World Cup games in nineteen sixty six and nineteen ninety six, and multiple Leliga games, multiple Premier League soccer matches and finals, and also held the Rugby League Challengers Cup every year starting in nineteen twenty nine. They actually held races here such as the Motorcycle Speedway, which creates a unique racing feel as is a very tight race with multiple turns, and they've actually held multiple stock car races inside the track as well, but they always had to be very careful as they did not want to disturb the grass on the pitch for the soccer games. As they first started racing, they destroyed the field and after that they did not want to do it anymore. And American Football has actually played multiple games at Wimbley stadiums as well, when they played nine preseason games from nineteen eighty three to nineteen ninety three, including the World League Football, London Monarchs played their home games at Wimbley and they held the World Bowl here in nineteen ninety one. This not only was a sporting facility, it was also known as a great location for live events, having some of the most major acts played at the stadium, including the iconic Live Aid where David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Elton John The Who, Dire Straits U two and Phil Collins, and one of the most iconic performances of all time by Queen all performed on the same day at Wimbley Stadium. But as I've dropped hints a few times, Wimbley Stadium is no longer around, at least not the original as it had become in disrepair as it was originally made to be demolished and had not been made to last for over one hundred years, and in the year two thousand they finally made the decision to demolish the original stadium to redevelop a new iconic Wimbley Stadium. Despite contractors to the new stadium as it did not include the iconic twin towers that the original Wimbley Stadium did. Many insens to love in the new Wimbley Stadium in all that it has to offer, as New Wimbley was built for seven hundred and fifty million pounds and has a larger capacity almost eight times as many toilets and has zero obstructed seats as Old Wimbley had over sixteen thousand seats that had obstructions, and the new stadium has a retractable roof that can be covered and has become the new center of England sports now. Old Wimbley Stadium is iconic in so many ways. It's held many many iconic moments not only in sports, but in music and entertainment, and it was a staple in England sports for years. But it goes to show you that just because something has been around forever doesn't mean it's what we always need to do, and sometimes change can be a great thing, not only for us but for the teams we love. So come back and join our community on social media. We are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, threads, pinterests, wherever you like to social lies, we will be there and join our community as we become fans of daily sports history