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Display Ground information
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Valley Parade has been a League ground
for 107 seasons;
from December 25th, 1986
to
the current day
,
from June 1st, 1903
to
May 12th, 1985
.
Valley Parade was the 158th
ground
to be used for a League game.
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| The ground was first used by Manningham Rugby Club in 1886 who brought the main stand from their previous ground and re-erected it on the west side. A cinder track was laid around the pitch and apart from rugby it became the regular venue for athletics and archery.
In 1903 the club switched codes and emerged as Bradford City FC but the facilities remained basic with the teams having to change at premises outside the ground until Valley Parade was re-developed following promotion to Division 1 in 1908. A new 3,500 seat main stand was built on the west side, the north end terracing doubled in size and a cover and terracing constructed on the east side just before the record attendance of 39,146 was set at the FA Cup 4th Round tie v. Burnley (1-0) on March 11th, 1911.
The ground remained unchanged until 1951 when the structure on the east side was dismantled (the steelwork being sold to Berwick Rangers for their main stand at Shielfield Park), replaced in 1954 and dismantled again in 1960 after being declared unsafe due to problems with the foundations. In the same year a cover was installed at the south end and, in 1966, the pitch was moved slightly to the west to allow for some standing spectators on the now unoccupied east side. Four years later a new cover was installed on the east side and seats installed in the main stand paddock.
On May 11th, 1985 the main stand burned down killing no less than 56 spectators, seriously injuring 200 more and sending repercussions through football grounds in Britain with wholesale closures of unsafe stands and the compulsory expedition of remedial action following the amendment to the Safety of Sports Grounds Act (1975) in 1985 to include smaller football and rugby grounds.
In the wake of this tragedy the ground was rebuilt, a new 4,390 seat main stand opened in 1986 and all seat stands were eventually constructed on each side. The new all-seater stand at the north end was completed in 1999 and this was linked by a new corner stand to an enlarged, but at that time incomplete, main stand on the west side in 2001. At the start of the 2007/8 season the all-seat capacity was 25,136 and the pitch size 110 x 80 yards.
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