England's Home Venues History

Notes

For almost 80 years, England had no fixed home and played at grounds around the country.  Their first home match, the second international, was against Scotland at The Surrey Cricket Ground, The Oval in Kennington, London on 8 March 1873.  The Oval remained the venue for their next four home matches, three against Scotland and one against Wales.  Their first home match outside London was against Wales at Alexandra Meadows in Blackburn on 26 February 1881.  

England began playing at the Empire Stadium in Wembley, popularly known as Wembley Stadium, in 1924, the year after it opened.  Their first Wembley match, a 1-1 British Championship draw with their oldest rival, Scotland, on 12 April 1924, drew a disappointing crowd, and the next home match against Scotland in 1926 was played at Old Trafford in Manchester.  But the fixture returned to Wembley in 1928--along with a huge Scottish contingent which boosted the attendance well above the acceptable level--and it remained there until the annual England-Scotland rivalry ended in the late 1980's.  

Over almost three decades, England played only Scotland at Wembley while continuing to use grounds around the country for their other home matches.  Because home matches against Scotland came only every two years and because World War II led to a seven-year break in official international play, England played at Wembley only nine times from the first match in 1924 until the end of 1950.  Nevertheless--perhaps in recognition of England's role in founding the modern game, the status of the England-Scotland rivalry as the oldest in international football and the England team's preeminence during the 1920's and 1930's--Wembley had gained, long before mid-century, worldwide regard as the citadel of football and hence as hallowed ground.

In May, 1951, a month after Scotland had played their 10th British Championship match at Wembley, Argentina, the first national team from the Americas to visit England, became the first side other than Scotland to meet England at Wembley.  Later that same year, Austria, too, were granted Wembley status, although friendly matches against Portugal and France were played at Goodison Park in Liverpool and Arsenal Stadium in London, and the British Championship match against Northern Ireland was held at Villa Park in Birmingham.  The following year, 1952, the British Championship match against Wales was played at Wembley, but in 1953, although the Scotland match continued on the Wembley stage, the British Championship match against Northern Ireland was held at Goodison Park.  

Wales again played at Wembley in the British Championship match of 1954, and by then Wembley had become the regular venue for visitors from abroad.  Belgium played at Wembley in 1952, the Rest of Europe and Hungary in 1953, and West Germany and Spain in 1954.  Just before meeting Spain, in November, 1954, England at last played Northern Ireland at Wembley.  It was then that Wembley became firmly established as the national side's home venue.  For the rest of the century, England rarely played their home matches at venues other than Wembley, although it did not become their exclusive home until 1966.  

Indeed, of the 227 home matches England played in the second half of the 20th century--from the beginning of 1951 until the end of 2000--only 13 were staged elsewhere.  Three of those were in 1951 itself with another three coming later in the 1950's, three in the 1960's, one in the 1970's (and that only because in 1973 civil unrest forced Northern Ireland to play its home British Championship match in Liverpool), none in the 1980's, and three in the 1990's.  From the friendly match against Poland at Goodison Park on 5 January 1966 until the Umbro Cup International Challenge Tournament match against Sweden at Elland Road in Leeds on 8 June 1995--a span just short of 30 years--England did not play a single true home match at a venue other than Wembley.  

All that has changed.  The grand old stadium has now been demolished to make way for an edifice meeting modern standards.  The stadium that served England for three-quarters of a century was given a horrid farewell.  England played their last match at old Wembley on a rainy Saturday afternoon, 7 October 2000, a dismal 1-0 World Cup 2002 qualifying loss to Germany.   The result dampened any enthusiasm for the planned post-match celebrations, the fireworks fizzled in the rain, and England manager Kevin Keegan walked away from the job immediately after the game finished. 

The new stadium is completed, England were playing their home matches at grounds around the country, as they did before Wembley became their home.  They had played 34 matches in  this "on the road at home" odyssey, which had taken them to 14 venues, to one of them 14 times--Old Trafford in Manchester, three of them three times--Villa Park in Birmingham, St. James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Anfield Road in Liverpool, and to one of them twice-- The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester .  Some of these grounds had not staged an England match in decades.  Other grounds had never hosted an England match, although their predecessors had.  Three communities, Leicester, London's Upton Park and Ipswich, had never staged an England match.

While the aura of Wembley was missed, England's tour through the provinces has proved popular and afforded many fans their first chance to attend one of their national side's matches.   This around-the-country itinerary ended abruptly in 2007.  After years of delay, during which the project became a public debacle, the Football Association finally announced on 26 September 2002 that it had reached an agreement for financing of the new national stadium, that destruction of old Wembley, which had stood unused for two years, would begin the following week, and that the first match at the new Wembley would be the 2006 F.A. Cup Final.  The agreement requires England to play all home internationals at the new stadium for the next 30 years.  The new edifice will seat 90,000 spectators and cost an estimated £757 million ($1.17 billion).    

Old Wembley disappeared in February, 2003, as its last standing elements, the famous Twin Towers, were torn down.   New Wembley's symbol will be a huge arch, reaching as high as 133 metres above concourse level as it soars across the stadium.  Construction was behind schedule and there was reports that the new stadium's opening match will be at the end of the 2006-07 season.

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PY/CG