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120 years and counting: Football at Exeter's St James' Park

By Western Morning News  |  Posted: October 14, 2014

  • Party at the Park: Supporters engulf the pitcha fter Exeter's Fourth Division championship triumph of 1990 (picture: Grecian Voices)

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In its time, it has witnessed tragedy and triumph, joy and despair. In fact, as it marks its 120th anniversary of hosting football matches, St James’ Park has pretty much seen it all.

From the Fourth Division Championship triumph of 1990 to the tears of relegation in 2003, Exeter City’s home stadium has provided the stage for plenty of sporting theatre. But the Park was hosting football games long before the club’s “formation” in 1904. In fact, St James’ field had been a rugby venue from at least the late 1880s, but on October 6 1894, it hosted its first ever game of football between Exeter Association and Minehead, with the Exeter side winning 3-0.

The club was named as such to distinguish itself from Exeter, the rugby club in the city, while the Exeter Association were also referred to as Exeter City in the local press of that time.

“Exeter’s first match at St James’s,” the match report in the Western Times read. “Although starting two short, they were able to hold their opponents in hand and at half-time, had a lead of one goal to nil.

“In the second half, Exeter were pressing the greater part of the time, and, although the visitors made desperate efforts to score, they were unable to break through the defence and the homesters adding two more goals were enabled to run out easy winners by three to nil. The goals were scored by Campbell, Addis and Smith.” Football at St James’ Park was born.

Initially, the field was used by a number of the city’s junior and church clubs. Wesleyan United and Exeter United were both tenants before the United club folded and a young up-and-coming junior side called St Sidwells United took residence in 1903. But on May 31, 1904, the name was consigned to history and replaced by Exeter City Association Football Club and St James’ Park has remained the Grecians’ home ever since.

Maps show that the site was actually named St James’ Place, although locals referred to it as “Bradders” or “Bradford’s Field” after the tenant, Mr Albert Bradford.

Mr Bradford owned a butchers shop in the nearby Sidwell Street and used the field for grazing sheep, fattening pigs and slaughtering cattle, something that had been practiced on teh St James’ site for more than 250 years.

It is believed the football club paid Mr Bradford £40 for sole rights to the field in 1906, even though the pitch was not long enough to host FA Cup ties. But by 1908, the Grecians were elected into the members of the Southern League and St James’ Park had been transformed to accommodate 16,000 people.

The 1908-09 season, City’s first in the Southern League, was also notable for the first ever Devon derbies with Plymouth Argyle. The pitch issue had been resolved by a local MP, Henry Edward Duke, who bought the land adjacent to the field and where the Big Bank is now situated, and extended the pitch.

The terrace erected behind that goal became known as “Duke’s Bank” in his honour, but it was not until 1921 that the Grecians were able to buy their ground and the princely sum of £5,000 saw them acquire the 3.7 acre site. It was funded by the sale of goalkeeper Dick Pym to Bolton Wanderers.

The money also allowed the club to put a roof to the Cowshed terrace that run along one touchline and rebuild the Grandstand, which had been destroyed by fire the previous year. The structure built remains in place today. However, Pym’s association does not end there for it was he that bought a parrot back from the club’s tour of South America in 1914. Legend has it that the parrot lived at St James’ Park until its death when it was buried under the goal at the away end. That is until its internment was blamed for a chronic losing streak and the parrot was unceremoniously exhumed and largely forgotten as the Grecians got back to winning ways!

Sunderland’s visit in 1931 saw a record attendance at the Park. Officially, the figure was set at 20,984, but such was the demand in the FA Cup tie that the match was also screened at one of the local cinemas, something that draws comparisons to Manchester United’s visit for an FA Cup replay in 2004, by which time St James’ Park’s capacity had dipped below 10,000.

The outbreak of the second World War saw football stopped throughout the country, but St James’ Park was still put to good use. During the conflict the ground was used by both the Home Guard and the US military for training. This latter proved to be so popular that the stadium was opened for the visiting public to come and watch.

While City did not run out at their home ground during the war, sporting activities continued, including the European Baseball Championship final in 1945, and a game of American Football, contested by US Navy’s McKee’s Maulers and the US Navy Sea Lions, who won 13-6.

Little changed at St James’ Park until the mid-1990s when the Grecians were forced to sell the ground to Beazer Homes to stop the club from folding. Exeter City Council later purchased it from the housing developers and leased it back to the club, who redeveloped two sides of the ground.

The first part of the redevelopment saw the big Bank demolished and replaced by a 4,500-capacity terrace, which is now the largest terraced stand in England. However, the sight of the Old Cowshed being torn down and made way for a 2,200-capacity seated stand still hankers, for it was a unique structure within the game with the terracing above a beautiful primose-laden grass bank. It housed the famous “Cowshed choir”, a group of Exeter supporters that lended more than just vocal encouragement during home games.

While the new stand brought the club into the modern era with its executive boxes and corporate needs, the ground lost something special.

However, the ground will always be something special to the club’s supporters. It may not have the capacity of Old Trafford, or the facilities of Wembley, but the former farmer’s field in the centre of Exeter has been a second home to thousands of people now for 120 years. 120 years and counting...

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