Boleyn Ground Upton Park 1

Boleyn Ground

The Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium located in Upton Park, east London. From 1904 to 2016, it was the home of West Ham United. The stadium was also briefly used by Charlton Athletic in the early 1990s during their years of financial difficulty.

From the 2016–17 season, West Ham United have played their home matches at the London Stadium in nearby Stratford. The last first-class match played at the Boleyn Ground was on 10 May 2016, a 3–2 West Ham United win in the Premier League against Manchester United.

Club Factfile

  • NAME: West Ham United
  • NICKNAME: The Irons and The Hammers
  • FOUNDED: 5th July 1900
  • TRADITIONAL COLOURS: Claret and Blue
  • LOCAL RIVALRY: Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea

Ground Factfile

  • CAPACITY: 35,016
  • RECORD ATTENDANCE: 42,322 (v Tottenham Hotspur in 1970)
  • ADDRESS: Upton Park London, E13 England
  • YEAR OPENED: 1904
  • YEAR CLOSED: 2016
  • PITCH SIZE: 110 x 70 yards

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Ground Information

The East Stand was situated on the far side of the Boleyn Ground, opposite the West Stand which housed the offices and dressing rooms. The stand was the oldest and smallest stand in the stadium, being built in 1969 and held only 5,000 seats due to its narrow width. The stand was known as the loudest and most intimidating stand at Upton Park. The real 'Chicken Run' was an old wooden stand (standing room only) on the east side of the pitch. Unusually, the roof sloped down away from the pitch and it was surrounded by a similar sort of wire to that used on chicken runs, so when viewed from the opposite side of the ground it looked like a chicken run. The front of the stand was very close to the pitch. It was knocked down and rebuilt in 1969.

The Bobby Moore Stand (formerly the South Bank) was built in 1993 and held up to 9,000 spectators, all seated. The stand was built originally to comply with new stadium all-seater regulations, and the name of the stand was decided after the death of the club's legendary captain from the successful mid-1960s side in the same year of construction. The stand had two tiers, and spelt the words "WEST HAM UNITED" through the seats of both tiers. The lower tier of the Bobby Moore stand, like the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand, was well known for its supporters' passion and the atmosphere created through standing and singing. The stand had executive boxes situated between the upper and lower tiers, and a digital clock.

The West Stand was the newest and by far the largest stand inside Upton Park, holding up to 15,000 spectators and was renamed after Betway became West Ham's official sponsors. The stand was built in 2001 as the Dr. Martens Stand, bringing the stadium capacity up from around 26,000 to 35,647. The West Stand was the main stand in Upton Park, as it included two tiers for paying home supporters, separated by two tiers of executive boxes. The stand also hosted all the club's offices, board rooms, suites, dressing rooms, official shop, and the West Ham United Hotel. It was the largest single football stand in London.


Away fans

The Sir Trevor Brooking Stand (formerly the North Bank then the Centenary Stand) was built in 1995 which coincided with the club's 100th season, after being formed in 1895 as Thames Ironworks. Its name was changed from the Centenary Stand to the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand in July 2009. The stand held around 6,000 seats, and had two tiers, with the upper tier seating known as the family section, as supporters could only purchase tickets there if with a child. The lower tier behind the goal was split between home and away fans. West Ham initially gave around 2,500–3,000 tickets to away supporters, going from the furthest side to the left of the bottom tier right up to behind the goal.


Where now

West Ham United now play at the London Stadium, having moved from Boleyn Ground in August 2016. The club announced in March 2013 that the stands behind the goals will be named after former players Bobby Moore and Trevor Brooking; there were stands at the Boleyn Ground named after them. West Ham sold out the 50,000 season ticket allocation for the stadium by May 2016 for the 2016–17 season.

The opening game for West Ham was a Europa League match against NK Domžale on 4 August 2016, which West Ham won 3–0 with the stadium sold out, albeit with a reduced capacity of 54,000 as conversion works were still being finished. The official opening match was a friendly with Juventus on 7 August with a 2–3 defeat. West Ham's first Premier League match at the stadium was against Bournemouth with an attendance of 56,977. Watford were the first Premier League side to beat West Ham at the London Stadium, overcoming a two-goal deficit to beat West Ham 4–2.


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