1.
Walsall
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Walsall is an industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located 8 miles north-west of the City of Birmingham and 6 miles east of the City of Wolverhampton, historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation, and part of the Black Country. Walsall is the centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Walsall. At the 2011 census, the towns built-up area had a population of 67,594, neighbouring settlements in the borough include Darlaston, Brownhills, Willenhall, Bloxwich and Aldridge. The name Walsall is thought to have derived from the words Walh halh, Walsall is first referenced as Walesho in a document dated 1002. However, it is believed that a manor was held here by William FitzAnsculf, by the first part of the 13th century, Walsall was a small market town, with the weekly market being introduced in 1220 and held on Tuesdays. The mayor of Walsall was created as a position in the 14th century. The town was visited by Queen Elizabeth I, when it was known as Walshale and it was also visited by Henrietta Maria in 1643. She stayed in the town for one night at a building named the White Hart in the area of Caldmore, the Industrial Revolution changed Walsall from a village of 2,000 people in the 16th century to a town of over 86,000 in approximately 200 years. The town manufactured a range of products including saddles, chains, buckles. Nearby, limestone quarrying provided the town with much prosperity, in 1824, the Walsall Corporation received an Act of Parliament to improve the town by providing lighting and a gasworks. The gasworks was built in 1826 at a cost of £4,000, in 1825, the corporation built eleven tiled, brick almshouses for poor women. They were known to the area as Molesleys Almshouses, the Walsall Improvement and Market Act was passed in 1848 and amended in 1850. The Act provided facilities for the poor, improving and extending the sewerage system, on 10 October 1847, a gas explosion killed one person and destroyed the west window of St Matthews Church. Walsall finally received a line in 1847,48 years after canals reached the town. In 1855, Walsalls first newspaper, the Walsall Courier and South Staffordshire Gazette, was published, over 2000 men from Walsall were killed in fighting during the First World War. They are commemorated by the cenotaph, which is located on the site of a bomb which was dropped by Zeppelin L21 – killing the towns mayoress. Damage from the Zeppelin can still be seen on what is now a club on the corner of the main road, the town also has a memorial to two local VC recipients, John Henry Carless and Frederick Gibbs
2.
West Midlands (region)
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The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known as the Midlands. The city of Coventry is also located within the West Midlands county, the region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the conurbation to the rural western counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire which border Wales. The region also encompasses five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Wye Valley, Shropshire hills, Cannock Chase, Malvern Hills, Warwickshire is home to the town of Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of the writer William Shakespeare. The highest point in the region is Black Mountain, at 703 metres in west Herefordshire on the border with Powys, Wales. The region contains five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including all of the Shropshire Hills, Malvern Hills and Cannock Chase, the Peak District national park also stretches into the northern corner of Staffordshire. Served by many lines in the areas such as the West Coast Main Line. The Welsh Marches Line and the Cotswold Line transect the region as well as the Cross Country Route, there are plans to reopen the Honeybourne Line. Numerous notable roads pass through the region, with most converging around the central conurbation, the M6 toll provides an alternative route to the M6 between Coleshill and Cannock, passing north of Sutton Coldfield and just south of Lichfield. The M40 connects the region through South East England to London, with its terminus at its junction with the M42, it passes close to Warwick. The M42 connects the M5 at Bromsgrove, passing around the south and east of Birmingham, joining the M40 and M6, passing Solihull and Castle Bromwich, to Tamworth, the M50 connects the M5 from near Tewkesbury to Ross-on-Wye in the southwest. The M54 connects Wellington in the west, passing Telford, to the M6 near Cannock, the A5 road traverses the region northwest-southeast, passing through Shrewsbury, Telford, Cannock, Tamworth and Nuneaton. As part of the planning system, the Regional Assembly is under statutory requirement to produce a Regional Transport Strategy to provide long term planning for transport in the region. This involves region wide transport schemes such as those carried out by the Highways Agency, within the region, the local transport authorities carry out transport planning through the use of a Local Transport Plan which outlines their strategies, policies and implementation programme. The most recent LTP is that for the period 2006-11, in the West Midlands region, the following transport authorities have published their LTP online, Herefordshire, Shropshire U. A. The transport authority of Stoke-on-Trent U. A, Major towns and cities in the West Midlands region include, Bold indicates city status. The region is based on the former region of Mercia. The Battle of Edgehill in October 1642 started the English Civil War, jane Bunford of Bartley Green until 1982 was the tallest woman ever in the world, and now the second tallest, and the tallest person ever in the UK, at 7 ft 11in
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
National Rail
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The name and the accompanying double arrow symbol are the intellectual property of the Secretary of State for Transport. The National Rail logo was introduced by ATOC in 1999, and was used on the Great Britain public timetable for the first time in the edition valid from 26 September in that year. Rules for its use are set out in the Corporate Identity Style Guidelines published by the Rail Delivery Group, the NR title is sometimes described as a brand. As it was used by British Rail, the operator before franchising, its use also maintains continuity and public familiarity. National Rail should not be confused with Network Rail, the two networks are generally coincident where passenger services are run. Most major Network Rail lines carry traffic and some lines are freight only. About twenty privately owned operating companies, each franchised for a defined term by government. The Rail Delivery Group is the association representing the TOCs and provides core services. It also runs Rail Settlement Plan, which allocates ticket revenue to the various TOCs, and Rail Staff Travel and it does not compile the national timetable, which is the joint responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail. Since the privatisation of British Rail there is no longer a single approach to design on railways in Great Britain, the look and feel of signage, liveries and marketing material is largely the preserve of the individual TOCs. However, National Rail continues to use BRs famous double-arrow symbol and it has been incorporated in the National Rail logotype and is displayed on tickets, the National Rail website and other publicity. The trademark rights to the arrow symbol remain state-owned, being vested in the Secretary of State for Transport. The double arrow was already prescribed for indicating a railway station, the lettering used in the National Rail logotype is a modified form of the typeface Sassoon Bold. It is a misconception that Rail Alphabet was also used for printed material. The British Rail typefaces of choice from 1965 were Helvetica and Univers, TOCs may use what they like, examples include Futura, Helvetica, Frutiger, Bliss, and a modified version of Precious by London Midland. Several conurbations have their own metro or tram systems, most of which are not part of National Rail, LO now also possesses some infrastructure in its own right, following the reopening of the former East London line of London Underground as the East London Railway of LO. Heathrow Express and Eurostar are also not part of the National Rail network despite sharing of stations, northern Ireland Railways were never part of British Rail, which was always confined to Great Britain, and therefore are not part of the National Rail network. National Rail services have a common ticketing structure inherited from British Rail, through tickets are available between any pair of stations on the network, and can be bought from any station ticket office
5.
Bescot Stadium railway station
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Bescot Stadium railway station serves the Bescot area of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. The station, and all trains serving it are operated by London Midland, the station was opened as Bescot Bridge in 1837 by the Grand Junction Railway but was later renamed Bescot. It was renamed in Bescot Stadium in 1990 in order to serve Bescot Stadium, the station was re-opened on 11 September 2007 after a short period where it was closed for refurbishment. Whilst closed, no services called at the station, but trains continued to pass through, Bescot Stadium station is on the Walsall Line between Birmingham New Street and Walsall. The typical Monday-Saturday daytime service sees two trains per hour in direction between Walsall and Birmingham New Street that are operated by Class 323 electric trains. These mostly continue onwards to Wolverhampton via the Stour Valley Line and this service is reduced to one train per hour in the evenings and on Sundays. There are a number of early morning and late evening trains on weekdays are operated by Class 170 diesel trains. The station footbridge offers views of Bescot Yard, and its freight movements, Bescot TMD is adjacent to the station. London Midland proposed the closure of the office, but this request was overruled in September 2012 by the Transport Minister. Train times and station information for Bescot Stadium railway station from National Rail Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands, Bescot Stadium railway station
6.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
7.
Walsall F.C.
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Walsall Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Walsall, West Midlands, England. The team play in League One, the tier in the English football league system. The club was founded in 1888 as Walsall Town Swifts, an amalgamation of Walsall Town F. C. and their first match at Wembley Stadium was the 2015 Football League Trophy Final, which they lost to Bristol City. Walsall moved into their Bescot Stadium in 1990, having played at nearby Fellows Park for almost a century. The ground is known as Bankss Stadium for sponsorship purposes, the team play in a red and white kit and their club crest features a swift. The clubs nickname, The Saddlers, reflects Walsalls status as a centre for saddle manufacture. Walsall were formed as Walsall Town Swifts in 1888 when Walsall Town F. C. Walsall Town had been founded in 1877 and Walsall Swifts in 1879. Both clubs had played at the Chuckery, and the new club remained at the same ground, Walsall Town Swifts first match was a draw against Aston Villa. Two players from this early era received international caps, in 1882, Alf Jones won the first two of his three caps while with Walsall Swifts, and in 1889 Albert Aldridge received the second of his two caps while playing for Walsall Town Swifts. The club were first admitted to the Football League in 1892 and they moved to the West Bromwich Road ground in 1893. After finishing 14th out of 16 teams in 1894–95 the club failed to be re-elected to the Football League, at the start of the 1895 season the club moved to Hilary Street, later renamed Fellows Park. In 1896 they changed their name to Walsall F. C. a year later, they returned to the Second Division, three teams having failed re-election in 1896. The team finished in place in 1898–99, but once again failed re-election two years later, dropping back into the Midland League. A move to the Birmingham League followed in 1903, and in 1910, with the expansion of the Football League after World War I, Walsall became a founding member of the Third Division North in 1921. Walsalls highest home attendance was set in 1930, when played in of front of 74,600 fans against Aston Villa in the FA Cup Fourth Round. Although a home match for Walsall, the tie was played at their opponents Villa Park ground, in 1933, Walsall won 2–0 in the FA Cup against Arsenal at Fellows Park. Arsenal went on to win the First Division that season, in 1958, following a reorganisation of the Football League, Walsall became founder members of the Fourth Division. Players such as Bill Chopper Guttridge, Tony Richards and Colin Taylor were intrinsically important to the success of the side
8.
Rotherham United F.C.
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Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the Championship, the tier in the English football league system. Founded in 1925 as a merger between Rotherham Town and Rotherham County, the colours were initially yellow and black, but later evolved into the more traditional red. Rotherham United play their games at New York Stadium, a 12,000 capacity all-seater stadium. The Millers featured in the inaugural League Cup final in 1961 and they also achieved two separate back to back promotions in 1999–2001 under Ronnie Moore and 2012–2014 under Steve Evans. The clubs roots go back to 1870, when the club was formed as Thornhill Football Club, george Cook was the trainer around this time. For many years the team in the area was Rotherham Town. By the turn of the century, however, Town had resigned from the Football League and gone out of business, a new club of the same name later joined the Midland League. Meanwhile, Thornhills fortunes were on the rise to the extent that in 1905 they laid claim to being the pre-eminent club in the town, for a period both clubs competed in the Midland League, finishing first and second in 1911–12. Over time it became clear that to have two clubs in the town was not sustainable. Talks had begun in February 1925 and in early May the two merged to form Rotherham United. Days later the club was formally re-elected under its new name. The red and white was adopted around 1928 after playing in amber and black, immediately after the Second World War things looked up. The Millers won the only edition of the Football League Third Division North Cup in 1946 beating Chester 5–4 on aggregate. They then finished as runners-up three time in succession between 1947 and 1949 and then were champions of Division Three in 1951, during that season they had notable results including a 6–1 win over Liverpool. In 1961 the Millers beat Aston Villa 2–0 at Millmoor in the inaugural League Cup final first leg, the second leg was played the season after due to Villa having a Congested Fixture List. The club held on to its place in Division Two until 1968, in 1975 they were promoted back to the Third Division finishing in the 3rd promotion spot in the Fourth Division. The Millers won the Division Three title in 1981, Rotherham had a dismal first half of the 1981–82 season but a surge after the turn of 1982 saw them emerge as promotion contenders for the first time in nearly 30 years
9.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
10.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
11.
Fellows Park
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Fellows Park was a football stadium in Walsall, England. It was the ground of Walsall F. C. from 1896 until 1990. Fellows Park was situated about a quarter of an away from the clubs present ground, The Bescot Stadium, at the junction of Hilary Street. The club moved to the ground from West Bromwich Road in 1895, until 1930 it was named Hilary Street, at which point it was renamed after H. L. Fellows, a club director. Walsalls record home attendance was at Fellows Park, when 25,453 spectators were present for the teams Second Division match against Newcastle United on 29 August 1961, by March 1988, the club was planning to build a new stadium at nearby Bescot Crescent. The final game played at the ground was on 11 May, when retiring defender Peter Harts testimonial was held there with local rivals West Bromwich Albion providing the opposition. This game also ended in a 1-1 draw, with Gary Shaw scoring an equaliser for Walsall in the 37th minute, thus going down in history as the last player to score at the stadium, the new Bescot Stadium was ready for the 1990-91 season. A reminder of Fellows Park remains in the new stadium, in the name of the H. L, the old stadium was demolished soon after its closure and a Morrisons supermarket built on the site
12.
Sir Stanley Matthews
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Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE was an English footballer. Matthews nicknames included The Wizard of the Dribble and The Magician, Matthews kept fit enough to play at the top level until he was 50 years old. Matthews was also the oldest player ever to play in Englands top football division and he was also an inaugural inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 to honour his contribution to the English game. He spent 19 years with Stoke City, playing for the Potters from 1932 to 1947 and he helped Stoke to the Second Division title in 1932–33 and 1962–63. Between 1934 and 1957 he won 54 caps for England, playing in the FIFA World Cup in 1950 and 1954, following an unsuccessful stint as Port Vales general manager between 1965 and 1968, he travelled around the world, coaching enthusiastic amateurs. The most notable of his coaching experiences came in 1975 in South Africa, Stanley Matthews was born on 1 February 1915 in a terraced house in Seymour Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. He was the third of four born to Jack Matthews. His father placed a bet on his son winning, and he did, Matthews attended Hanleys Wellington Road School, and later described himself as in many respects a model pupil. At home he spent countless hours practising dribbling around kitchen chairs he placed in his backyard. Though he would become indelibly associated with Stoke City, Matthews grew up supporting that clubs local rivals Port Vale. His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become a boxer, Matthews played for England Schoolboys against Wales in 1929, in front of around 20,000 spectators at Dean Court, Bournemouth. Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion were all rumoured to be interested in Matthews in the wake of his appearance for England Schoolboys. The Stoke City manager Tom Mather persuaded Matthews father to allow Stanley to join his clubs staff as a boy on his 15th birthday for pay of £1 a week. Matthews played for Stokes reserve team during the 1930–31 season, coming up first against Burnley, after the game his father gave his usual realist assessment, Ive seen you play better and Ive seen you play worse. Matthews played 22 reserve games in 1931–32, shunning the social scene to focus on improving his game. The national press were predicting a bright future for the teenager. Paid the maximum wage of £5 a week, he was on the same wage as seasoned professionals before he kicked a ball. Despite this his father insisted that Matthews save this money, and he made his first team debut against Bury at Gigg Lane on 19 March 1932, the Potters won the game 1–0 and Matthews learned how physical and dirty opponents could be – and get away with it
13.
Aston Villa
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Aston Villa Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aston, Birmingham, that plays in the Championship, the second level of English football. Founded in 1874, they have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, Aston Villa were one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888. They were also one of the members of the Premier League in 1992. Aston Villa are one of only five English clubs to be crowned champions of Europe and they have also won the First Division Championship seven times, the FA Cup seven times, the Football League Cup five times, and the UEFA Super Cup once. They have a local rivalry with Birmingham City and the Second City derby between the sides has been played since 1879. The clubs traditional kit colours are claret shirts with sky blue sleeves, white shorts and their traditional badge is of a rampant lion, which was introduced by the clubs Scottish chairman William McGregor in honour of the Royal Standard of Scotland. The club is owned by Recon Group Limited, a company chaired by Chinese businessman Tony Xia. Aston Villa Football Club were formed in March 1874, by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Handsworth which is now part of Birmingham, the four founders of Aston Villa were Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood. Aston Villas first match was against the local Aston Brook St Marys Rugby team, as a condition of the match, the Villa side had to agree to play the first half under Rugby rules and the second half under Association rules. The club won their first FA Cup in 1887 with captain Archie Hunter becoming one of the games first household names. Aston Villa were one of the teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888 with one of the clubs directors. Aston Villa emerged as the most successful English club of the Victorian era, winning no fewer than five League titles, in 1897, the year Villa won The Double, they moved into their present home, the Aston Lower Grounds. Supporters coined the name Villa Park, no official declaration listed the ground as Villa Park. This was largely the result of a defensive record, they conceded 110 goals in 42 games,7 of them coming from Arsenals Ted Drake in an infamous 1–7 defeat at Villa Park. Like all English clubs, Villa lost seven seasons to the Second World War, the team was rebuilt under the guidance of former player Alex Massie for the remainder of the 1940s. The team struggled in the league though and were relegated two seasons later, due in part to complacency. However, under the stewardship of manager Joe Mercer Villa returned to the top-flight in 1960 as Second Division Champions, the following season Aston Villa became the first team to win the Football League Cup. Mercers forced retirement from the club in 1964 signalled a period of deep turmoil, the most successful club in England was struggling to keep pace with changes in the modern game, with Villa being relegated for the third time, under manager Dick Taylor in 1967
14.
Torquay United F.C.
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Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The club participates in the National League, the tier of English football. They are based at Plainmoor and are managed by player-manager. The original Torquay United was formed in 1899 by a group of school-leavers under the guidance of Sergeant-Major Edward Tomney, relations between the two Torquay clubs were poor, but in 1921 matters finally came to a head. From 1923 onwards the league was split into Eastern and Western halves, in 1925, the club battled through five qualifying rounds to reach the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in the clubs history. Captain Percy Mackrill lead the team through two 1–1 draws before a strong Reading side won the second replay 2–0 at Plainmoor. The club then went on to lose the Southern League Championship final against the Eastern Champions Brighton & Hove Albion Reserves 4–0, finally the town of Torquay had a professional league team and had joined Plymouth and Exeter in the football league at last. The side for that first game was, Millsom, Cook, Smith, Wellock, Wragge, Conner, Mackey, Turner, Jones, McGovern, a crowd of 11,625 watched a 1–1 draw with Torquays goal coming from Bert Turner. Throughout the 1930s Torquay struggled against financial problems, such as having to replace the roof when it was blown off in 1930. They also failed to finish higher than 10th in twelve seasons, in the last few seasons before league football was suspended during the Second World War, Torquay struggled in Division Three South, finishing 20th, 20th and 19th out of 22 teams. In 1939, Torquay qualified for the final of the Third Division South Cup, however, the 1939 final was never played due to the outbreak of the Second World War. When league football was resumed in 1946, United continued to struggle, with the change of colours came a change in fortunes starting with the clubs greatest ever FA Cup moment that very season. After defeating Cambridge United 4–0 at home and Blyth Spartans 1–3 away, Torquay were drawn against Leeds United, away, in the third round of the Cup. The Torquay United versus Huddersfield Town fourth round FA Cup game at Plainmoor will always live on in the memory of those who attended the match on 29 January 1955. Torquay lost 1–0 to the higher-placed Division One club, but the attendance of 21,908 remains a Club record. Following their FA Cup heroics, in the 1956–57 season Torquay just missed out on promotion to Division Two on goal average, the season had begun well – and by April, the possibility of a first promotion to Division Two was the talk of the town. A trip to Crystal Palace for the team and over 1,500 Torquay fans travelling on the last day of the season beckoned. However, after two seasons in the Third Division they were again relegated on the last day of the campaign, with a 4–2 away defeat at Barnsley
15.
England national under-21 football team
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Englands national Under-21 football team, also known as England Under-21s or England U21, is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. It is also possible to play for one country at youth level, the U-21 team came into existence, following the realignment of UEFAs youth competitions, in 1976. A goalless draw in a friendly against Wales at Wolves Molineux Stadium was England U21s first result, England U21s do not have a permanent home. They play in stadia dotted all around England, in an attempt to encourage fans in all areas of the country to get behind England. Because of the lower compared to the senior national team. The match was one of the required two ramp up events the stadium hosted in order to gain its safety certificate in time for its full-capacity opening for the 2007 FA Cup Final in May. The original and most successful coach is Dave Sexton, who led the U21s from 1977 to 1990, in this period he combined his duties with managing the top-flight clubs Manchester United and Coventry City. After Coventry he took a position within the FA as their first Technical Director and he handed over U21 responsibilities to England manager Graham Taylors assistant Lawrie McMenemy for three years before resuming control from 1994 to 1996. Peter Taylor took over in 1996 and, although never winning a tournament, Howard Wilkinson took over afterwards, yet could only produce four wins in ten competitive matches and quit after a year and a half in charge. David Platt took charge upon his departure from Nottingham Forest, Platt was U21 boss from 2001 to 2004, but had little success before Taylors return. Taylor left in January 2007, as the national manager Steve McClaren wanted the U21s to have a full-time manager. Taylor, at the time, was combining his duties with his role as Crystal Palace boss, on 1 February 2007, Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce was appointed as head coach on a part-time basis until after the European Championships in the summer of 2007. Nigel Pearson, Newcastle Uniteds assistant manager, agreed to become Pearces assistant and their first match in charge was a 2–2 draw against Spain on 6 February 2007 at Derby Countys Pride Park Stadium. For the match against Italy Nigel Pearson took charge as Stuart Pearce had club commitments, Pearce was dismissed as Manchester City manager on 14 May 2007, before the 2007 European Championships, but on 19 July 2007 he was named full-time U21s coach. He remained in the post until June 2013, when it was announced that his contract would not be renewed, former England international Gareth Southgate was made manager of the under-21 team on 22 August. In September 2016, Southgate was appointed to the position of caretaker manager of the England senior side after the departure of Sam Allardyce. With Southgate overseeing the main team for four games, Aidy Boothroyd, as a European U21 team, England compete for the European Championship, with the finals every odd-numbered year, formerly even-numbered years. There is no Under-21 World Cup, although there is an Under-20 World Cup, for the first six European Under-21 Football Championships, England did well, getting knocked out in the semi-finals on four occasions and winning the competition in 1982 and 1984
16.
England national under-19 football team
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Primarily, it competes to qualify for the annual UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. In July 2015, Aidy Boothroyd was appointed to coach the squad, players born on or after 1 January 1998 will be eligible until the end of the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. Names in italics denote players who have been capped by England in an age group. The following players were named in the squad for the European Championship Elite Qualifying Round in March 2017, the following players have also been called up to the England under-19 squad and remain eligible. INJ Player withdrew from the squad before any games had been played
17.
England national under-17 football team
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In July 2015, Steve Cooper was appointed to coach the squad with assistance from Mike Marsh. The England under-17 team compete in the annual UEFA European Under-17 Championship, in 1984 they finished in third beating Serbia national football team 1-0 in the third place match. England were the hosts of the 2001 Final Tournament, with the English reaching the semi-finals where they lost 4-0 to France on 3 May and they finished fourth, losing the third place play off match 4-1 to Croatia. They finished third in 2002 in Denmark and fourth again in 2003 in Portugal and 2004 in France, the 2007 tournament saw England finish as runners-up in Belgium. In the final, held at the Stade Luc Varenne in Tournai, in 2008, they failed to qualify for the finals. They reached the tournament in 2009, but finished bottom of their group. In 2010 the England under-17 team fared better in the group stages, winning Group B with maximum points - ahead of Turkey. This saw them qualify for the semi-finals of the competition, hosted in Liechtenstein, thanks to two first half goals by Connor Wickham, England won the game 2-1 and rendered Paul Pogbas second half effort a mere consolation. Victory against the French would set up a final with 2007 and 2008 champions Spain, in the final at the Rheinpark Stadion the scoring was opened by an Andre Wisdom own goal when the defender deflected a cross by Spains Gerard into his own net. It took eight minutes for Wisdom to atone for his error, England held onto their 2-1 lead in the second half as it proved enough for England under-17 and Liverpool under-18 captain Conor Coady to lift the trophy. The victory represents England under-17s first ever UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship title since the competition began in 1982. England have competed in the annual Nordic tournament since the 2002-03 season, in 2004-5, in Iceland, they finished as runners-up to the Republic of Ireland, losing 2-0 in the final in Reykjavík. The following season the tournament was held in the Faroe Islands, in 2008, they lost out again to Denmark in the final, this time by a 6-1 scoreline. They finally took the title in 2009, beating Scotland 3-2 in the final and they have competed in the annual Algarve Tournament since 2003-04 season. In 2007-08 they won the tournament, England host an annual FA international tournament. Players born on or after 1 January 1999 will remain eligible until the end of the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, names in italics indicate players who have been capped by England in a higher age group. The following players were named in the squad for the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship in March 2016, the following players have also been called up to the England U-17 squad and remain eligible. INJ Player withdrew from the squad playing in a match
18.
England women's national football team
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The England womens national football team represents England in international womens association football at the senior level. The team has been governed by the Football Association since 1993, England played its first international match in November 1972 against Scotland. England has qualified for the FIFA Womens World Cup four times and they reached the final of the UEFA Womens Championship in 1984 and 2009. The success of the national football team at the 1966 FIFA World Cup led to an upsurge of interest in football from women within England. The Womens Football Association was established a few years later in 1969 as an attempt to organise the womens game and that same year, Harry Batt formed an independent English team that competed in the Fédération Internationale Européenne de Football Féminine European Cup. Batts team also participated in two FIEFF World Cups held in Italy and Mexico, following an UEFA recommendation in 1972 for national associations to incorporate the womens game, the Football Association rescinded its fifty-year ban on women playing on Football League grounds. Shortly after, Eric Worthington was tasked by the WFA to assemble a womens national team. England competed in its first international match against Scotland in Greenock on 18 November 1972, the team overturned a two-goal deficit to defeat their northern opponents by 3 goals to 2, with Sylvia Gore scoring Englands first international goal. Tom Tranter replaced Worthington as long term manager of the national football team. Martin Reagan was appointed to replace Tranter in 1979, England reached the finals of the inaugural European Competition for Womens Football, after beating Denmark 3–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals. England lost the subsequent penalty shootout 4–3, theresa Wiseman saved Helen Johanssons penalty but both Curl and Lorraine Hanson had their spot kicks saved by Elisabeth Leidinge. At the 1987 European Competition for Womens Football, England again reached the semi-finals but lost 3–2 after extra time against holders Sweden, the team settled for fourth, after losing the third place play off against Italy 2–1. Reagan was sacked after Englands 6–1 quarter-final loss against Germany at the 1991 UEFA Womens Championship, john Bilton was appointed as head coach in 1991 after Barrie Williamss brief tenure. In 1993, the FA took over the running of football in England from the WFA. England managed to qualify for the 1995 UEFA Womens Championship, having missed out on the last three editions, but were beaten 6–2 on aggregate over two legs against Germany. Reaching the European semi-finals granted England a place at the World Cup for the first time, the team advanced from the group stages of the 1995 FIFA Womens World Cup in Sweden, but lost out again to Germany 3–0 in the quarter-finals. Hope Powell became the teams first full-time head coach in June 1998, the European Championship expanded in 1997 to eight teams and moved from a biennial event to a quadrennial one. England qualified via the play offs for the 2001 competition held in Germany, despite recording their biggest loss during qualification, England automatically qualified as hosts in 2005, but again did not make it to the semi-finals
19.
The Wonder Stuff
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The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band, originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England. The Wonder Stuff were formed on 19 March 1986 and they entered the studio in September that year to record a self-financed first EP A Wonderful Day. The group then embarked on their first headlining nineteen date Groovers On Manoeuvres UK tour and they released Who Wants to Be the Disco King. In March 1989, and appeared at Reading and Glastonbury festivals, and tours of Europe, dont Let Me Down Gently became their first Top 20 hit in September 1989, which preceded the release of the album Hup in October. The album also saw the introduction of new band member Martin Bell, Bell had contributed the fiddle and banjo parts, notably on tracks Golden Green, Unfaithful and Cartoon Boyfriend. Several shows during the bands 1989 tour featured local band Neds Atomic Dustbin as an opening act, Jones left the band in December 1989 moving to the US. A single, Circlesquare was released shortly after, and just before Paul Clifford replaced Jones on the bass in the spring of 1990 and this led to a string of live outings for the renewed line-up in mid-1990. With only one release in 1990 and no album yet ready they put out Eleven Appalling Promos. In December after receiving a Brit Award nomination the group opted not to play Wembley Arena, the third album was started in late 1990 and completed early the following year. The first single from the new album was The Size of a Cow in March 1991,5, and was swiftly followed by Caught in My Shadow in May, before releasing the third album Never Loved Elvis in May 1991. For the tour, the band was augmented by keyboardist Peter Whittaker, another single Full of Life came out just before Christmas while the band toured Europe before going to the States in February 1994. A planned tour in May of the Far East and Australian territories was cancelled, the band made no public announcement at this time. The group announced the split in June by a newsletter to members of their fanclub and they performed the final contracted show on 15 July 1994 at a headlining performance at the Phoenix Festival near Stratford-on-Avon in front of an audience of 30,000. In September, an 18 song compilation If The Beatles Had Read Hunter. The Singles, a re-issue of the Unbearable single, the Live In Manchester album was released in July 1995 after the group had disbanded. During the split between 1994 and 2000, Hunt was involved in projects including the hosting of MTV Europes 120 Minutes show. He then put together another band, Vent 414, whose album was released in October 1996. A full studio album was released, Hairy on the Inside in April 1999. Meanwhile Treece, Clifford and Gilks formed Weknowwhereyoulive, with Ange Dolittle from Eat and they gigged extensively throughout 1995 and 1996 releasing two EPs but then split up
20.
M6 motorway
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Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to Glasgow as the M74. It is also part of the east−west route between the Midlands and the east-coast ports, the section from the M1 to the M6 Toll split near Birmingham forms part of the unsigned E-road E24 and the section from the M6 Toll and the M42 forms part of E05. The motorway has major junctions with the M56 and M62 at Warrington, giving access to Chester, Manchester, the M6 then heads north past Wigan, Preston and Lancaster. The first section of the motorway and the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass and it was built by Tarmac Construction and opened by the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 5 December 1958. In January 1959 the Preston by-pass was closed because of rapid surface deterioration over a stretch of 100 yards due to water freezing, motorists were diverted to the old road while the UK road research laboratory at Harmondsworth pondered the importance of surface water drainage. Later, other sections of the motorway were constructed, and finally it was all linked together, the second phase of construction was completed in 1960, forming the Lancaster by-pass. Some 100 miles south, the Stafford by-pass was completed in 1962, by 1965, the remaining sections of motorway Stafford–Preston and Preston–Lancaster had been completed. 1968 saw the completion of the Walsall to Stafford link as well as the Penrith by-pass some 150 miles north in Cumberland, in 1970, the Lancaster–Penrith link was completed, along with a short section of motorway by-passing the south of Walsall. The most northerly section of the motorway opened in 1970. Junction 6 in Birmingham is widely known as Spaghetti Junction because of its complexity, on the elevated ground between Shap and Tebay, the north- and south-bound carriages split apart. At this point a road runs between the two carriageways without a link to the motorway. The section of the M6 that runs over Shap Fell in Cumbria is 1,050 ft above sea level, the northbound entry slip road at Lancaster was unusually short, presenting problems for traffic joining the motorway. The M6 crosses the River Lune at this point and unless the bridge had been made wider and this junction was upgraded from an earlier emergency-vehicles-only access point, which explains the substandard design. The route was intended to replace the old A6, which it does along the northern section starting with the Preston Bypass. However, a closer approximation to the overall actual route of the M6 is provided by following the A45, A34, A50, A49. South of Preston, the A6 route is instead supplemented by the M61 as far as Manchester, south of Manchester, there is no true motorway replacement for the old road. Across the Pennines, the old road remains the main local through-route, in July 1972 the UK Minister for Transport Industries announced that 86 miles of UK motorway particularly prone to fog would benefit from lighting in a project which should be completed by 1973. Sections to be illuminated included the M6 between junctions 10 and 11, and between junctions 20 and 27, the road opened on 5 December 2008, the 50th anniversary of the M6 Preston By-pass
21.
Express & Star
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The Express & Star is the biggest-selling regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, currently edited by Keith Harrison, the Express & Star publishes five editions a day Monday to Friday and one edition on a Saturday. In 2007 the newspaper had a circulation of 174,989. But by June 2014 this had fallen to 73,473 and it features a mix of regional and national news and has a strong following for its sports coverage of association football, particularly local teams Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion. The Express & Star is one of the few independent newspapers still operating in the UK and it is owned by the Midland News Association, which also owns the Shropshire Star newspaper. In January 2013 editor Adrian Faber announced his decision to step down after 11 years at the Express & Star and he was replaced by Shropshire Star editor Keith Harrison in April 2013. The origins of the Express & Star lie in the Evening Star – a liberal newspaper founded in Wolverhampton in 1880 as a rival to the existing conservative Evening Express, itself founded in 1874. In 1882 the Star was bought by wealthy Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, encouraged by his friend, the combined newspaper adopted its current name in 1889. Carnegie severed his links with the paper and its parent company the Midland News Association in 1902, the following decades saw a steady expansion under Grahams descendants, with the papers influence spreading out from its native Wolverhampton to cover the entire Black Country. An office in Birmingham was opened and later closed, although a Birmingham edition is produced from Wolverhampton. Since October 2011 all editions of the paper have been printed at the plant in Ketley, Telford. Former printing plants in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton were closed in 2009 and 2011, a print, online and smartphone package was offered for £2.34 a week, which included delivery of the newspaper. However, the paywall was scrapped after just nine months, the Express & Star publishes breaking news and sport content online each day, in addition to regular blogs and unique video content. Its website expressandstar. com was launched in 1997 and it is the fastest growing website among the leading regional publishers, with an average of more than 900,000 monthly unique users a month – the fourth highest among the top 20 regional titles. August 2012 saw the website re-launched in a web design alongside its sister title shropshirestar. com – believed to be the first of any other regional newspaper websites in the UK. An Express & Star App for iPad and iPhone was launched in January 2012, using page-turning technology to mimic the look, further apps for Android and Kindle Fire were released in February 2013. The website also offers access to the weekly Chronicle series. On 20 March 2012 Express & Star former editor Adrian Faber appeared as a witness at the Leveson Inquiry into Press standards and he told the inquiry that regional newspapers are different from national titles, relying far more on trust
22.
Walsall Council
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Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was created in 1974 to administer the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Walsall. The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is based on an amalgamation of two local government districts, Walsall County Borough and Aldridge-Brownhills Urban District. However, in all cases only parts of areas were transferred into the County Borough. Aldridge-Brownhills Urban District was created from the majority of the former Urban Districts of Aldridge and Brownhills, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was assessed by the Audit Commission in 2008 and judged to be improving well in providing services for local people. Overall the council was awarded three star status meaning it was performing well and consistently above minimum requirements, similar to 46% of all local authorities, the council offices are located at the Civic Centre in the heart of Walsall. Elections to the council take place in three out of four years, with one-third of the seats being contested at each election. Between its formation in 1974 and the 2003 election, the council varied between control by the Labour Party, and where no one party had an overall majority, from 2003 to the 2011 election the Conservative Party then held a majority of councillors. However, in 2011 Labour made eight gains, including 5 from the Conservatives and as a result the council came under no overall control, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council has at least £115 million of long term lender option borrower option loans at high interest rates. The Metropolitan Borough Council has 60 local councillors representing 20 wards, the wards are, Walsall Council walsallcouncil on Twitter Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council on Flickr
23.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
24.
EFL Championship
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The English Football League Championship is the highest division of the English Football League and second-highest overall in the English football league system, after the Premier League. Each year, the top finishing teams in the Championship are promoted to the Premier League, the Football League Championship, which was introduced for the 2004–05 season, was previously known as the Football League First Division, and before that was known as Division Two. The winners of the Championship receive the Football League Championship trophy, the Championship is the wealthiest non-top flight football division in the world and the seventh richest division in Europe. With an average attendance for the 2015-16 season of 17,578. Bundesliga as the secondary league in the world. In the 2015–16 season, Burnley were the champions, Middlesbrough were the runners up. At present, Ipswich Town hold the longest tenure in the Championship, the total figures were aided somewhat by the presence of 24 clubs, compared to 20 clubs in both Serie A and Ligue 1, and 18 in the Bundesliga. A major factor to the success comes from television revenue. On 30 September 2009, Coca-Cola announced they would end their deal with The Football League at the end of the 2009–10 season. On 18 July 2013, UK bookmaker Sky Bet announced that signed a 5-year agreement to sponsor the league. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, the teams are ranked in the league table by points gained, then goal difference, then goals scored and then their head-to-head record for that season. At the end of the season, the top two teams and the winner of the Championship play-offs are promoted to the Premier League and the three teams are relegated to Football League One. The Football League Championship play-offs is a competition for the teams finishing the season in third to sixth place with the winner being promoted to the Premier League. In the play-offs, the team plays against the sixth-placed team. The winners of each semi-final then compete in a match with the prize being promotion to the Premier League. From 2009 to 2012, Sky Sports had the rights to broadcast 65 live matches, the BBC had the rights to show 10 first choice live games for the regular season as well as the rights to show a highlight show. The deal is on a contract and is worth £264m that will mostly be paid by Sky. The deal included 75 live league games, all the matches,15 League Cup ties
25.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
26.
2015 Football League Trophy Final
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The third win made Bristol City the most successful team in the history of the tournament. The match was refereed by Mick Russell, at the time of the final, Bristol City were 10 points clear at the top of the League One table,37 above Walsall. Bristol City had previously played at Wembley in 2008, when they lost the Championship playoff final to Hull City, Walsall, of League One, arrived in the final as winners of the Northern section. On 12 November, in the quarter-finals, Walsall hosted Sheffield United and again won by a single goal, from Romaine Sawyers. On 9 December in the semi-finals, they travelled to Prenton Park to play League Two Tranmere Rovers, in the second half, they equalised with goals by Anthony Forde and Michael Cain. However, Tranmeres Liam Ridehalgh hit the crossbar and Marc Lairds attempt was saved by Walsall goalkeeper Richard ODonnell, in the Northern section final, Walsall played Preston North End over two legs. The first, away at Deepdale on 7 January 2015, was a 2–0 win for Walsall with late goals by a Forde free kick, a goalless draw 20 days later in the second game at the Bescot Stadium confirmed Walsalls place in the final. Bristol City, also of League One, were given a bye in the first round of the Southern section. They won 3–1, with Wes Burns scoring the first goal, on 11 November in the quarter-finals at Ashton Gate, they defeated another fourth-tier team, AFC Wimbledon, 2–1. Aaron Wilbraham scored two goals, despite a consolation by George Francomb. In the semi-finals on 10 December, again at home, Bristol City won 2–0 against Coventry City with a goal in half from Derrick Williams. In the second leg on the 29th, Matt Smith opened the scoring and Jermaine McGlashan equalised in the first half, but Bristol City nonetheless advanced 5–3 on aggregate. Supporters of Bristol City and their local rival Bristol Rovers walked 100 miles to the match over four-and-a-half days, Pycroft has cerebral palsy and surgery could result in him being able to walk. Bristol City gained the lead after 15 minutes, Aden Flint heading a Marlon Pack corner past Walsall goalkeeper Richard ODonnell, Walsall then had chances to equalise by Sam Mantom and Andy Taylor. Five minutes into the half, Mark Little, a winner in the previous seasons final with Peterborough United, scored a second after ODonnell had saved his header. Walsalls Jordan Cook hit the post, and Bristol Citys Aaron Wilbraham had a goal disallowed for offside, Bristol City manager Steve Cotterill said that despite the gap between the two teams in the league table, Walsall were a difficult side to beat. He said that for a lot of his players, it would be the start of their careers and his Walsall counterpart Dean Smith expressed disappointment with his teams performance, saying that for reasons of height it was likely that they would concede from a corner. He added that nerves may have played a part in the defeat, as most of his players were young and had never played in front of such a large crowd before
27.
Bloomfield Road
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Bloomfield Road is a 17, 338-capacity all-seater football stadium in the English town of Blackpool, Lancashire, in an area known as South Shore. It has been the permanent home of Blackpool F. C. since 1901, the stadium is named after the road on which the main entrance used to stand. The stadium has been in a process of redevelopment since 2000, June of that year saw the demolition of the Spion Kop at the north end of the ground, an all-seated stand has now replaced it. The rebuilding of the West Stand was completed in August 2002, in March 2010, the South Stand, whose original structure was pulled down in 2003, was opened by Jimmy Armfield, the former Blackpool player for whom the stand is named. Bloomfield Road is ranked 52 in the list of English football stadiums by capacity, the record attendance at the original Bloomfield Road was 38,098, which occurred when Blackpool played Wolverhampton Wanderers on 17 September 1955. The record at the stadium is 16,116, which occurred for the visit of Manchester City on 17 October 2010. The record gate receipts for a game is £72,949. The stadium hosted three matches during the 2005 UEFA Womens Championship and it has also been the venue for the annual final of the Northern Rail Cup, a rugby league tournament, since 2005. The clubs mascot, who can be seen at home game, is Bloomfield Bear. He replaced the long-serving Cable Cat, who was retired in June 2000, before moving to Bloomfield Road, Blackpool had called two other grounds home during their short existence. Firstly, between 1896 and 1897, they played their fifteen home Football League matches at Raikes Hall Gardens, in 1897, they moved to the Athletic Grounds at the present-day Stanley Park, which hosted thirty-two League matches over two seasons. Between 8 September 1900 and 8 May 2016, Blackpool have played 2,223 Football League games at Bloomfield Road, between August 2010 and May 2011, they played nineteen Premier League games at the ground. Of these they won five, drew five and lost nine, the ground was originally known as Gambles Field, so-named for the farmer who owned the land, when South Shore F. C. played there in the Lancashire League in 1899. The first competitive game played at the ground took place on 21 October 1899, a comment at the time was, The new ground was not quite finished on Saturday and the linesman had plenty to do besides watching the game to keep the spectators from getting over the line. The grandstand was not up, but it is expected to be ready for next Saturday, a bar is going to be erected and two dressing tents. The official opening of the ground did indeed occur on 28 October 1899, when Blackpool F. C. merged with South Shore F. C. in mid-December 1899, the former club moved into the latters ground and changed the name to Bloomfield Road. Additionally, the two clubs amalgamated with the Lancashire League fixtures of Blackpool, because they were deemed easier than those of South Shore, the first game after the merger took place on 23 December. Horwich R. M. I. with only ten men in their line-up, were the visitors, the ground, at this time, had a small wooden grandstand along the western side of the pitch, which seated about three hundred spectators
28.
Boundary Park
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Boundary Park, known as SportsDirect. com Park for sponsorship purposes, is a sports stadium in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It lies at the extremity of Oldham, with Royton and Chadderton lying immediately north and west respectively. Boundary Park was originally known as the Athletic Ground when it was opened in 1896 for Oldhams first professional football club, when County folded in 1899, Pine Villa F. C. took over the ground and changed their name to Oldham Athletic. Oldham Athletic A. F. C. have played their games here since the stadium was opened. The Lookers Stand on the Broadway side was knocked down as part of a proposed redevelopment, Oldham Borough Council confirmed planning approval for the new North Stand in April 2013. This will have capacity for 2,671 spectators, plus a health and fitness suite, supporters bar, the hardcore Oldham fans are usually considered to be in the Chadderton Road End, a traditional, small, one-tiered stand. In these cases, season ticket holders have to be reallocated, the main stand has existed since the time when the stadium was originally built, and is a small two-tiered structure. Terracing disused since the conversion to an all-seater can still be seen towards the end of this stand, the stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of 13,500. It became a venue during the 1994–95 season - the season after Oldham Athletics relegation from the top flight of English football. In the early days, the stadium could hold nearly 50,000 people, the highest crowd ever recorded at Boundary Park is 47,671, for an FA Cup tie between Oldham and Sheffield Wednesday in 1930. The highest attendance for a match was also recorded during the same season against Blackpool. In 1986 the club installed an artificial pitch in order to more income for the club. Critics felt that the pitch gave the club an advantage, when the Portsmouth manager declared that Oldham couldnt play away from home, Royle stuck the article to the dressing room door and the team responded with a 4–1 victory. After 60 minutes of the game, Sheffield Wednesday were 2–0 up, by this point, West Ham were losing. In time added on, Andy Barlow went down in the box, neil Redfearn stepped up to convert it and a mass pitch invasion followed, as it had been confirmed that West Ham had lost 2–1 at home to Notts County. In gaining promotion to the top flight, Oldham Athletic were forced to have the plastic pitch removed because of league rules and they stayed in the top division for three seasons before being relegated, and after three disappointing seasons in the second tier were relegated again in 1997. They have been in the division, now called League One. Boundary Park is anecdotally known as being the coldest ground in the Football League, earning the nickname coined by Joe Royle, there were plans in the late 1990s for a move to a new 20,000 seater stadium on adjoining waste ground, but these were scrapped
29.
DW Stadium
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The DW Stadium is a sports stadium in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Built and opened in 1999, it is named after its main sponsor, in UEFA matches, it is called Wigan Athletic Stadium due to UEFA regulations on sponsorship. The stadium architect was Alfred McAlpine, Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors moved into it from their long-term homes of Springfield Park and Central Park respectively. International rugby league matches have taken place at the venue. The stadium was designed by Alfred McAlpine and completed in August 1999, Wigan Athletic had spent the previous 67 years playing at Springfield Park, and their first match at the stadium was a friendly against Morecambe, just before the stadiums official opening. The first competitive match there took place on 7 August 1999. Simon Haworth scored twice, including the first competitive goal at the new stadium, as Athletic triumphed 3–0. Wigan Warriors moved to the stadium a month after it opened, once they had played their home game of the 1999 regular season at Central Park. After their former ground was sold, the possibility of sharing with Bolton Wanderers F. C. at the Reebok Stadium was presented. Their first game there was a match against Castleford Tigers. The Warriors did not lose a match at the stadium in 2001. The first away team to win a football match at the stadium was Wigan Athletic. A first round FA Cup tie against non-league Cambridge City was played due to Citys ground being deemed unsuitable to host the tie. Wigan played in their changed strip and used the away dressing room since it was technically a game for Cambridge City. A Stuart Barlow brace secured the win for Wigan, Wigan subsequently lost at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the third round of the FA Cup on 11 December 1999. Oldham Athletic became the first team to beat Wigan in a fixture at the JJB on 7 January 2000. The game was live on sky sports and finished 1–0 thanks to an 86th-minute header from Lee Duxbury. Whilst Wigan Warriors and Wigan Athletic flourished in the new stadium, Dave Whelan and Maurice Lindsay decided to invest heavily in the club, with the aim of having the club play in rugby unions Guinness Premiership at the stadium
30.
Ewood Park
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Ewood Park is a football stadium in the English town of Blackburn, Lancashire, and is the home of Blackburn Rovers Football Club — one of the founder members of the Football League and Premier League. Rovers have played there since they moved from Leamington Street in the summer of 1890, the stadium opened in 1882 and is an all seater multi-sports facility with a capacity of 31,367. The football pitch within the stadium measures 115 by 76 yards, Football had been played on the site since at least 1881, Rovers played four matches there when it was known as Ewood Bridge and was most likely little more than a field. Their first match was against Sheffield Wednesday on 9 April 1881, Ewood Park was officially opened in April 1882 and during the 1880s staged football, athletics and some form of greyhound racing. Rovers moved back in in 1890, signing a lease at an initial annual rent of £60. Their first match at the ground was against Accrington in September, in 1903, a roof was built on the Darwen End of the ground, at a cost of £1680. The stand now held 12,000 spectators, in 1904, the Nuttall Street Stand was built, based on designs by the architect, Archibald Leitch at a cost of £24,000. The Nuttall Street stand changed very little until a fire in 1984 in the Blackburn End corner of the Stand, the club took the opportunity to redevelop this section of the stand with executive boxes and glass-fronted lounge overlooking the ground. The development cost £250,000 and was named the John Lewis Complex, the Blackburn End is so named as the town of Blackburn lies behind the stand and is for home supporters. The Blackburn End was terraced in 1928, but did not acquire its concrete roof until 1960. A double tiered Riverside Stand was built in 1913, bringing the capacity of Ewood Park up to 70,886 with 7000 seats, in 1928 the Riverside Stand roof was re-roofed for a total outlay of £1,550. Ewood Park saw its largest crowd –62,522 for the visit of Bolton Wanderers in 1929, floodlights were installed in 1958 and were first used in a friendly against Werder Bremen. In June 1992 the local council approved plans to develop Ewood Park into a 31,000 all-seater stadium, by February 1994, the new two-tiered Blackburn and Darwen End stands were open. The development of the new Darwen End Stand had involved the demolition of Fernhurst Mill in order to make way for the new stand, the grounds transformation was complete when in August 1994, the Jack Walker Stand was opened on the site of the old Nuttall Street Stand. Houses along Nuttall Street had been demolished in late 1992 to make way for the new larger stand, the new stadium was officially opened in November 1995 and Blackburn Rovers marked the occasion with a 7-0 win over Nottingham Forest. The biggest stand at Ewood is named former club owner Jack Walker. It has 11,000 seats and is one of three stands that were built during Ewood Parks ground redevelopment in the 1990s and this stand contains the home and away dressing rooms and media/conferencing facilities. Furthermore, the stand is home to the Premier Suite and Jacks Kitchen which form part of the clubs hospitality packages, the modern Blackburn End Stand has 8,000 seats and was constructed in the early 1990s
31.
Fratton Park
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Fratton Park is a football stadium in the English city-port of Portsmouth. It has been the home of professional club Portsmouth F. C. since its construction in 1898, the stadium has four all seated stands with a capacity for 21,100 supporters. The pitch, measuring 115 x 73 yards, is aligned from east to west, the largest and most modern stand is called the Fratton End, which was opened in 1997. The Fratton End is located at the end of the Fratton Park stadium. Along either side of the pitch are the North and South stands, at the eastern end of the stadium is the smallest stand, the Milton End. Notably, the Milton End was the only stand in the Premier League. The Milton End is used by visiting away supporters, the original entrance to Fratton End is notable for its mock Tudor façade. The North Stand was refreshed for the 2010-11 season with renewed sponsorship by Mercedes-Benz car dealer Ridgeway which replaced the Fratton Park Portsmouth, the stadium is served by Fratton railway station, which is located on the Portsmouth Direct Line. The main stand was designed by renowned football architect Archibald Leitch, however, these were largely removed with the expansion of the ground. The first match at Fratton Park was a friendly against local rivals Southampton, Fratton Park hosted a first-round football game in the 1948 Summer Olympics, one of only two grounds outside London to host matches in that tournament. It hosted one full England international match on 2 March 1903 against Wales and has hosted some England U-21 internationals. Pompey was the first club to stage a Football League match under floodlights, new floodlight towers were constructed in 1962. It has held 51,385 for an FA Cup match against Derby County in 1949, the capacity has in recent years been much reduced by the introduction of compulsory seating. The ground has been home to the club throughout its entire history, the old stadium has been refurbished and repaired, but the current facilities are showing signs of age. At the end of the 2003–04 season, the club having survived its first season in the Premier League, work on the stadium was due to commence in the summer of 2006, and the first phase of the redevelopment completed a year later. These plans were ambitious and included creating a village around the stadium, complete with 1,500 waterfront apartments as well as restaurants. These plans were dropped before work could begin. The club had undertaken consultation and there were a number of objectors to the proposal, the Royal Navy also said that the proposal would cause problems with the proposed introduction of its new aircraft carriers
32.
Gigg Lane
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Gigg Lane is an all-seater football stadium in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It was built for Bury F. C. in 1885, the first match to be played at Gigg Lane was a friendly between Bury and Wigan on 12 September 1885, which Bury won 4–3. The first league game was a 4–2 victory over Manchester City on 8 September 1894 in the 1894–95 Football League Second Division. The capacity of the ground was once 35, 000—and this capacity was reached when the crowd was achieved for Burys FA Cup third round tie against Bolton Wanderers on 9 January 1960. The game ended 1–1 and Bury lost the replay after extra time 4–2, in 1986, Gigg Lane saw its lowest ever crowd of just 461 for a Freight Rover Trophy game against Tranmere Rovers. There has never been a crowd below 1,000 although the closest to that mark came in 1984 with a crowd of 1,096 against Northampton Town. The highest all-seater attendance at Gigg Lane was recorded when Bury played local rivals Manchester City 12th Sept 1997, the ground was renamed the JD Stadium in November 2013 after Bury announced a new sponsorship deal with JD Sports. The deal was ended in July 2015, in 2016 it was announced that the club was looking to build a new 15, 000–20,000 capacity stadium in the borough of Bury. The stadiums current capacity is 11,840, the South Stand is the largest stand and it was renamed the Les Hart Stand in the summer of 2010. The Manchester Road End was home to the electronic scoreboard until 2011. A new scoreboard was placed in the south-east corner of the ground a few months later, the Cemetery End has capacity of 2,500. In September 2015 a screen was installed in the side of the Les Hart Stand. On Match-Days the club show advertisements, match highlights and the scoreline, towards the end of the 2015–16 season, a fence was constructed between the Cemetery End and the Les Hart Stand in an attempt to stop the clubs rise of hooliganism. This further separates both Home and Away supporters, Manchester United and Bolton Wanderers have hosted reserve-team matches at the ground. F. C. United of Manchester shared the ground from the 2005–06 season until 2014 and they moved into their own ground for the 2015–16 season. F. C. United set a record attendance of 6,731 when they played Brighton. A couple of teams have switched their home games to the stadium, non-league sides Rossendale United and Radcliffe Borough moved home F. A. Cup ties to Gigg Lane against Bolton Wanderers and York City respectively, in 1996, the stadium was used as the filming location for the TV film based on the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, where 96 Liverpool fans died as a result of a crush on the stadiums terraces
33.
Glanford Park
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Glanford Park is a football stadium in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, and the current home of Scunthorpe United. Glanford Park opened in 1988 at a construction cost of £2.5 million and it was the first time that an English football club had moved to a new purpose-built stadium in 33 years, since Southend United moved to Roots Hall in 1955. Scunthorpe originally played at the Old Showground, which was located towards the centre of the town on the Doncaster Road, after the club relocated, the Old Showground was demolished and replaced by a Safeway supermarket, which was subsequently sold to Sainsburys in 2004. Glanford Park is located on the outskirts of Scunthorpe, close to the start of the M181 motorway, the name Glanford Park was derived from its funding by the then Glanford Borough Council, before North Lincolnshire became a unitary authority. On its completion, it was the first new Football League stadium in England for 33 years, the stadium was officially opened at the start of the 1988–89 season by Princess Alexandra. Manchester City visited Glanford Park on 24 January 2010, in the FA Cup Fourth Round, City won the match 4–2, which saw Robinho score his final goal in English football. The record attendance is 9,077 for a 5–2 loss against Manchester United in the League Cup on 22 September 2010, the SPB stand is the West side stand, and houses the executive boxes, players tunnel, team dugouts and home seating. The stand, sometimes referred to as the ETS is marketed as being a family stand, the name of this stand is the most frequently-changing. It is much more known as the Doncaster Road End among supporters, or even simpler. This stand is the only terraced stand at Glanford Park, the Clugston Stand is the East stand of the ground, and houses seated home supporters. This stand now also features a can bar and a food outlet and this stand houses away supporters, with a maximum capacity of 1,678. However extra away seating is made available for games such as local derbies. In the Scunthorpe Telegraph on 14 December 2006 it was announced that the club were looking to expand the Doncaster Road End of the stadium, potential improvements mentioned included a second tier and expansion of the clubs restaurant. This redevelopment option is currently being assessed, alongside the option of moving to a new stadium, under regulations the club must convert the Doncaster Road End to seats if they avoid relegation from the Championship in 2010–11. To try to change this, supporters launched a Keep Scunthorpe Standing campaign, the club revealed revised expansion details in September 2010, with plans to add a three-level building behind the current terrace to include a larger supporters bar, club shop and ticket office. The capacity of the ground would not increase, this is due to the change from a terrace to a seating area, Scunthorpe United now propose to build a new stadium at Lincolnshire Lakes. It will cost £18 million and will have the capacity of 12,000 and this was announced early January 2014 and plans are to go ahead in 2015-2016. The new stadium will include a hotel, an office, training and catering facilities, list of English football stadia by capacity Scunthorpe United F. C
34.
Highbury Stadium (Fleetwood)
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Highbury Stadium is a football stadium in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England with Wyre Borough Council as the landlords. It is the ground of Fleetwood Town and is also used for home matches by Blackpool F. C. reserves. As of the opening of the new Parkside Stand on 16 April 2011, Highbury Stadium is currently the 112th largest stadium by capacity in England and the twenty fourth in their league. The ground was opened in 1939, at the culmination of the most successful period in the clubs history. Until then the club had played on a next to the North Euston Hotel. It is situated on the south-west corner of the Memorial Park, just behind Highbury Avenue, an unusual feature of the stadium was the setback on the west side of the ground. Both the main stand and the covered standing area known as the Scratching Shed were set back from the pitch by a large gap. This was the legacy of the period from 1948 to 1952. Fleetwood Flyers started the 1948 season as Wigan Warriors but moved to Fleetwood after racing a few away fixtures billed as Wigan, the Flyers raced in the National League Division Two from 1948 to 1951 without enjoying any great success. In 1952 the venue staged a number of events with the team renamed the Fleetwood Knights. In 2008, when a new West Stand was built, it was constructed over the set back area, to construct the stand, the builders had to clear about 5,000 tonnes of cinder and ash still left over from the speedway track. In February 2007 the new Percy Ronson Stand was opened, a £200, 000-plus development, the stand is all terracing, and is the first new stand at the Highbury Stadium since 1939. Originally stated to hold 1,240, this figure was revised downwards 50% by Lancashire County Council to the official capacity of 621. The stand, at the side of the ground runs about two-thirds the width of the pitch. Demolition of the current terrace at the end of the ground with another terrace similar to the Percy Ronson Stand. However this stand would run virtually the full width of the pitch unlike the Percy Ronson Stand, the total cost of this three-staged final phase of the ground development was originally expected to be over £2M. The plan was finalized in December 2007, with construction being planned in two phases, Phase Two, This involves the third item in the above plan, the construction of the new Main Stand on the east side of the ground with social and changing facilities. Planning permission for Phase One was granted by Wyre Borough Council on 4 March 2008, on 23 August 2008 the new stands were opened for Fleetwoods inaugural Conference North match against Vauxhall Motors
35.
Home Park
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Home Park is an all-seater football stadium in the Central Park area of Plymouth, England, and is the home of Football League Two club Plymouth Argyle. The ground, given the nickname the Theatre of Greens by the supporters, has been Argyles permanent residence since 1901. After undergoing considerable development in the 1920s and 1930s the ground suffered heavy damage during the Second World War, the ground remained relatively unchanged until 2001 when construction of three new all-seater stands commenced. The work was completed in February 2002, and after work the stadium became all-seated in the summer of 2007. The record average attendance for a season,23,290. The stadium was selected as part of Englands 2018 FIFA World Cup bid by the FA in December 2009, the ground has played host to England youth internationals in the past, and a UEFA Cup Winners Cup match between Saint-Étienne and Manchester United in 1977. Home Park was originally used by the now defunct Devonport Albion rugby team from 1893 to 1898, following a dispute with the grounds owners over rent, Albion left and the ground was not used for three years. In 1901 the Argyle Athletic Club obtained a lease on the ground, then an oval-shaped bowl and cinder track surrounded by allotments and farmland. The new owners staged their first event, a meeting, on Whit Monday in 1901. The club, formed in 1886, changed its name to Plymouth Argyle in 1903, Home Park played host to its first competitive match, against Northampton Town, on 5 September 1903 in front of a crowd of 4,438. At the time the ground had one wooden grandstand which could accommodate 2,000 people, while the three sides of the ground were surrounded by slag heap banking with a waist-high fence. When Argyle joined the Football League in 1920 several improvements were required to meet safety requirements, a pitched-roof was erected along the main entrance at the Devonport End of the ground to provide cover for supporters using that terrace. The new Grandstand incorporated players changing rooms and club offices, many of these facilities were built with funds provided by the official supporters club. By the 1930s the ground was regularly hosting crowds in excess of 20,000, a crowd of 43,596 were in attendance to watch the club play out a 2–2 draw with Aston Villa in the Football League Second Division. The ground continued to host Second Division football until the outbreak of war in 1939, the city of Plymouth was hit hard during the Second World War due to its strength as a military base, HMNB Devonport was the largest naval base in Western Europe. As the ground was so close to the city centre and Plymouth Sound, the Football League was abandoned three games into the 1939–40 season, but Home Park continued to host matches until summer 1940 in the hastily organised South West Regional League. In April 1941 there was a series of Luftwaffe bombing raids on the city, known as the Plymouth Blitz, Home Park did not escape. The Grandstand was all but destroyed after sustaining multiple hits and the pitch was littered with impact craters, several drastic measures were required to be ready for the resumption of a regionalised Football League in 1945
36.
Kassam Stadium
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The Kassam Stadium is the home of Oxford United Football Club, and is named after the grounds owner and former chairman of the football club, Firoz Kassam. Oxford were promoted in the 2015–16 season, the club was previously based at The Manor Ground from 1925 up until the opening of The Kassam Stadium in 2001. Construction of the new stadium was begun in the summer of 1996 by Taylor Woodrow, the stadium was originally known by its location, Minchery Farm. At this time, Uniteds chairman was Robin Herd, and the chief executive was Keith Cox. Ongoing money problems meant that no work was done on the site until February 2000. Oxfords fortunes on the pitch changed dramatically during this period of financial uncertainty, the stadium is officially owned by one of Kassams Firoka Group companies, and hosted its first football match on 4 August 2001. The game was a match against Crystal Palace, which Oxford won on penalties following a 1–1 draw. The first competitive match at the ground took place one week later, on 11 August, against Rochdale, United lost this match 2–1 in front of a crowd of 7,842 people, Jamie Brooks scored for Oxford. Since then, the ground has hosted rugby games, as well as an under-17 International football tournament in 2002. In March 2006, the Oxford United Supporters Trust unofficially renamed the ground The United Stadium, despite the unofficial renaming of the stadium, it seems most fans and local press still refer to the home ground as the Kassam Stadium. At the 2008 Annual General Meeting, club chairman Nick Merry said The price is agreed for the stadium at £13 million and that is not negotiable but the valuation of the stadium is some way short of that so funding that deficit needs to make commercial sense. We are not prepared to put the future of Oxford United at risk, any deal has to make sense for both the short term and long term future of this club. The attendance record at the Kassam Stadium is 12,243 and this was for Oxfords final match of the 2005–06 League Two season, a 3–2 defeat by Leyton Orient that sealed their relegation from the Football League. It beat the record of 12,177 for a 3–0 League Cup defeat by Aston Villa on 6 November 2002. This was surpassed during the play-off 2nd leg on 3 May 2010, in January 2016, a crowd of 11,673 watched a 3–2 FA Cup win against Swansea City, which was the biggest home gate for almost four years. On 24 July 2006, Sir Elton John played a concert to a sold-out 17,500 crowd, however, with Oxfords worse form in 2007–08 the average attendance slumped sharply to 4,728. Despite Oxford once again finishing mid-table in 2008–09 attendances rose marginally, promotion back to the Football League was achieved via the playoffs in 2009–10, during which Oxfords average attendance enjoyed a dramatic rise and narrowly exceeded the 6,000 mark. A distinctive feature of the stadium is a reflective glass panelling that makes up the main entrance, sections of the panelling have been subject to vandalism
37.
Keepmoat Stadium
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The Keepmoat Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Doncaster, England, with a capacity of 15,231. The first match at the stadium was a Rugby League match on 27 December 2006, the official opening of the Keepmoat Stadium was on 3 August 2007, with Doncaster Rovers playing a Manchester United XI in front of a crowd of 13,080. At the Stadium Business Awards 2010 the stadium received the award for the Best Matchday Experience, the stadium itself is sponsored under a long-term contract by Keepmoat, a company specialising in council housing. They have the rights to the naming of the stadium, the main stadium consists of four main stands, which are as follows, The East Stand is sponsored by Bartercard UK. The area of the East Stand towards the South East corner is the Families area sponsored by Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust and is known as the DCLT Families Stand and this is the main match-day reception area with the stand sponsored by Estate. com. The South Stand, popularly known as the Black Bank, is sponsored by Polypipe, for Doncaster Rovers matches this is the stand that houses the Black Bank and is decorated with flags and banners on match days, widely known for creating a fantastic atmosphere. The North Stand is sponsored by Corsan, the North Stand area closest to the East Stand is the usual location of visiting fans. Depending on the numbers of visitors, the availability of seats in this area are expanded westwards to meet demand, the all-seater stadium holds 15,231 spectators,5,000 more than Belle Vue, with improved legroom and disabled access. Amongst the facilities in the new stadium is a new fans bar, the pitch itself incorporates a system of synthetic fibres interwoven with natural grass. This helps to maintain the integrity and prevents the playing surface from deteriorating throughout the course of the season. The pitch however does not have a heating system in-place. This has resulted in the postponement of a match within the first year of full operation, a mini-stadium is situated beside the main stadium, featuring a six-lane running track and a 500-seat stand. The mini stadium is used by Doncaster Rovers Belles, Doncaster Rovers Reserves, Doncaster Athletics Club, Doncaster RLFCs academy team, the first game played by Doncaster Rovers in the new stadium was on 1 January 2007 against Huddersfield Town, whom they beat 3–0. The game also saw the first three red cards in the new stadium, Doncaster Rovers centre forward Mark McCammon was the first player ever to score on the new pitch. Doncasters first loss at the stadium came five days later at the hands of Bolton Wanderers when they defeated the Rovers 4–0 in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup. On 14 January 2007, Doncaster Rovers Belles first match in the stadium resulted in a 5–2 defeat to Leeds United. Vicky Exley was the first Belle to score on the new pitch, the stadium hosted the final of the 2012–13 FA Womens Cup. The highest ever attendance at the Keepmoat stadium was 15,001 for the visit of Leeds United, Rovers also achieved attendances of over 14,800 at the Keepmoat Stadium in games against Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United
38.
Kingsmeadow
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Kingsmeadow is an association football stadium in the area of Norbiton, Kingston upon Thames, London, which is used for the home matches of both AFC Wimbledon and Kingstonian. It has a capacity of 4,850 with 2,265 seats, the freehold of the site is owned by Kingston Council. The idea is the takings from that first fixture should cover Kingstonians rent, Kingsmeadow comprises the following stands, John Green Stand – a newly built, covered behind-the-goal all-seater stand with 1,000 seats. It was first sponsored by Nong Shim Ltd, south Koreas largest processed food manufacturer, whose UK head office is based locally in New Malden. The rebuilding of the stand increased the capacity to approximately 4,850. It was renamed the John Green Stand for the 2015 season after the American bestselling author, before the start of the 2015/2016 season the club installed a camera gantry above the stand in order to get different angles for replays to be shown on Dons Player. Paul Strank Stand – the all-seater main stand with 1,265 seats, the main stand was extended during the 2008–09 season, adding additional seats and also extending the roof to provide better protection from rain. It was also renamed the Paul Strank Stand at this time, Paul Strank is a supporter and major benefactor of AFC Wimbledon, hence it was named in his honour. RyGas Stand – is a partially covered shallow terrace along the length of the pitch, AFC Wimbledon are about to commence a feasibility study regarding the best way to upgrade this area of the ground, which must meet football league standards by May 2014. Due to AFC Wimbledons desire to move to a stadium in Wimbledon in the medium to long term and this stand also holds the camera gantry at the stadium as well as the scoreboard. Chemflow End – a covered behind-the-goal deep terrace and its original name came from the Kingston Athletics Centre which sits directly behind the stand. For the 2013–14 season the stand was renamed the EcoHouse End in a new deal with EcoHouse Group. As of October 2012, the stadium has a capacity of 4,850 and it originally was designated to have a 6,299 capacity before modern safety requirements and ground improvements required the capacity to be reduced. Kingstonians highest attendance at Kingsmeadow was 4,582 v Chelsea on 22 July 1995, AFC Wimbledons highest attendance at Kingsmeadow was 4,870 against Accrington Stanley on 14 May 2016 which set the record attendance at Kingsmeadow. The stadium has been the home of Kingstonian since 1989, when built the entire complex on the site following the sale of their traditional Richmond Road ground. Kingstonian opened the ground with a friendly against Queens Park Rangers, following relegation from the Conference, Kingstonian went into financial administration and both the club and ground were purchased by Rajesh Khosla and his son Anup. Much of Kingstonians support were alienated as there was a perception that the Khoslas were business men first rather than football oriented, after one season as tenants of the Khoslas, AFC Wimbledon undertook to buy the leasehold to the ground. The clubs owners, the Dons Trust, launched a share issue to finance the purchase, the club subsequently arranged for a commercial loan to clear the remaining debt to the Khoslas
39.
London Road Stadium
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London Road, currently known as the ABAX Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Peterborough, England. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the ground of Peterborough United. The stadium holds 14,084 and was built in 1913, the stadium was built and opened in 1913, consisting of a single wooden stand with a capacity of just 250. It was owned by the city council and taken over by The Posh following their formation in 1934, the council built brick dressing rooms and a committee room at the back of the wooden stand to support the club. These survived until the 1950s, when the North Stand was constructed, the two goal ends were the next to be built. Many home fans had traditionally stood at the London Road End, a similar structure was built at the Moys End at around the same time. Financial difficulties during the war meant that the ground lease was very nearly terminated by the city council. Another local sports club almost took a 10-year lease, but The Posh were saved in 1942 by two individuals who paid the £50 owed in rent by the club. In the 1950s, the council sold London Road to the following a long term lease. In 1953, the Moys End was refurbished with new covered terracing, a new stand, with 2,404 seats and standing room in the front, was constructed behind the old wooden stand in 1956 and opened in time for the 1957–58 season. The wooden stand was demolished, leaving a gap of 30 yards between the new Main Stand and the pitch, a new standing terrace was then built at the Glebe Road side of the stadium shortly after the completion of the Main Stand. Four executive boxes, along with a platform, would later be added to the structure. Floodlights were added to the stadium in 1960, with four pylons erected at each corner of the ground, joe Richards, who was then chairman of the Football League, performed the switch-on ceremony. The first match in which the floodlights were used was against Arsenal in February 1960, following the clubs promotion to the First Division in 1992, the Main Stand was forced to undergo re-development. This was because the stadiums seated capacity was below the level required by the Taylor Report, to solve this problem, the stands terraces were converted to seats. 700 of these new seats were bought second hand from Leicester City, another 300 seats were taken from Millwalls stadium, The Den. Millwall were about to move into a new stadium themselves, with a capacity of 3,605, the Main Stands facilities were improved to include a pub, conference areas and a retail shop. Due to increased support, a new stand was constructed on the Glebe Road side of the ground, the two-tiered South Stand, with a capacity of 5,000, opened in time for the end of the 1995–96 season
Bescot Stadium