Wellington Road was a football ground in the

Perry Barr Perry Barr is a suburban area in north Birmingham, England. It is also the name of a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Birmingham Perry Barr is also a parliamentary constituency; its Member of Parliament is Khalid Ma ...

area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, England. It was the home ground of Aston Villa from 1876 until 1897.

History

Wellington Road was opened in 1876 when Aston Villa moved to the ground. There were initially no spectator facilities, players changed in a nearby blacksmith's shed, and a hayrick was kept on the pitch, which had to be removed prior to matches.Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) ''The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005'', Yore Publications, p143, However, the ground was gradually improved, with a grandstand built on the eastern touchline and two pavilions built on the western touchline and behind the southern goal line. The ground's record attendance of 26,849 was set for an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

fifth round match against Preston North End on 7 January 1888. Preston won 3–1, and the match was marred by a huge pitch invasion, the first serious incidence of crowd trouble in English football. Later in 1888 Villa were founder members of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

, and the first League match was played at Wellington Road on 15 September 1888, with Villa beating Stoke 5–1 in front of 2,000 spectators. During the 1890s Wellington Road was used to host two FA Cup semi-finals. In 1889–90 it hosted the Bolton Wanderers– The Wednesday match (1–2), and in 1895–96 hosted the Derby County–

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

game (also 1–2). It was also used as a home venue for the England team, hosting a

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

match on 25 February 1893, with England beating

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

6–1. However, with an uneven pitch and growing crowds, it became increasingly apparent that a new ground was required. Villa moved to Villa Park towards the end of the 1896–97 season, with the last league match played at Wellington Road on 22 March 1897. Villa beat Bolton Wanderers 6–2, with a crowd of 8,000 in attendance. Part of the site was later used for housing, with the remainder becoming a car park, pub and recreation ground.

References

{{Aston Villa F.C. Defunct football venues in England Aston Villa F.C. Defunct sports venues in the West Midlands (county) Sports venues completed in 1876 1876 establishments in England English Football League venues