Borough Park is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadium in

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The home ground of Workington A.F.C., it has a capacity of 3,101, of which 500 is seated.

History

Borough Park was built with the assistance of the local council, and opened in 1937, with Workington moving from their previous Lonsdale Park ground, which was next to Borough Park. The ground initially consisted of a 1,000 seat main stand on the western touchline, and banking around the remainder of the pitch, but by 1951 the embankments had been converted to terracing, and two more stands erected in the north-west and south-west corners of the ground.Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) ''The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005'', Yore Publications, p26, Workington were elected to

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

in 1951, and the first League match at Borough Park saw them defeat Chesterfield 3–1 in front of 11,000 spectators. The ground underwent further expansion during the 1950s as the main stand was extended and the terracing on the eastern side of the pitch was roofed in 1956. The record attendance of 21,000 was set on 4 January 1958 for an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

match against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. The League record attendance of 18,628 was set for a local derby against Carlisle United on 26 December 1963. Workington were voted out of the League in 1977 and replaced by Wimbledon F.C. The main stand was closed and the roof removed in 1988. Borough Park was also the home of the town's

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club

Workington Town Workington Town is a semi-professional rugby league club based in Workington, West Cumbria, England. The club plays home games at Derwent Park and competes in the RFL League One, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, Briti ...

from when they formed after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1945 until they moved out in 1956 and into their own new ground nearby, Derwent Park.

Workington Stadium plans

In February 2019, a plan for a new stadium for Workington was announced. This would have involved the demolition of Borough Park and Derwent Park. In June 2019, it was announced by the new leadership of Allerdale Borough Council that the new sports stadium would not be built.

References

Workington Workington A.F.C. Football venues in England Sports venues completed in 1937 Sports venues in Cumbria English Football League venues Workington Town {{England-sports-venue-stub