The Oval was a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

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 ...

ground in

Wednesbury Wednesbury ( ) is a market town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England; it was historically in Staffordshire. It is located near the source of the River Tame, West Midlands, River Tame and ...

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 ...

. It was the home ground of

Wednesbury Old Athletic Wednesbury Old Athletic, often referred to as W.O.A.C., was an English association football club based in Wednesbury, West Midlands (Staffordshire at the time). There were three clubs that had this name. Original club The first began life as ...

, and also hosted two

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

matches at the start of the 1893–94 season.

History

The ground was located to the north-west of Wednesbury town centre, and featured a pavilion located close to St Paul's road, which ran along the northern boundary. At the end of the 1892–93 season Walsall left

the Chuckery The Chuckery was a cricket and football ground in the Chuckery area of Walsall, England. It was the home ground of the Walsall Swifts and Walsall Town football clubs until they merged in 1888, after which it was used by the new Walsall Town Sw ...

to move to West Bromwich Road. However, the new ground was not ready at the start of the 1893–94 season, so the club played two matches at the Oval. The first on 2 September 1893 saw Walsall lose 3–1 to

Small Heath Small Heath is an inner-city area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from the city centre. History Small Heath, which has been settled and used since Roman t ...

, whilst the second match was played on 9 September, with Walsall losing 5–0 to Burslem Port Vale.Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) ''The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005'', Yore Publications, p35, Despite it being a temporary home, the 5,000 spectators present at the Small Heath game was higher than the club's highest League attendances at either the Chuckery or West Bromwich Road.Smith & Smith, p144 The ground is now an open sports field, with Walsall's modern

Bescot Stadium Bescot Stadium, currently known as the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in the area of Bescot, Walsall, West Midlands, England, and is the current home ground of Walsall Football Club and Aston Vill ...

located a few hundred metres away on the other side of the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oval Defunct football venues in England Defunct cricket grounds in England Wednesbury Walsall F.C. Cricket grounds in the West Midlands (county) Football venues in the West Midlands (county) Sports venues completed in 1893 Sports venues in Sandwell