Once again, Blackpool returned to playing their home games at Raikes Hall for the remainder of the season. It was noted that the ground "conveyed the impression that at some remote period of its history it had been a ploughed field". On 8 September 1900, they drew 1–1 with the Seasiders, in front of what was a "good" attendance of "just under 2,000". Gainsborough Trinity were the first visitors to Bloomfield Road for a Football League game. Īt this time there was only one stand at the ground, a small structure on the western side, which held about 300 seated. Raikes Hall was used for the season's remaining home games, and it was not until a practice match on 25 August 1900 that the club – then back in Division Two - returned to Bloomfield Road. Īfter this match, Blackpool returned to play at their Raikes Hall ground, where the Christmas Day game against Oswaldtwistle Rovers resulted in a "better attendance than ever". Henry Street was only partially built up, and behind the north end of the ground lay open space and the town's waste-disposer and the corporation stables. All behind the west side of the ground were railway sidings and tracks. Coming from the south, supporters would have had to navigate their way through row after row of allotments along Central Drive from Waterloo Road. Walking to the game would have been very different from today. A perimeter fence ran around the rest of the pitch to keep supporters off the playing surface. The ground, at this time, had a small wooden grandstand along the western side of the pitch, which seated about three hundred spectators.
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Horwich R.M.I., with only ten men in their line-up, were the visitors. The first game after the merger took place on 23 December. Additionally, the two clubs amalgamated with the Lancashire League fixtures of Blackpool, because they were deemed easier than those of South Shore. in mid-December 1899, the former club moved into the latter's ground and changed the name to Bloomfield Road. 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 South Shore entertained Newton Heath in an FA Cup tie. The grandstand was not up, but it is expected to be ready for next Saturday. 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 first competitive game played at the ground took place on 21 October 1899, when South Shore played the 1st South Lancashire Regiment. played there in the Lancashire League in 1899. The ground was originally known as Gamble's Field, so-named for the farmer who owned the land, when South Shore F.C. After a short spell back at Raikes Hall Gardens in 1899, during their season out of the League, and again for all but the first home game of the 1900–01 campaign, Blackpool made the permanent move to Bloomfield Road. In 1897, they moved to the Athletic Grounds at the present-day Stanley Park, which hosted thirty-two League matches over two seasons. Firstly, between 18, they played their fifteen home Football League matches at Raikes Hall Gardens (also known as the Pleasure Gardens).
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It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the Athletic Grounds.