Arnold Town _old ground

Description

In 1933 King Edward VIII was forced out of office for outwardly preposterous reasons and replaced by his younger brother, George V. Fast forward seventy-odd years, the Crown took its revenge on Arnold Town, forcing them out of George V.

Since 1954, then known as Arnold St.Mary's, the Club played their football at the King George V Recreation Ground in the heart of the north-eastern Nottingham suburb of Arnold. Local ale producer, Home Brewery, owned the majority of the land and generously handed it over to the people of Arnold to use for sport and recreational purposes. However, this notable gesture was not mentioned in the deed of conveyance and was subsequently challenged by the Charities Commission in 1999 following a single complaint by a local resident that they could not access the land to walk their dog on a Saturday afternoon. Consequently, moves were made to expel Arnold from their home. In 2004, Arnold survived a stay of execution whilst they attempted to find another home, but in April 2008, the curtain finally came down on Gedling Road.

The King George V Ground, known locally as Gedling Road for the thoroughfare which circumnavigates it, occupies only a small area of the entire playing fields. The majority of which used to be occupied by Arnold Cricket Club. Whilst the cricket pavilion still remains, with the clearly engraved Arnold C.C. evident above the pavilion doorway, the Cricket Club left the Ground in 2003, following the controversial Charity Commission ruling.

The football ground, once graced by Geoff Hurst in 1977 playing for Telford United in an F.A.Cup preliminary round, had a very open feel to it, flanked as it was by just two stands and the former cricket field. The pitch was bordered by two similar fully covered stands. The stand behind the goal was a brick construction, topped by a corrugated iron roof, with a backboard painted in the Club's blue. It contained two rows of wooden blue benches, with room for 180 occupants. Raised imposingly above this stand was a 12-metre high steel wire fence erected to safely capture any wayward shots on goal. At this height, they�d have had to be decidedly wayward. The houses behind the stand running the length of the pitch on the Gedling Road side were shielded by a similar protective construction, though this had been erected behind the actual stand. This had a standing only capacity of 500. Like the stand behind the goal, it was also sheltered by a corrugated iron roof, and is held a loft by 13 blue steel girders. The superstitious amongst the Eagle�s supporters may well read something into that given the fate of the ground.

The home and away dugouts were unusually constructed within the stand itself. An inner white rail surrounded the remainder of the ground, two meters from the pitch, running 100 meters in length and 70 meters wide. Opposite the covered terrace was a well used and well run Clubhouse with ample room for 100 people. Within were housed the changing rooms, a social bar, a souvenir shop and a separate room for the hospitality of visiting officials.

Venue	King George V Recreation Ground, Gedling Road, Arnold, Nottingham Tel: 0115 9263660
Club	Arnold Town

Seating	180
Record Attendance	3390 v Bristol Rovers - F.A.Cup 1st Rd - Dec 1967
Period Occupied	1954 - 2008