West Ham Stadium

West Ham Stadium was a stadium that existed between 1928 and 1972 in Custom House [Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). "Homes of British Speedway". ISBN 0-7524-2210-3] , in East London (it was in the County Borough of West Ham, in the county of Essex, at the time of the stadium's construction). The stadium was built in 1928 on Prince Regent Lane, near the site of the present-day Prince Regent DLR station.

Greyhound racing

At first, the venue was used for greyhound racing and speedway on weekdays [Belton, Brian (2003). "Hammerin' Round". ISBN 0-7524-2438-6] and was the only greyhound/speedway stadium designed by the famous Archibald Leitch. [cite web | url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=42752 | title=West Ham: Worthies, entertainments, sports and pastimes | work=British History Online | accessdate=2006-12-01 ]

peedway

The Speedway Hammers were involved in the top flight leagues 1929 to 1939; 1946 to 1955 and 1964 to 1971. They won the inaugural British League in 1965 [ [http://www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk/westham.html Speedway information on West Ham] accessed 11 May 2007] . The Lakeside Hammers speedway team, formerly known as the Arena-Essex Hammers, who race at Arena Essex Raceway next to Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex, are the closest team and took their name from the defunct West Ham Hammers outfit. The official record attendance for the stadia was 83,000 for a Test match against Australia.

Football

To fill the stadium on weekends, a football team, Thames Association FC, was founded. After two years in the Southern Football League, Thames were promoted to the Football League Third Division South in 1930. Although the stadium could hold 120,000, Thames shared a catchment area with Charlton Athletic, Clapton Orient, Millwall and West Ham United. As a result, it had trouble attracting crowds and created the lowest recorded attendance in Football League history when just 469 people turned up to watch Thames take on Luton Town on 6 December 1930. Thames resigned from the Football League in May 1932 after finishing bottom and were dissolved soon afterward. West Ham Stadium continued to function as a greyhound and speedway stadium.

Baseball

The stadium also hosted local baseball sides' home games in the 1930s and 1940s,cite book
last = Belton, B. & Chetwynd, J.
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = British Baseball and the West Ham Club: History of a 1930's Professional Team in East London
publisher = McFarland & Co Inc. U.S
date = 15 January 2007
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-7864-2594-6]

tock car racing

Stock car racing was held in the stadium in the 1950s and 1960s. [cite web | url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=42752 | title=West Ham: Worthies, entertainments, sports and pastimes | work=British History Online | accessdate=2007-11-07 ]

Closure

The stadium was sold to developers who evicted the speedway team and closed the stadium in 1972. It was subsequently demolished and housing was built on the cleared site, with some streets named after former speedway stars.

Despite the similarity of name, the stadium had nothing to do with West Ham United, who have played their home games at the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park since 1904.

ee also

*New West Ham Stadium

References

External links

* [http://www.groundtastic.co.uk/Postcards/Thames%20Ass%20card.htm Aerial photograph of the stadium]
* [http://www.lalamy.demon.co.uk/timeline.htm West Ham's Timeline]