The History Of Hereford's Floodlights
With
the news that Hereford FC are upgrading the floodlights at
Edgar Street, BN looks back to two articles published in 2010 about the
floodlights.
March 7th 2010
It was back in the
1952/53 season that floodlights were first installed at Edgar Street.
Hereford United were one of the first non-league clubs to have them.
The
pylons, on which the floodlights were perched, were presented to the
club by Painter Brothers, a local steel fabrication company.
Then,
according to John Williamson's book 'The Hereford United Story', they
were tried out for a reserve match in the Birmingham League.
The game, played on March 10th, resulted in a 2-0 win for the reserve against Walsall.
The
grand opening was later that week. Some 7508 spectators saw Hereford
United defeat Merthyr Tydfil 3-1 in a Herefordshire Senior Cup replay.
The gate was around 3000 more than average.
However,
according to club historian Ron Parrott, the original pylons went when
Edgar Street was widened in 1968 for the new relief road. The 'new' ones
(pictured) were erected at the end of November, early December 1968 and
to test them out Swansea sent their first team up on Wednesday 11th
December for a friendly, which United won 3-2 in front of a very
disappointing gate of 1,050.
The official opening was to be on
the following Monday against Yeovil Town in the Southern League Cup but
the game was postponed due to a frozen pitch and not rearranged until
Monday 30th December.
In between, United played at home to
Atherstone Town on Wednesday 18th December in a 5-1 win in the Camkin
Cup when the floodlights were used for the first time and a crowd of
only 1,303 witnessed the occasion (Ron Parrott was one of them!).
June 22nd 2010
Ron Parrott, the Hereford United historian, is currently writing a book on the club and he has kindly allowed BN to print a couple of paragraphs about the floodlights in 1953.Installation of the floodlights has been going well and preparations are well in hand for the grand opening. Southampton, Hereford’s first choice of opponents for the occasion have been suffering heavy injuries and are also involved in a dog-fight to avoid relegation to the Third Division and unfortunately, are forced to pull out of the fixture but promise to send their first team down next season. The Board decide therefore, to stage the Herefordshire Senior Cup replay with Merthyr Tydfil to mark the formal opening of the lights and the date is set for Thursday 5th (March 1953). The lights will be the most up to date of their kind in the country and will consist of four steel towers rising 60 ft. above the ground, situated well outside each corner of the playing field. Each tower is embedded in concrete to a depth of 7 ft. and will carry a battery of nine 1,500 watt floodlamps, being installed by the MEB.
With excitement growing amongst players and supporters alike, the scene is really set. Sadly, Mother Nature takes a hand and Edgar Street is shrouded in fog all day long and as darkness descends, it becomes obvious that football is out of the question. The fixture is rearranged for the following Thursday but it’s decided to go ahead with the Reserves game against Walsall on the Tuesday anyway, to act as a trial and correct any teething problems with the lights.
The Reserves beat Walsall under the Edgar Street lights on Tuesday 10th and Gordon Fox has the honour of scoring the first ever floodlit goal. There are no technical hitches and the only disappointment is that the fixture attracts no larger a crowd than may have been expected for a normal Birmingham League match. Perhaps they’re saving themselves for the grand opening two days later. This obviously proves to be the case as 7,508 turn up for the Merthyr game and witness a feast of good football, with United triumphing 3-1 with goals from Allen, Bowen and Farquhar, leaving fans cheering long after the final whistle.