Everything about Deepdale totally explained
Deepdale is a
stadium in the
Deepdale area of
Preston,
England, the home of
Preston North End F.C. and England's
National Football Museum.
The land originally was
Deepdale Farm and was used by the cricket and rugby teams of which spawned the football side. Leased on
January 21 1875 by the town's North End sports club, it hosted its first
association football match on
October 5 1878. The venue was used during the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship. The league record attendance for Deepdale is 42,684 v
Arsenal F.C. in the First Division, 23 April 1938.
Three of the four older stands have been replaced by new all seated structures named after famous players to grace PNE over the years. These are
Tom Finney,
Bill Shankly and
Alan Kelly. The fourth 'Pavilion' stand has now been demolished to make way for the new stand. Work on the new stand is expected to be completed at the start of the 2008/2009 season and will be named The Invincibles Stand. Deepdale will then be a 24,000 capacity all seater stadium.
A webcam showing construction of the 4th Stand is at http://www.pneimages.co.uk/pnecam0.jpg
The renowned woman's team
Dick, Kerr's Ladies also called Deepdale home, often beating men's professional teams and attracting crowds of up to 53,000.
The nearby
Deepdale railway station closed to regular passenger services on
31 May 1930.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
In early 2005, the
National Football Museum based at Deepdale decided to launch an appeal to
UNESCO to make Deepdale a
World Heritage Site as the home of professional football.
Located at the
Deepdale stadium in
Preston, the museum opened in June
2001. It is an independent
charity holding the following collections:
At any time, around 2,000 items from the museum’s collections are on display, with a further 30,000 items held. Key items include:
One of the two balls used in the first World Cup Final in 1930.
The ball from the 1966 World Cup Final.
The replica of the Jules Rimet Trophy, made in secret by the FA in 1966 after the original was stolen, and paraded by the England players at the World Cup Final in 1966.
The England captain’s jersey and cap from the world’s first official international football match, England v Scotland, in 1872.
The world’s oldest women’s football kit, from the 1890s.
Tom Finney Statue
Outisde the Tom Finney Stand, is a statue of the famous player himself.
The statue unveiled in July 2004, was inspired by a photo taken at the Chelsea versus PNE game played at Stamford Bridge, in 1956. After a large downpour before kick off, parts of the pitch were covered in water, but the game was still allowed to start. Whilst with the ball and having just got around a defender Finney ended up in one of the pools of water. A photographer captured the moment and the photo later won the 'Sports Photograph Of The Year Award'.
The statue sculpted by Sardarjee Om Puri, pays tribute to the player and that 'splash' moment. It is certainly more imaginative to any other footballing statue so far unveiled around the country. The original photo of the Splash can be seen on the official Preston North End website.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Deepdale'.
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