Comments on: Eastville Stadium: Flowers, Fire & Gas

By: Gerry Prewett

Gerry Prewett — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:37:06 +0000

I have been a Bristol Rovers fan since 1964 but exiled in Perth Western Australia since 1990. Eastville is very much the spiritual home of ‘The Gas” (you can see the Gas Works behind the stadium in the top picture, hence the unofficial nickname). To be honest Eastville was a ground with great potential but essentially was a dump. When I went there as an 11 year old, it looked like a mini Wembley Stadium. Afterall it had a dog-track around it.

As the club never owned the ground it was just left to decay and over the years was allowed to fall apart. Rovers move to Bath was a savour to the club. I was at that last match at Eastville, part of a ‘crowd’ of about 4,000. Once Rovers took part in a ground sharing scheme with Bristol Rugby Club (just a few miles up the road from Eastville) they had returned to their spiritual base if not their home. The Rugby Ground is a real mish mash but Rovers now own it themselves and whatever they do to it is of benefit to them directly, rather than to Landlords.

Eastville will always be Rovers’ ‘real’ home but as it is now the site of an IKEA shopping centre and is directly adjacent to the River Frome and a Motorway Flyover it became a less than ideal site. Here’s to the redevelopment of The Mem, Rovers new ground.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:36:17 +0000

Interesting side note:

the first ever penalty kick taken in England was slotted home by none other than George Best in the 1970-71 Watney Cup Semi-Final.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:38:42 +0000

I have heard there are developments in the pipe for a new, very modern stadium to help restore the pride and moral of the players and fans alike.

By: Food Packaging

Food Packaging — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:55:00 +0000

I always hate seeing stories like this. I can only imagine the hopes and dreams of all the players of fans who came through those gates, only to have the stadium crumble and wither away like it did.

By: Fractional Airplane

Fractional Airplane — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:53:27 +0000

In the states we have a rash of building new stadiums, razing the old along with all the history and memories. The justification is for the teams to make more money, so they can “afford” to stay in town. Sadly, venerable stadiums (Yankee Stadium and Texas Stadium) with the most profitable teams in all of sports (New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys) worldwide are being torn down for new, grotesque cash machines.

So, I do feel for an old stadium, where real people came and cheered for their home team for near a century. Here is to Eastville Stadium!

By: A history of Eastville Stadium, the ground in the middle of the gasworks. - The Run of Play

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:20:56 +0000

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