|
Address: |
|
Spotland |
|
Sandy
Lane |
| Rochdale |
| OL11
5DS |
|
Telephone: |
|
01706
- 644648 |
| Ground
Capacity: |
| 10,249 |
| Official
Website: |
| www.rochdaleafc.co.uk |
| Unofficial
Websites: |
| Rochdale
AFC Online
Dale
Videos
|
| How
to get there: |
By
Car:
Spotland Stadium is just over 2 miles on Junction 20 of the M62. Exiting at Junction 20 you should follow signs for Rochdale A627(M). Bear left at the first roundabout you come to on the A627(M), passing B & Q on your right. You will quickly approach another roundabout at which point you will pick up signs for
'Spotland Stadium'. However, should you miss these signs you should carry on straight at the roundabout, the 2nd exit, and after around 2 miles on this road you will come across the ground on your right-hand side. By Rail:
The nearest train station to Spotland is around 3 miles from the ground. The easiest option is to get into a taxi and ask for the ground. The cost will be around £3.50.
Rochdale Train Station is situated about 3 miles from the ground.
By Bus:
There is a direct service from Rochdale train station for afternoon matches. The No:436 leaves Rochdale bus station every half an hour (quarter to/past), so it will be at the train station bus stop in a few minutes. return journey, the last bus is 17.10 from Sandy Lane (outside the ground). |
| Other
than the football...: |
|
ROCHDALE has
plenty to do for those of you who are looking to spend the
weekend in the town.
Rochdale lies
within a river valley with the Rossendale hills to the North
and the Pennine Hills to the East. Rochdale Manor was owned
by the Byron family until it was sold by poet Lord Byron.
There are
various guided walks, tours and rides. Rochdale
Countryside Service walks are graded to help you choose
walks suitable to you: EASY: A gentle stroll, usually on
fairly even ground. MEDIUM: A more energetic walk, possibly
involving some hill and moorland walking. HARD: Strenuous
walk, often all day, requiring a high standard of fitness.
Fridays - Town Hall Guided Tours Organised by Rochdale Town
Hall Most Fridays, (please telephone to check) weekly guide
of one of the finest Town Halls in the country. Groups and
other times by arrangement. Venue: Rochdale Town Hall Time:
2.15 pm Price: £1.50 Enquiries: 01706 864775
Family-friendly. Facilities for disabled people. Accessible
by public transport. Wednesday 10 December - Curators Tour
of the Museum Organised by Touchstones Rochdale Curators
talk about the cultural diversity of the museum collections.
Pre booking required. Venue: Touchstones Rochdale Time: 2 -
3.30 pm Bookings through: 01706 864986 Family-friendly.
Facilities for disabled people. Free. Accessible by public
transport. Friday 26 December - Boxing Day Walk Organised by
Rochdale Countryside Service The annual amble to walk off
that Christmas excess with Richard Evans. Graded easy.
Venue: Meet at Hollingworth Lake Visitor Centre Time: 1.30 -
3.30 pm Enquiries: 01706 373421 Family-friendly. Free.
Accessible by public transport.
There are also
numerous Theatres and Performing Arts in Rochdale, while the
barge trips up and down the Rochdale canal are also very
popular.
Those of you who
like to play golf will also be pleased to know that there
are numerous golf courses in Rochdale!
If you intend to
remain in Rochdale on a Sunday, you might enjoy the
Transpennine Tour. Park up at the White House Inn
above Littleborough and blow the cobwebs away with a
refreshing walk along the Roman Road to Blackstone Edge.
Plan an early
lunch – the White House can be recommended – and then
head towards the M62 and Milnrow and Newhey to visit the
world’s biggest working steam mill engine that is
Ellenroad Engine House – make it the first Sunday in the
month and it will be in steam.
Feel like
bargain hunting – then turn towards Milnrow village where
Dale Mill factory outlet has enough for anyone!
If you have a
taste for more open countryside then you want Lower Ogden at
Newhey where afternoon tea awaits at The Shippon.
Finally,
Touchstones, an exciting arts and heritage centre located in
the Esplanade, has four art galleries - one for Rochdale's
impressive collections, two for the best in visiting
contemporary art - and Gallery One - the gallery for
everyone! Also contained within the centre is a 'hands
on' museum for all the family. Full of fun activities for
kids, fascinating facts for adults and, for the not so
young, a chance to share some cherished memories! Come and
discover Rochdale's past and, perhaps, help shape its
future. Meanwhile, the Heritage Gallery offers a
changing programme of exhibitions bringing Rochdale's past
to life.
You can search and book
hotels located right near to Rochdale's Spotland stadium by
clicking HERE. |
|
A Hatter and
a Dale - Steve Elliott |
 |
| Steve
Elliott. |
STEVE
Elliott was born in Haltwhistle in September 1958, and
joined Nottingham Forest from school, signing professional
forms at 18.
His
opportunities at the City Ground were limited and after only
four League appearances in three years, he was allowed to
move to Preston North End where his career really took off.
In
five seasons at Deepdale he made 208 League appearances,
scoring 70 goals, and it was this firepower that encouraged
Luton manager David Pleat to invest £95,000 to bring him to
Kenilworth Road in the summer of 1984.
Although
scoring within three minutes of the start of his debut
against Stoke City on the opening day of 1984-85, he
struggled in an admittedly poor Luton side and was used in
the part exchange deal that brought David Preece to
Kenilworth Road from Walsall in December 1984.
Elliott
rediscovered his scoring boots at Fellows Park and after two
successful years there he joined Bolton Wanderers for £25,000.
At
Burnden Park though, his scoring rate slowed a little as
proved by a return of 11 in 60 appearances over two seasons.
Spells
at both Bury and
Rochdale then followed before he dipped out
of League football in 1990 to join AFC
Guiseley.
|
|
The Club and The Ground
THE
first football club in the town, Rochdale Athletic, was formed in
1896. It lasted 4 years. Months later Rochdale Town was founded,
but also only lasted 4 years.
After
these 2 false starts, Rochdale finally had a football team,
Rochdale FC, or ‘The Dale’, founded in 1907. They were to be a
professional team right from the off, they played in the
Manchester League and their strip was black and white stripes.
The ground,
Spotland, has benefited greatly with the construction of three new
stands over the last ten years and is quite picturesque, with a
number of trees being visible behind the stands. The latest
addition is the smart looking Per-Fit Windows Stand at one side of
the pitch, which was opened during the 2000-01 season. This
single-tiered stand replaced a former terrace and has a capacity
of 4,000. On the other side is another single-tier, the all-seated
Motorama Main Stand. This has a number of supporting pillars and
some executive boxes at the back. At one end the W.M.G (Pearl
Street) Stand is the third of the new stands. This is also all
seated and serves as a Family Stand. It has a couple of supporting
pillars that are right at the front of the stand. The Thwaites
Beer (Sandy Lane) end is the only terraced area remaining at the
ground. This small terrace has in recent seasons had a roof
erected. There is a Police Control Box located in one corner of
the ground, between the Main & Pearl Street Stands. The ground
is shared with the Rochdale Hornets rugby League team.
Hatters
supporters are housed in the Willbutts Lane Stand (recently
renamed the Per-Fit Windows Stand), where the view of the action
and the facilities are pretty good. Up to 4,000 supporters can be
accommodated in it and normally Hatters fans are confined to the
centre of the stand. If required, then this stand can be split
between home and away fans. The acoustics are excellent, so
Town fans can really make some noise from within it. This, coupled
with both home ends singing and the obligatory drummer, makes for
a good atmosphere. If Rochdale do score then 'I Feel Good...'
blasts out around the ground from the p.a. system.
Ground Guide courtesy
of the excellent Internet
Football Ground Guide.
History
- Rochdale Football Club
The first football club in
the town, Rochdale Athletic, was formed in 1896. It lasted 4
years. Months later Rochdale Town was founded, but also only
lasted 4 years.
After these 2 false
starts, Rochdale finally had a football team, Rochdale FC, or
‘The Dale’, founded in 1907. They were to be a professional
team right from the off, they played in the Manchester League and
their strip was black and white stripes.
It went on to join the
Lancashire Combination a year later, and won it in 1911. An
application to join the Football League was declined that year,
and Chairman Herbert Hopkinson, furious at only one team
supporting their application, immediately proposed an expansion to
include a Third Division. This was scuppered but did set in motion
the idea which was eventually approved 9 years later in 1920, with
the Dale kicking around in the Lancashire Combination until then.
The southern teams bagged
all the places in the inaugural Division 3, meaning that the
Midlands and Northern clubs formed the Division 3 (North) the
following year. The first match was a 6-3 thumping of Accrington
Stanley at home, but the Dale had to wait 6 months for their
first League away win – it finally came courtesy of an own goal
at Lincoln
City.
There followed mixed form,
near promotion, saved by a vote from relegation, and a bizarre
financial scandal in 1924. Owing to financial irregularities, the
FA had kicked Rochdale out of the League before it emerged that
the player at the centre of the alleged matter of missing monies
had not received the payment which was sent because he was on
holiday at the time!
Rochdale narrowly missed
out on promotion the year before the League was restructured to 4
straight divisions and were keen not to lose out in the reshuffle
(us Hatters know about that – how different things could have
been!). Against a huge fixture backlog they slipped from 4th
to 10th, but were deemed good enough for the cut by
their goal average – the first 3rd division visitors
to Spotland were Plymouth
Argyle, who were incidentally the first team south of the
Watford Gap ever to play Rochdale in the League.
Since the League
reorganised again, the best Rochdale have mustered in the League
is a 5th place in 2001-02, just 1 point off an
automatic spot. John Hollins’ side got a good 2-2 away draw
against Rushden
& Diamonds in the 1st leg of the play-off, but
threw it away with a 1-2 reverse at home.
Rochdale hold the record
for the lowliest club to reach the League Cup Final. They were in
the 4th Division when, in 1961-62, in possibly their
finest hour, they beat the then mighty Blackburn
Rovers 4-3 on aggregate in the semis.
Their recent FA Cup
pedigree is good – in the 2002-03 season they beat Preston
North End and Coventry
City on their way to the 5th round and an encounter
with Wolves
at Molineux which they lost 1-3. After this defeat they
disastrously won only 3 of their last 18 games which led to the
departure of Paul Simpson, and the arrival of Alan Buckley as
manager, but with no significant change in fortunes evident so
far…
The title of Club Legend
must surely go to Reg Jenkins. He was recently voted best ever
player by the fans, and in his 8 years at the club he
scored 119 League goals.
Rochdale is notable for 2
things other then the ‘Dale FC. It was the birthplace of the
Co-operative Movement, or Co-Op, in 1844; and it has one of
England’s most spectacular Town Halls – built in 1871 with a
191ft clock tower, and which Adolf Hitler was rumoured to have
wanted to take back to Germany piece by piece had he won the war!
History
Conducted By: Josh Tidy.
Luton Town
v
Rochdale... A
full rundown of all of the past meetings
| Home
Matches |
 |
|
Mar
|
19
|
1966
|
D4
|
W
|
4
|
1
|
7381
|
|
|
Sep
|
29
|
1966
|
D4
|
W
|
3
|
1
|
6435
|
|
|
Feb
|
10
|
1968
|
D4
|
W
|
4
|
1
|
10040
|
|
|
Nov
|
22
|
1969
|
D3
|
W
|
2
|
0
|
15876
|
|
|
Oct
|
20
|
2001
|
ND3
|
L
|
0
|
1
|
7696
|
Report
|
|
| Away
Matches |
|
|
Sep
|
24
|
1965
|
D4
|
W
|
2
|
1
|
3692
|
|
|
Sep
|
6
|
1966
|
D4
|
L
|
0
|
3
|
2472
|
|
|
Sep
|
30
|
1967
|
D4
|
D
|
2
|
2
|
1884
|
|
|
Apr
|
25
|
1970
|
D3
|
W
|
2
|
1
|
5886
|
|
|
Feb
|
9
|
2002
|
ND3
|
L
|
0
|
1
|
4306
|
Report
|
|
|
| OTHERS
WHO HAVE BEEN A HATTER AND A DALE |
| Name |
DOB |
First
Season |
Last
Season |
Sold
To |
League
Apps. |
League
Goals |
| Tom
Smith |
- |
1934 |
1938 |
Burnley |
157 |
1 |
| David
Colquhoun |
23/01/06 |
1934 |
1935 |
Rochdale |
16 |
0 |
| Les
Bywater |
08/02/20 |
1946 |
1946 |
Rochdale |
19 |
0 |
| Les
Spencer |
16/09/36 |
1960 |
1960 |
Retired |
7 |
1 |
| John
Seasman |
21/02/55 |
1974 |
1975 |
Millwall |
8 |
2 |
| Steve
Taylor |
18/10/55 |
1978 |
1978 |
Mansfield
Town |
20 |
1 |
| Simon
Davies |
23/04/74 |
1972 |
1974 |
Macclesfield
Town |
24 |
1 |
| David
Bayliss |
08/06/76 |
2001 |
- |
- |
37 |
0 |
|
