The Intake Stadium, 1885-1916

[AlonzoDrake]

There are so few photographs of Rovers first permanent football ground, the Intake Stadium (named for the nearby Intake Farm) where they played for about 30 seasons. But more stuff is turning up -- slowly. I found this on ebay last month, and it's the first time I'd seen a decent photograph of the ground's main stand. This was taken at a carnival on the Intake Stadium in 1909.

The first game played on the Intake was a 3-0 friendly win v a team from the Ryecroft area of Rotherham on 24 October, 1885, and the last game was a Midland Combination (a local WW1 Wartime League) game with Goole Town on April 24, 1916 which Rovers won 7-0. And of course, the ground held 51 League Division Two games between 1901 and 1905.

The Intake Stadiums's stands and facilities was disassembled with the help of staff from the Royal Flying Corp in the summer of 1916, and some of the materials were used in construction of facilities for the adjacent RFC airfield.

[Chris Black come back]

Good god that is creepy. You can see the transparent bits in side of the stand that were in Main Stand at Belle Vue! Wow.

[Filo]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the cowshed was moved on rollers from the Intake Ground to BV

[The Red Baron]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the cowshed was moved on rollers from the Intake Ground to BV

It didn't come from the Intake. It came from the Bennetthorpe Ground, where Rovers played between 1920 and 1922. That ground was roughly where the Nuttall Homes are now.

[AlonzoDrake]

That's right John -- the cowshed was the main stand at the Bennetthorpe Ground, and wasn't built until 1920. All the stands at the Intake were dismantled, and the materials sold off in 1916.

[The Red Baron]

That's right John -- the cowshed was the main stand at the Bennetthorpe Ground, and wasn't built until 1920. All the stands at the Intake were dismantled, and the materials sold off in 1916.

When I researched the early 1920s I came across a photo in the Doncaster Gazette, taken during the summer of 1922. It showed work in progress building the Main Stand at Belle Vue and the Cowshed was already in situ. Shame I haven't got a copy although I was viewing on microfilm.

These photos are superb by the way. As I recall there was very little in terms of photos of the Bennetthorpe Ground. A real pity.

[wilts rover]

Not a great deal of the Bennethorpe Ground in the background here unfortunately as this fine bunch of fellows are about to take the field to play Gainsborough Trinity in August 1921. No sign of the main stand but it seems a decent 'pop side' terrace was in existence.

[The Red Baron]

In the first edition of the Bluff and Watson book (circa 1994) there is a slightly larger, although poor quality, version of this photo which shows the edge of a stand. I'm pretty certain that is the one that became the Cowshed at Belle Vue.

I found three photos of the Benntthorpe Ground, all in the Doncaster Gazette. One showed the team in the first game played on the ground in September 1920. Another showed part of the crowd in one of the corners of the ground (open to the elements apart from a small shelter). A third showed members of the local Yeomanry playing a form of push ball (I kid you not) on horseback. Unfortunately the latter two are of very poor quality and would not show up on here.

The team shot from 1920 (flat caps de rigeur for non-combatants) is here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQNVCjnAPQY/

[idler]

There might be quite a few fans of other clubs that have pictures from their clubs playing on our ground. It would be good to have a common website where images of all current and previous FL clubs could be viewed, bought or copied.

[IDM]

Great pic TRB, but didn't the cowshed stand have a pitched roof? 

Or was the roof replaced whilst at BV?

[The Red Baron]

Great pic TRB, but didn't the cowshed stand have a pitched roof? 

Or was the roof replaced whilst at BV?

The buildings in the Instagram from 1920 were not the Cowshed. I believe the stand that became the Cowshed was opposite the dressing rooms.

[IDM]

Thanks TRB!

Shame there's not much more around...

[BillyStubbsTears]

In the first edition of the Bluff and Watson book (circa 1994) there is a slightly larger, although poor quality, version of this photo which shows the edge of a stand. I'm pretty certain that is the one that became the Cowshed at Belle Vue.

I found three photos of the Benntthorpe Ground, all in the Doncaster Gazette. One showed the team in the first game played on the ground in September 1920. Another showed part of the crowd in one of the corners of the ground (open to the elements apart from a small shelter). A third showed members of the local Yeomanry playing a form of push ball (I kid you not) on horseback. Unfortunately the latter two are of very poor quality and would not show up on here.

The team shot from 1920 (flat caps de rigeur for non-combatants) is here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQNVCjnAPQY/

I'm rapidly re-visiting my long-held belief that the Rovers team that had Ian Snodin and Animal in it was the most physically intimating one we've ever fielded. That lot look terrifying.

And the one at the bottom right. If he smiled, he'd look like the child ghost at the window in Salem's Lot.