Millmoor

[albie]

Back in action, after a refurb;
https://www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk/sport/football/millmoor-is-spruced-up-and-ready-for-action-again-4676493

Surprised that the site was not sold on, but a trip down memory lane is back on the cards!

[Dutch Uncle]

Good to see. Maybe non-football events can also be held there. I wish them well in preserving some history.

I once had an experience of a crush in a very large crowd there which I described in the memoirs I am writing. Interesting I remember no such crushes in similar size crowds at Belle Vue:


The crush pre-dates the 1988 Hillsborough disaster and subsequent coverup by a quarter of a century. However, many of the elements leading to that disaster were clearly present in 1964 when my father took me and a school friend to watch a football match staged at Millmoor, Rotherham United’s small old ground. It is located a mere 8 miles from Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough which was altogether grander with a capacity of 65000 in those days.

Rotherham United were a second division club at the time and had surprisingly earned a draw in an FA Cup match away to Burnley who were near the top of the old First Division. This meant a replay in Rotherham and the whole local area was excited by the possibility of a giant killing victory for Doncaster’s near neighbours and rivals. Despite this extreme local interest, the match was organised on a normal ‘roll-up-on-the-day-basis’, rather than by ticket only, which would have limited numbers of those wishing to attend. I seem to recall that most of the ground had simple concrete terracing for standing spectators, with a few crash barriers scattered around. There were no areas of segregation or organised sections, it was one large area for everyone to stand where they wished. We went early, but the line at the turnstiles was already very long. We waited patiently and when we finally went through the turnstile, the situation around us suddenly and dramatically changed. We could not move. The generous space outside the ground had been replaced with a small enclosed and heavily packed area at the bottom of a hill, which in turn led to the terraces. At twelve years old I was not fully grown, and I was shorter than most people around me. My transition from the turnstile bottleneck area, up the hill, and to a place on the terraces was ‘achieved’ without my feet touching the ground at any point. I was completely unable to have any influence over where I was going or at what speed. My father and my friend and I were simply three heads bobbing randomly in a sea of people, sometimes diverging, sometimes converging. I cannot be sure how long this journey over about 50 metres or so took, possibly twenty minutes, until we reached the middle of the terrace where it thinned out a little and we able to meet up again. In my youthful, pre-Hillsborough innocence I had not realised the potential dangers and I thought it all a bit amusing. Fear was not a factor in my mind. I knew no-one wished me any harm, and hooliganism was not really as prevalent as it soon would be in the late 1960’s. Only when we discussed the issue on the way home after leaving the ground did my friend and I comprehend the potentially deadly dangers. There were 25000 people in Millmoor that day. A few years later a safety capacity limit of just over 8000 was imposed.

[roversdude]

Had some “interesting” nights in the Tivoli

[Silkscarf]

I saw several things online of it being used last season with supporters watching. Great to see it still in reasonable condition. I’m jealous as I wish BV was still there to visit.

I’d be interested to go again for a youth game or something. Ken ‘Benefactor’ Booth is still behind it all though. So I can’t see the Millers having anything to do with it.

[ForsolongaRover]

Interesting Bob.

I assume this was the 1964 match in which case I doubt whether many clubs would have the wherewithal to issue and process an all-ticket match. I remember going to an FA Cup replay at Hillsborough probably in the early 60s or late 50s where the match against (potential giant-killers) Hull City was attracting a lot of interest and the (unticketed) crowd was 55,000 or so. Although I was, as you might say, “fully grown” at the time, on the way out I was able to lift my feet off the ground and be transported by the crowd. It seemed rather novel then and it never occurred to me what the inherent dangers were. I also learnt at that match that you stood in front of crash barriers, not behind them! This was at the Spion Kop end, rather than Leppings Lane.

[Dutch Uncle]

Hi Forsolong, actually I am Brian, but a friend of Bob G (who will be very quick to say he is some years younger  )

It was indeed in 1964, and interesting that you, just like me, thought it was funny and didn't appreciate the potential dangers. A catastrophe waiting to happen I fear. 

[Metalmicky]

In my younger days trained and played on Millmoor - played a Yorkshire representative game on there once.... also played at Bramhall Lane..... but never graced the Belle Vue pitch.  I was scouted whilst playing at Mexborough Athletic under a chap called Colin Walker.... who was more famous for being a ex-binman and scoring a goal in the Cup against Liverpool and knackering Phil Thompson also....

[IDM]

Hi Forsolong, actually I am Brian

I’m Brian, and so is my wife.!!!