Leeds Road, England (1908–1994)
Huddersfield Town A.F.C.
Leeds Road was Huddersfield Town A.F.C.’s first ground, having been built in 1908 and remained until 1994, when it was demolished after the club moved into the new stadium.
The design of the stadium is strongly linked to the history of Huddersfield Town A.F.C. The club was founded in August 1908, and the initial idea was to share the same ground as the city’s rugby club, Huddersfield R.F.C. However, the proposal was rejected, and Huddersfield Town A.F.C. then decided to buy the site on Leeds Road later that same year, and, with a small infrastructure, opened his stadium and signed up to play in the North Eastern League. In 1910, with the ambition of getting an entry into the Football League, the club hired the renowned Scottish architect Archibald Leitch, famous for designing several stadiums of the time, to renovate Leeds Road. The stadium from then on had a capacity for 34,000 fans and a modern infrastructure, which made the Football League accept the club’s application for registration.
Leeds Road continued to be part of the history of Huddersfield Town A.F.C. for the following decades, and it was where the club won its greatest glories, such as three consecutive Football League championships in 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26, the 1921–22 FA Cup, as well as other lower-level titles. divisions in the following decades.
In January 1990, following the Hillsborough Disaster and the Taylor Report, which required all clubs in the top two divisions of English football to have an all-seater stadium by the 1994–95 season, Huddersfield Town A.F.C. had to make a decision about the future of Leeds Road. Despite finding themselves in the third tier at the time, Huddersfield Town A.F.C. had strong ambitions to win promotion in the following seasons, and saw a renovation to modernize the already obsolete Leeds Road as complicated. As such, the club made the decision to sell Leeds Road and, at a nearby site, build their new stadium, which would later be called Kirklees Stadium.
On April 30, 1994, Huddersfield Town A.F.C. played his last game at Leeds Road, in a 2–1 win against Blackpool F.C., ending the 1994–1995 season. The old stadium was demolished soon after, and a commercial park was built on the site.
