Warrington has a bit of a mixed character: halfway between Manchester and Liverpool (I think it's the furthest east I've ever heard opposing fans called Scousers), with most of its big industries, such as wire-making which gave the rugby league team its nickname, long gone, although there are still a few cement plants and factories around the town centre, north of the River Mersey, the historic boundary between Lancashire and Cheshire, but inexplicably transferred by local government reforms to the latter county, at least administratively, in 1974.
There are some quite imposing redbrick Edwardian building as you come out of the station, including a couple of pubs still in the liveries of the town's two defunct breweries, Greenall Whitley, whose former offices now house parts of the civil service department for whom I pushed a pen for a decade or so, and Tetley Walker, demolished to make way for the Halliwell Jones Stadium where yesterday's match was played.
I hadn't been to Warrington's new ground since it opened in 2004, the club moving there from its former home at Wilderspool, a name I always associate with the office of the North West regional Labour Party in the district of the same name, and was unexpectedly impressed by it. Some of the new rugby league grounds have a bit of a characterless, "identikit" feel to them, but Warrington's has a pretty decent atmosphere: the stands are much closer to the pitch than they appear on TV, the home fans stand on a large terrace along the touch-line opposite the seated main stand, as they once did in The Shed at Salford's old ground, The Willows, the roofs are low enough to trap sound and the filled in far corners help with that too. And unlike Salford's new ground at Barton-upon-Irwell, it's easy to get to, being right in the town centre, only a five minute walk from Warrington Central station.
Nice post.
ReplyDeleteThe Haliwell also the home of Liverpool Ladies,where I recently watched Man City Women scrap to defeat. As you say,a decent new ground, ruined by a plastic pitch !
I was a student at Padgate College on the edge of Warrington when there were three breweries: Tetley, Greenall and Burtonwood. Only the last of these remains, and now just as a contract brewer. I only once went to a rugby match to see the Wires at the old ground, being dragged along not entirely willingly by friends, but I was impressed by the very friendly atmosphere in the stadium.
ReplyDeleteI used to get the impression that the general population of Warrington were more fanatical Wires supporters than the general population of Liverpool were football fans - which is saying something.