I Visited The World's OLDEST Football Stadium... Or Did I?

if you're watching this then the video should have been successful a lot has been going wrong recently and it'll be some little minor miracle if we can just get there and film this video in time I'll explain a little bit more about that when we get to our destination but hopefully we're going to be seeing the oldest football stadium in the world is it the oldest football stadium in the world that's kind of an impossible question to answer cuz there are a lot of claims to that title as I made my way from the car park and to Glasgow Airport it got me thinking of Italy's ancient Stadium I visited before this is absolutely amazing look at these old steps there's a non- league team that plays here this could potentially be the nicest non- League round I've ever seen it's called Arena civa or officially Arena Giani Barrera and it's a multi-purpose Stadium here obviously in Milan and was opened in August of 1807 but they broke ground in 1806 so it must have built them about a year uh it must have took them about a year to build it it's in a Neo classical architectural uh style and today host football matches Rugby Union games uh concerts and other Athletics and cultural events the stadium can apparently hold from 18,000 to 30,000 people there are reports that say it's closer to 10,000 maybe for safety reasons but I reckon you could cram a good 30k in here in terms of football it's currently used by a team called Barrera ccho who I think on their website claim that this is the oldest stadium maybe in the world maybe in Europe as well inside the airport and heading for my gate it got me thinking of the historic Stadium of hallum here we go not only is it the world's oldest football ground but it's the world's second oldest football club and winners of the first football trophy in history and it says there if you like football you love ham FC yeah so that used to be in the public I remember that from when I was playing that's brilliant I wonder how old this is then well it was certainly there in the' 70s oh more delays a really frustrating travel day and another stadium that lays claim to being possibly the oldest in the world is Mansfield maybe they have the oldest professional Stadium in the world there's a football ground in the English football league system that has been around since the times of Napoleon coming to power in France the sewing machine being invented and was even used before Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was published here we go so just to confirm the oldest professional football ground in the world established 1861 okay so it's 1861 there are Reports online there are maybe rumors that it was here from 1850 but 1861 that predates almost every single football club in this country we're at heo should have been here 5 hours ago at least my first flight this morning was cancelled thank you ba I was put on one um for this afternoon that was delayed by an hour thank you ba and now we're trying to make our way through to get to the oldest stadium possibly one of the oldest stadiums in the world anyway next station Maiden head there's a little fact at the fa and FIFA recognize as to why this is the oldest stadium in the world which makes it a little bit different to the other three that I've showed you already today in Mansfield in Sheffield and in Milan it should be down here somewhere [Music] [Applause] I'm here to see uh the plaque actually that's just in front of you there look the blue plaque oldest continually used stadium in the world by one Club yes nice good claim to fame cheers [Music] mate [Music] this video is a bit of me and I'm so glad we've made it after the day that we've had but if you talk about like bucket list stadiums all around the world I think I've had Dortmund on it for a long time I ticked that off I had abdine on it for a long time before I was able to to tick that off Bayern Munich the Maricar obviously bcka Junior still yet to go to those two there's a few big stadiums around the world that I've always really wanted to go to but in terms of like small stadiums this is 100% up there Jamie y this is one of the most unique stadiums in the world it is yes you're a national league side indeed currently mid T lower mid table well towards the bottom really so but I'd say that this is a stadium that everybody in the world should visit because it's the oldest continually used stadium in the world by one Club Yeah by senior Club yes does that make you feel to be involved with the club to be here quite actually it's some it's some like record isn't it to have and a few lot of older stadiums around the world they got older stadiums older teams but they haven't all played at that ground for the 150 plus years we've been here amazing the facts just keep on coming I hope you can see that just their entrance in the first FA Cup competition 1871-72 Maiden head of played in all but one FA Cup season ever I'm pretty sure and they would have played in 1871 the first ever FA Cup season here they did play games here in 1871 this when they came here so some of the earliest fa Cup games before maybe the team that you support were even formed Maiden head were playing FA Cup games [Music] [Applause] [Music] here the oldest team photo we've got as you see we don't really look after them as well at one point we were going to be moving imminently okay that's Fallen by the wayside I can explain all that to I can put that in writing if else yeah right okay that I think is the oldest team that's the oldest picture we've got from4 18894 95 so we'd been around for 20 odd years before then Y and you would have been playing here AB at that point yeah absolutely absolutely that's that's the first Maiden team to have won the the county cup I'm Neil um the club secretary and we just spoke inside you showed me the pictures and a bit of the history you also mentioned a potential new stadium what's the story behind that then the new stadium is certainly going to be paused for a while um before the local elections last time out the club were in uh agreement with the local Council that we would move not too far from here about half a mile other side of the Railway track um the political landscape changed and the uh the new Administration decided they wanted to recall the plans and there was a little bit of local opposition but generally uh positive sort of publicity for it and unfortunately they've gone gone back on that now so do you think that it would really help the club to move to a new stadium but also at the same time would you want to cuz you've got this title at the moment of having the oldest continuing lose stadi in the world so it's a bit of a it would be a WR to lose that it would be a wrench to lose that we're not going to lose it for the foreseeable now due to that change I think uh you know as you look around the place here you know we're in the National League we're Clinging On um in terms of facilities I don't know how many national league grounds you've been to been to a few we're going to be down the bottom end I've been toley pool before and that's the side T different world different world in terms of what they can do they've got uh Hospitality they've got just more youve got a little cabin over there for Hospital there you go that's our equivalent we've got a porter cabin over there and um not quite the same as a club for example AFC filed is a good example don't you've been up there Lely set up brand new stadium fantastic facilities so they've got that advantage over us and do you own the ground here then the ground is owned not by the owner of the chairman it's owned in trust by um three supporters of the club uh for the people of maidened as a sporting venue okay so that keeps it kind of safe and guarantees that no one can no one person can own it and turn it into Flats you know we're right by the the railway station here and I'm sure the land itself must be worth a lot of money in Maiden head especially I couldn't tell you the the exact valuation but we're right by Maiden head London pass right on que there cross rail now to the financial district so the land would be would be worth a lot and the plan initially was that the stadium would be sold uh the the Covenant that protects the uh ownership of of space for leisure in Maiden head will be transferred to the other side and then all all the proceeds will be used to build a stadium with better facilities hospitality we've got 60 junior teams that play under our uh badge you know there's no way to do that here at the current Stadium there's no space to all you've got down the bottom there is the cage so that is used as a sort of five side indoor um which is great to have yeah but it's not really you could a national league club you probably need a little bit more space that's right you couldn't train adults there you know you could train kids teams but it's only one pitch and the land either side of us is not owned by the club literally the footprint you're on here the other side of the bar there that's all owned you know privately so we are rather shoehorned in so despite having that amazing historical title it does have its limitations in the modern game I suppose it certainly does and it's not always been that way because the first games played at this ground was actually U north south right okay so the one goal at the uh Railway end there and one at the uh toward towards the uh towards York Road and um uh yeah so it has been versatile over the years there's lots of other sports have been played here they've played cricket they've played tennis they've played they've had um greyhound racing wow okay American football quite a lot here but for now for 2024 we love the place but also in a way it has its limitations as [Music] [Applause] well heartly pool supporters how was the journey down very good very good very smooth yeah and how has life been in the National League you're a big Club turbulent turbulent to say the least yeah started so well and then just yeah Plum CR have you been here to Maiden head before yes they've got the oldest continually used stadium in the world which is a cool little coming found that out today I didn't know that but you'd rather just not be here so you'd rather be back up in the football league of course but you've got heartley Paul podcast right yes hfc CH and you wanted to also mention her game too yeah United Ambassador for her National sexism campaign so we're involved with 75 of the 92 of the efl clubs as well as half the national league clubs as Wellen get into football part girls and women players our women are within the game full stop who work within the men's game it's 17th versus 12th in the 15 Tier of England today and I couldn't be more happy to be here the players are out on this beautiful night look at that look at the sky that's going to get nicer as the sun goes down and they're about to kick off a game of football here 153 years after the first game of football would ever have been played here and what was happening in 1871 when they did play their first football match here well I Googled what happened in 1871 and France were at war with Germany you're joking you're not joking really they didn't have to change their yeah I guess they probably never brought a kit down kit Clash so made Ed in their away kit today never heard of that before have you these gazes are F socks are changed AR they I still can't really see how our kick would be the same as ours but maybe his color blind [Music] what's the most popular thing Magpie Burger yeah could I have one of those in please The Magpie Burger has been highly recommended to me I don't know if it has actual Magpie in it I hope not it's not bad you know Maiden head are ahead a good little raar there in the world's oldest continuing youth Stadium as a goal goes in against Harley Paul as well traditionally a big efl Club of [Applause] course no segregation today it's halim and all the fans are making their way around to there for the second half take two sorry Dan the battery just ran out the last time um is the Highlight for you in the National League coming to see these new different grounds like proper traditional grounds you know compact right on the action of the pitch good local fan bases really you know everyone Ming gos no sort of animosity definitely better experience than no segregation here today as well Absolutely I'll be honest in the 25 30 years I've been coming first time I've ever experienced that so yeah okay and so what do you make of this Grand specifically oldest ground used by one club in the whole world it's fantastic isn't it I mean you look you can see the sort of like the they've like improved on it you can see you know they've got the new stand they've got the sweet B you can see it as a proper traditional compact ground as it should [Applause] be partly ball of equalize right after the interview little pitch Invasion there you mate that's made the uh six hour trip worth it absolutely [Music] [Applause] oh mate maybe that long journey wasn't worth it after [Applause] all [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 1,218 thank you for your fantastic [Applause] support for Man United 3 hard United one please show your appreciation for wow that's class wo wo oh my God there we go what once served as a cricket ground is now the longest serving football ground in the world for one specific team yeah I guess the one in halam has been used by many different team sports clubs in the past the one in Sheffield for ham FC and then um Mansfield as well I think if my memory serves me correctly that was like sporting ground but I'm not sure if Mansfield Mansfield played there I'm GNA have to look back on that video and do some more research but yeah that one in Italy that does predate this one but certainly wasn't used by any specific team up until sort of more recently but um yeah I really hope you enjoyed this video what a stressful day getting down there but really happy that we um got down eventually and a huge thank you to everybody at Maiden head got a really nice welcome um this is more my neck of the woods actually I grew up in in England um so nice to actually come back I do need to do more English videos it's been so long since I've like done a string of English Vlogs so I do need to come back and do some more dkin and hashtag unite it have been on my sort of to-do list in my mind for a while as well as some really interesting stories out there so if you think this channel would benefit from going to more English games let me know and and teams and stuff let me know and I'll do my best to get to them um a huge thank you for watching and bearing with me today during a lot of my moaning um I really hope you've enjoyed this video and came off okay in the end um I'm going to leave two of the oldest stadium videos on screen right now um I Mansfield and Sheffield or the Italian one as well two of them will be on screen if you want to learn more football history then please click on one of these to carry on watching cheers and goodbye

Channel: Footy Adventures

Views: 20,188

Keywords: national league, maidenhead, maidenhead united, mufc, non league, non league football, london, england, football, soccer, history, footy adventures, worlds oldest, worlds oldest stadium, football stadium, stadium

Id: tmCUR7WQDD8

Length: 18min 15sec (1095 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 10 2024