Ground of the week

By Stuart Croll (NonLeagueToday)

NonLeague football may lose St James' Park as one of its own.

Exeter City contest the play-off final and could return to the Football League after five years taking with them one of the biggest grounds in NonLeague. Though not a problem for Grecian fans this will be a disappointment for other NonLeague supporters as St James' Park is one of the best grounds in NonLeague to visit.

In the grounds early days, some visiting clubs complained about the ground claiming it wasn't regulation length, and both Stoke in 1909 and Reading in 1910 refused to play FA Cup games at the ground, although the matter was resolved in 1920 when the club purchased the land east of the ground and were able to extend the pitch and construct the Big Bank stand.

When the year ends in one

In 1921 the club were able to buy the site, thanks to money raised through the record breaking sale of Dick Pym to Bolton, and proceeded to develop the ground, adding a roof to the Cowshed stand and in 1926 rebuilding the Grandstand destroyed by fire the previous year.

St James Park today is dominated by an old fashioned looking grandstand. Sitting astride the halfway line, it is roughly half the length of the pitch.

It has an unusual set of small floodlights aligned along the front of its roof Opposite is an all seater stand called the Flybe Stand which replaced the Cowshed Stand in 2001. A neighbouring former school building was redeveloped and refurbished into new offices, a social club and corporate hospitality facilities.

At around the same time the club rebuilt the Big Bank terrace. This standing area can hold 3971 fans and has recently been named the Cliff Bastin Stand after one of their most famous former players.

The other end is a very small open terrace, called the St James Road terrace and this is allocated to away fans. There is a social club at the ground which admits away supporters.