Cheers!!!!

that looks like its in a better state than KR is atm

I absolutely loved Central Park. Don't know how I can say that really, being a Saints fan, when almost every time I went there I ended up going home in tears.

The game on 27th December 1987 sticks in my mind. Wigan up 22-6 at half time and Saints managing to scrape it back somehow to win 32-22. The game was full of excitement but you definately couldn't have got the atmosphere at any other ground I have ever visited. Fantastic!!

Not many things I say this about but Central Park is definately one of them, bring back the 'good old days eh'!!

Playing amateur rugby, heading off to my nans for dinner, then walking the short distance across wigan lane was a regular thing in our family. We used to enter the ground beside the training field and stand in the top corner of the cop where there wasnt any cover. I remember it being £5 for adults and £3 for kids back then. One thing I remember is asking the local plod for rugby cards which they'd always dish out if yer asked em


My dad first took me when I was less than a year old so Ive been going for about 20 years now

. Every match a box of chips and a carton of pop


When I was about 8 we started to stand under the scoreboard and had to use the awful urinals behind the pop at half time which were pitch black absolutely hummed


When I was about 13 I began to stand under the pop where the best atmosphere was and singers, those were my last days watching wigan at CP


The worst thing ever was the last day. Even at only 14, central park meant the world to me as it was a second home and Ive always been wigan daft. Ive also played there about 5 times. To see thousands of wiganers sat crying at the end is something Ill never forget

The jjb will never ever be what central park was and it'll never feel like home

The people who got to watch the game for free from the bridge (although I don't think they got to see many tries).

The Heinz family enclosure for a pie.

The way that people came to the gropund from loads of different directions seemingl;y drawn into it.

The two fellers (one of them sporting a bad 80's perm well into the late 90's) in the Whitbread who removed the TESCO sponsorship from their replica shirts collar and replaced it with 'Save Central Park'.

Walking under the Duggie and stewards shouting at you because they thought you were trying to get into the seating area.

Having to take your Whitbread stand ticket with you when you went for a p1ss because the stewards wouldn't let you back in.

The toilets themselves, great place to warm up on a winter's night with all the steam, even if there wasn't a roof.

Being able to go upstairs in the Pavillion to see all the trophies and which ever players/coaches/members of the board where up there at the time as my Dad wrote an article in the programme for years.

Trying to get a seat ticket on the day itself and having to go into that cramped room downstairs that was queueing out of the door.

Joe Lydon doing drop-outs over the Douglas stand and into the river, plus the netting that they put over the river to catch the balls that went in.

Entry of the Gladiators.

Being able to see the whole ground doing the 'point' during the Wigan chant. You don't see as many people doing the actions nowdays.

no matter where I started in the pop stand always ended up behind the bl00dy great big posts.

saving my pint for the first try just so I could aim it at the bloke who pressed the hooter.

super kel against featherstone

going to sully's bar and coming out the wrong side which resulted in half an hour of trying to get through the crowd.

drinks in the griffin

nettling myself walking down the alley from said above pub

entry of the gladiator

lydon last one out for warm up due to having a smoke

very cold knees on boxing day

doylie and his amazing three pie and a pint balancing act.

aisla the sheep


loved that place

more fond memories :-

watching NZ vs GB from the pop stand (no spare seats) and having got to my seat near the back realised it was under a huge hole in the roof, got wetter that day than if I had stood in the pen.

being caught up in a bottleneck at the top gate (Wigan Lane) after a match (forget which),due to some bloke on crutches, an older gentleman infront of me, turned to his also elderly mate and said ' there is a cripple in the way !' - I just love the non-pc things and old sayings that the older generation use (much like the person who posted about a 'couloured' winger, only last week)

how come A.N. Other never plays any more? - was a regular at central park


sitting on the concrete wall when I was about 7 (felt like I was about 30 feet from the ground)

I can remember the first game that Greg Dowling played and earned his nickname 'the wall'


still gutted I didnt take my seat from the pop stand.

the birth place of northern soul in wigan was the social club on friday nights, russ winstanley was the resident DJ and it was fully two years before the casino all nighters.

I vowed never to go back too. When I met Stuart and introduced to RL I told him all about CP and my history with Wigan.
I went back one day with him to the old souvenir/lotto shop to show him where CP used to be. As a grown woman I am a bit embarassed to say I had to get back in the car because after all this time i couldn't fight the tears. I was ok until i walked around the corner and saw Tesco!! I could still close my eyes and picture the ground on a match day, even with Binder selling his programs outside


Stuart now knows that I won't go back and I think he also understands why.

Anyone else still refuse to go into tesco in wigan?

I still havent been in and never will

I know a few people that refuse to go but will readily visit Tesco's elsewhere.

What's done is done.

I did for about a week but then I realised how many people walk around Asda with their bedies on!

It isnt the fact that its tesco. Its the fact its a Central Park burial ground

I did at first - but had to go in one day and when I did I saw Craig Smith and Terry O'Connor shopping in there



I think Terry was taking him to see Central Park



Now I enjoy going tbh - brings back some crackin memories

I have never been back since crying that time I took Stuart, not sure I really want to either.
I do have a close friend who has never shopped in a tesco since it all happened! I once bought her a christmas present from Tesco and left the tag on, she gave it me back

Fair point.

By the way, its an easy place to pull off a "cheap petrol scam".

Half-fill your tank with petrol then replace the nozzle back in the pump.

Go back into your car on the pretence of collecting a wallet or something.

Proceed to completely fill car with petrol.

When you get to the till, they'll only charge for the latter petrol!

I remember a match in the late 60's when we were playing like a bunch of tarts and the crowd were booing and very restless - when all of a sudden there was a massive crack of thunder and this guy shouts out from the back of the Popular Side " And thats what he thinks of it as well".
Remember the opening night of the floodlights in 1967 when the lights went out time after time and the crowd all lit up matches.
Getting into the ground with your Dad waiting at the gate of the Hen Pen.
The sevens match when Dave Regan got sent off with some guy for fighting and they carried on fighting all the way to the tunnel and all the way up it.
Fantastic days but I have to say there have already been some great times at the JJB.

I swore I would never go, and up to now, never have.

One of the most memorable moments i can think ov in my lifetime, was when dennis betts scored against saints, in that farewell to central park match in 1999

So very many... and reading this thread has reminded me of more. A fantastic place and so very dearly missed.

I used to live in nearby and walked past there, down the Dougy, everyday (and most nights/early mornings

)

First memory of the place was going as a very young kid against Leeds in the very early 80's.

Highlights for me were the GB/NZ match, stood in the stand that would become the Whitbread (anyone have a pic from then?) just behind the sticks and giving Alan Tait a bit of abuse when Mann strolled around him!!

Brisbane 92, I just had a feeling we would get stuffed... it was unbelievably cold though!!

Playing there as a schoolboy.

A Young Mick Hancock taking us apart in a Wigan V Aus game, I miss the tours too!

The last game... goes without saying.

Watching Miles and Offiah, a partnership made in heaven, the best ever imho.

Changing ends, normally at half time (partly to be 100m closer to town to get bladdered afterwards!) and missing Offiah score an absolute belter of a try against Cas.

Standing in the Pop near the Sullivan Bar... the Sullivan Bar where you could never get a pint 'cos it was so busy...

Standing on the corner (near the UB40) stand, being in the beer queue and still watching the game.

Coming home in the early hours and noticing the gates were open and going for a sit down and a chill



Drunken fumbles with the laydees in doorways down by the river...



People camping out down the Dougy for Wembley tickets.

So very many.

I do shop in Tesco, but do find that 'sculpture' offensive to say the least, and as someone said... I still feel the urge to run around there

Walked into TESCo once and walked straight back out. Not been back.

You want to get a life, move with the modern times and remember the good times. It was an iconic place now its a very convenient shop. Wigan needed a new modern arena to go with our massive image.Central Park was getting shabby and the redevelopment idea fell on its so there was no other option. I can't believe some fans won't shop at Tesco, its not the shops fault! Anyway im off to ASDA!!!!

The other oft told story was a game against Castleford when I dragged my brother along to go and watch. We're standing on the popular side just in front of a couple of guys in their sixties or so as the Cas team come out to train. From behind us, we hear the now immortal words, "Bloody hell! If that bloody Sampson gets any bigger, he'll need his own postcode!" which resulted in the pair of us falling about laughing. I used to enjoy sometimes standing near the older generation of supporter, as the stories you heard them telling were fantastic about Billy and Eric and various others, and their sense of humour in that broad Wigan accent was just great.

When you beat us at central park in 87 i think 8-2

lol

One of the best ever games of RL. I think I might just watch it at some point today.