When it finally closed its
gates Wembley was a magnificent, yet ageing, Stadium with an 80,000 all-seater
capacity, widely regarded throughout the world as the home of football. However
the development of the Wembley site has a longer history than the seventy-seven
year history of the stadium itself.
Back in the 1880s, there were sporting facilities at the then, Wembley Park
Leisure Grounds; there were football pitches, cricket pitches and a running
track. There were also other public amenities in the form of walkways around
fountains, waterfalls, and flowerbeds. Then in 1889, in a bid to encourage more
people to use the railway system, the Chairman of the Metropolitan Railway, Sir
Edward Watkin, decided to build a main attraction at the site, linked to central
London by a railway line.
Watkins big idea was that an impressive four-legged tower, 1,150 ft (350m)
high should be built within the Leisure Grounds. Fortunately, for the sake of
Wembley Stadium, Watkins Tower was never completed. During construction of
the first stage, the foundations shifted and the project ran out of money. It
had reached only 200 ft (61m) high and the project was abandoned. It became
known as Watkin's Folly and stood overlooking the Leisure Grounds where it
became a curious tourist attraction in its own right until it was demolished in
1907.
At the end of the Great War in 1918, the Government began planning a British
Empire Exhibition with a stadium, as a National Sports Ground, as its
centrepiece. The Wembley Park Leisure Ground, which by then had evolved into an
18-hole golf course, was selected as the ideal site. The Exhibition area covered
219 acres and the area on which Watkin's Folly had stood was chosen as the site
for the new stadium.
Architects Sir John Simpson and Maxwell Ayerton, and the engineer Sir Owen
Williams, built the Empire Stadium, as it was originally known. It took just 300
days to complete at a cost of £750,000, and was built from 25,000 tons of Ferro
concrete, 1000 tons of steel, and over half a million rivets.
The Empire Exhibition was truly a wonder of the world, with fountains, lakes,
gardens and hundreds of pavilions, each representing the architectural style of
the countries exhibiting there. It was opened by King George V on 23rd April
1924, and attracted millions of visitors. It even re-opened between May and
October the following year, which lifted the final attendance to 27,102,498.
There were 4,500,000 admissions to the Empire Stadium alone. Thus, Wembley
Stadium was born.
The first ever event to be held in the stadium was the FA Cup Final on the 28th
April 1923 between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United, which became famous as
'the white horse cup final'.
The crowds swarmed onto the pitch prior to kick off
and the match would have been abandoned if not for the heroic actions of PC
George Scorey and his white horse Billy. Who controlled the crowd of 250,000,
allowing the game to be kicked off and the eventual 2-0 victory by Bolton.
Since this first event The National Stadium has been used to host varying sporting events. In fact seventy-two FA Cup finals, thirty-five League Cup finals, twenty-six Charity Shields and two-hundred-sixty-two internationals have seen teams standing in the Wembley Tunnel waiting to emerge into the roar of the crowd.
Some of these players have described emerging from the tunnel in ways varying from "the most nervous moment of their life", "the proudest moment of their life" to "the most emotional moment of their life". It is undeniably the childhood dream of most football fans to lead their team out of the tunnel, a very select few have had that honour.
One of the proudest moments in the Stadium's history was The 1966 World Cup Finals. The country that invited the game of association football was to host the world cup. The finals went like a dream for the English footballing public until. On July 30th 1966 the world's greatest footballing nation waited with bated breath as England played West Germany in the final. The defining moment of which, and a life long memory for all football fans, was the moment Geoff Hurst completed his hat-trick and put the final beyond the Germans.
Over the years, the stadium has
been regularly updated and improved. Floodlights were added in 1955, whilst the
electric scoreboard and the all-encircling roof, made from aluminium and
translucent glass, were added in 1963. These additions aside, the structure of
the stadium today remains essentially the same as it was when it was first
built, complete with its famous twin towers.
For football the playing area of the famous Wembley pitch is 75 yds (69.5m) x 115 yds (105m). It is 10 in (25 cm) higher in the centre than at the touchlines, which allows for drainage.
The pitch, originally formed from 68,000 individual turfs, is primarily grown from seed nurtured at Wembley. When used for non-sporting events, the pitch is covered by a special protection system designed specifically for Wembley. It is based on a series of pre-cast polypropylene turf protection tiles. Each tile is 1 Metre Square and 61 mm thick and allows air and light through. They stand off the turf allowing the grass to continue to grow underneath.
The crossbar that featured so prominently in Geoff Hurst's second World Cup Final Goal is still at Wembley and can be seen on the Wembley Tour
Wembley's famous twin towers are 126 ft (38.4m) high
Wembley's floodlights were inaugurated in 1955 when London played Frankfurt in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
Eighty miles (129 km) of cable are used by the television companies on Cup Final Day
The North Dressing Room is considered to be the unlucky one. At FA Cup Finals it is used by the team who's name is nearest the letter A in the alphabet
The two dressing room's plunge baths each take four hours to fill, to a height of 5 ft (1.5m). The South Dressing Room, which England always use, features a large England crest on the wall
In 1948 Wembley staged the XIV Olympic Games. Olympic Way was built for the games and the flame was sited above what is now the player's tunnel. The flame's resting place is still known as the Flame Platform
An electronic scoreboard was first used in 1963, suspended from the new roof. The new high technology computerised displayed boards were first used in March 1988 for the England v Brazil Schools International Match. They are 82 ft (25m) wide x 15 ft (4.5m) high with 20 ft (6m) advertising panels adjoining.
The demolition of
the old stadium is scheduled to begin November 2000, the new stadium should be
finished in time for the FA Cup Final in May 2004. As with the old Wembley it is
planned that the FA Cup Final be the first event staged in the new stadium.
Plans for the new stadium are complete and approved below are some of the key
features of the new stadium.
KEY
ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
The existing Wembley Stadium is an international icon and Wembley National
Stadium Ltd and the World Stadium Team have gone to great lengths to replicate
or interpret features of the original in the new Stadium.
Main façade and Arch
The key view of the stadium for most visiting fans is the walk up Olympic Way
towards the main façade and towers. We have been at pains to replicate this
experience in the new Stadium.
The famous twin towers have been replaced with a spectacular 133 metre high
arch. This will tower over the 52 metre high stadium and provide a dramatic
landmark across the city. The Wembley operations team are particularly excited
about the opportunities for spectacular lighting effects that the arch provides.
Early hopes of using two huge masts proved impractical for engineering reasons.
The front façade still follows the model of the original with a Banqueting Hall
sitting between two 'bookends'. Circulation spaces run off the side of this. In
the new stadium this circulation will be by escalator, rather than staircase.
The change from four masts to the single arch allows a larger concourse to be
created around the stadium.
The Sliding Roof and the Pitch
The sliding roof remains an integral part of the design for the new Stadium.
Wembley's pitch is famously one of the finest in the world. Maintaining this
quality while designing a new stadium that is considerably taller than the
existing building, and placing fans closer to the pitch has been a key challenge
for the design team. Options such as a palletised pitch (moving the pitch in and
out of the Stadium between events) or regularly relaying the pitch were rejected
as inappropriate for Wembley. Instead computer models have been made of air
movement and sunlight on the existing pitch and a unique moving roof designed
for the new Stadium. This will be left open between events but can be moved to
line up with the touch-line within 15 minutes, ensuring every spectator is
sheltered during an event.
In bright sunlight the roof can be withdrawn to allow clear TV pictures. At 3pm
on Cup Final day, for instance, only the two southern corner flags will be in
shadow.
The
Bowl
Two key features of the current design are carried over. The acoustics of the
new ground will take the current ground as a benchmark. Recordings taken during
the 1999 FA Cup Final and models of the Stadium created by using three blasts of
white noise during England v Poland earlier this year will form the basis of
sophisticated computer models that will allow the design team to tune the
acoustics of the new stadium.
A key feature of the current stadium is that almost all spectators sit in a
single bowl. This is a central feature of the new design with almost all
supporters or concert goers able to share the event with 90,000 other fans.
An athletics track will only be built when it is needed. This ensures that
spectators for all events will sit as close to the action as possible.
Royal Box
One of the most recognised features of Wembley is the presentation of trophies
from the Royal Box rather than on the pitch. The new Royal Box is in the same
position, in the middle of the north stand, as in the current ground. Teams will
walk up to the box to collect trophies.
The External Concourse
To accommodate an external concourse all around the Stadium, the new building
will move 30 metres north, towards Wembley Park Station. This concourse will be
able to provide food and drink to 40,000 spectators at any one time, minimising
disturbance to local residents while encouraging fans to arrive early.
Orientation
The orientation of the Stadium remains east west, with the main façade pointing
north down Olympic Way.
For the latest news about the new stadium's development why not visit:
Or take look at any of the four Wembley Web cams.
| Web Cam 1 | Web Cam 2 | Web Cam 3 | The Arch Cam |
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Or take the virtual tour of the new stadium.
