Boundary Park Oldham Athletic

UK Stadiums: Boundary Park, Oldham, England

The stadium is the home of Oldham Athletic. — The stadium is the all-seater home of Oldham Athletic

Boundary Park in Oldham, northeast of Manchester in northwest England, is the home ground of Oldham Athletic. The stadium is owned by local businessman Frank Rothwell after changing hands in recent years following the football club's financial problems and descent into non-league football.

Match day experience at Boundary Park. — Match day experience at Boundary Park

Capacity & Stands

The stadium has a present capacity of 13,512 located in four stands. The four stands are the Joe Royle Stand, Main Stand, Chadderton Road End and Rochdale Road Stand. The Joe Royle Stand opened in 2014 and has a capacity of 2,549. The Main Stand dates back to 1913 and is one of the oldest active stands in English football. It has a combined capacity of 2,517 (Upper 1,684; Lower 833). The Rochdale Road End hosts the club's most vocal support. It is divided into the Jimmy Frizzell Stand and the Oldham Athletic Community Trust Family Stand. The Chadderton Road End is now the designated away end with a capacity of 3,532.

The ground opened in 1896 as the home ground of Oldham County F.C. After that club had folded Oldham Athletic (formerly Pine Villa) took over in 1899.

Oldham Athletic v Wigan Athletic, League One, 2017. — Oldham Athletic v Wigan Athletic, League One, 2017

Club History

Oldham (nicknamed 'Latics' - a similar nickname to Wigan Athletic - were participants in the first Premier League season from 1992-1993) under manager Joe Royle. In the 1990 they had lost the League Cup final to Nottingham Forest at Wembley and also reached the semifinal of the FA Cup, losing to Manchester United. The club maintained their Premiership status for a season before beginning a slide down the tiers. Another FA Cup semifinal replay loss to Manchester United in 1994 is seen as a pivotal moment in the decline of the club. Oldham won none of their seven remaining league games following the semifinal replay loss to United and went down.

In the 2021-22 season the club were relegated to the National League becoming the first former Premier League team to play non-league football.

Former managers of the club have included a diverse group indeed. Among them have been Jimmy Frizzell and Joe Royle, both successful, and then with various degrees of fortune such names as Paul Dickov, Paul Scholes (who lasted just seven games) and Harry Kewell.

Ice Station Zebra. — The stadium was nicknamed Ice Station Zebra by former manager Joe Royle

The record attendance at Boundary Park is 47,671 for an FA Cup match between Oldham and Sheffield Wednesday in 1930. An artificial pitch was installed at Boundary Park between 1986 and 1991 when the club secured promotion to the First Division. Thereafter league rules meant the artificial grass had to be replaced with natural turf.

The town of Oldham suffered from racial violence in the riots of 2001. Race relations have improved since then, but with the demise of the cotton industry the town has suffered with areas of deprivation and falling living standards.