I am absolutely gutted that i never experienced a wire match at wilderspool. As i only started going when i was in year 7 (the first year at the HJ), this is because my family is a football family and wouldn't take me to a rugby game, therefore when i started high school, i was allowed to go with my mates who were all season ticket holders. Reading some of these memories is making me dislike my Mother and Father haha, but since my first Wire match in 2004, i have never looked back and have propbably spent hundreds if not thousands of mine, and my parents money, following us all over the country, and now the success is showing through, i simply could not be happier

Choose Life, choose buying a programme from a lad on the corner, choose walking down fletcher street seeing the preacher with saint or sinner banner, choose the superb club shop, choose getting in for £5 when your 19, choose a watered down pint of carlsberg, choose pie n peas and scraping a hole in the bottom of the tray, choose burning the roof of your mouth on a brew, choose changing ends at half time, choose Jonny Warbo,choose standing in your own s, choose a fantastic but dated scoreboard, choose beating Australia, choose watching Boyd bring the biff, choose Phil Blake's boot coming off, choose widnes on boxing day, choose Appo scoring going the full length, choose putting 50 on saints, choose last game against Wakefield, Choose WIlderspool.

Bang on the button there. It would be churlish to say the least that the HJ will not hold the richness of memories that Wilderspool does. 100 plus years compared to half a dozen.



I will contradict myself a touch though, the 1989 Lancashire Cup semi-final against Widnes was ridiculously packed. I have never been so scared and excited at the same time, in my life.



Safe capacity will never see us be that sardinetinesque ever again.

the only time i've experience that sort of scary capacity, was against the roos midweek team in 94, thats probably my first 'great' experience at wilderspool.

You could all be back again....... Saturday afternnon this weekend.



Warrington Wizards last home game of the season (except any play off game).



Wolves under 18's are also playing before that.



But be warned..... the old girl isn't quite as pretty as you might remember her! But she will happily share your memories......

Snap.



Was lucky enough to get a good 10 years in at Wilderspool, and I share and understand the nostalgia. But the single most significant factor in our being a top side now is the move to the HJ. Look back at the latter days of Wilderspool and there are some pretty dire memories amongst those brilliant ones.



Anyway...



New Zealand - Tonga

Darren Burns

Danny Nutley

The excitement of a TV cup game, where you could see Steve Rider and assembled guests through the window of Snookers.

Changing ends at half time.

Forster scoring from about 5 yards out in the corner, time after time after time.

Tearing London Broncos a new one 48-18 in the first game of the Langer-Nikau et al season - it was rammed that day.

The Wigan 35-24 and 47-38 games.

Kohe-Love's hat-trick versus Saints.

Scraping past Neil Turley-inspired Leigh in a Challenge Cup game after they'd beaten Salford in the previous round.

The World Club Challenge games.

Guisset on Brad Davis.

My favourite memory of Wilderspool was on Easter Monday 1962 after the game against Leigh watching Brian Bevan being carried round the ground after his last game for the club.

Brilliant memories. A few more of my own and again in no particular order;



* Mark Roberts having his head taken off every game.

* Changing ends at half time (in front of the Brian Bevan stand) and having to push and shove through the opposing fans who were trying to do the same.

* Sometimes walking across the pitch to change ends !!

* Running onto the pitch at the end of A team games to pat the players on the back. Proper shirts then....

* Steam coming out of the scrums.

* Hull fans bringing thousands and filling the railway end and often outnumbering the Wire fans.

* Hull & Wire fans being kept apart by police horses on the causeway after every game.

* Orangeboom lager (chk sp).

* The iron fence (pondlife corner) separating the home & away supporters. Sometimes it was open and for other games it most definately had to be shut.

* The small dugouts behind the sticks

* Walking through the ground a couple of days after the stand burnt down.

* Listening to the rumours about the above. Enough said.

* Playing at Wilderspool for my high school team and being 'substituted' after a head high tackle on a Beaumont lad (and we got beat 30 nil....)

* Being crammed at the back of the railway end to watch the Aussie game (19k crowd i remember)

* Being in awe of Les Boyd

* Watching Phil Blake chipping the ball over the full back, catching it and scoring numerous times.

* Watching Brian Bevan in a charity game I think.

* The bar at the back of the railway end.

* People walking around the pitch at half time holding out a bed sheet collecting coins that were being thrown from the stands (Health & Safety my ...)



I only had 4 or 5 before I began the post but they just kept coming. Happy days...

Because Wire didn't actually own Wilderspool, it was sold to the Council to allow us to pay a tax bill or similar - every time the Council are being criticised for budget cuts some joker writes to the Guardian asking Wire to "repay the £250k they were given without the people being asked".



Financially & rugby-wise redeveloping Wilderspool wouldn't have worked. All the people living around the area would need to have their houses bought out to allow for development, the pitch was too small meaning the complex would have to be bigger, road access & parking would be a major problem & accessability for people to use the stadium for more than just game days to make it viable (the multi-use of the HJ is a model other rugby & football clubs look to when developing their own new stadia). And again without the financial clout of Tesco, the HJ would not have been built.



Staying at or redveloping Wilderspool was simply not an option. Yes 100 years of history & memories are good & should be cherished, but we are in the business of building new memories and history at the HJ. You can't turn back the clock...

The best atmosphere I have experienced at a sporting event - ever!



Absolutely electric that evening - felt sorry for the many who were locked out

Too many to mention. Started going at about 11/12 with about 5 other lads from school. The night we played austalia another lad from school who was a saints fan decided to tag along. After that night, whenever wire and saints were both at home (no silly friday night games back then) the lad always came with us to watch the wire. When asked why, he said "being in the fletcher end is better than being anywhere else".

This is one of those threads that could (and should!) run and run. Here's my five pennorth....

* Going to watch a team games with my dad on a Friday night and just staring at the floodlights

* Going in with 15 mins to go when they opened the gates at the railway end

* Changing ends at half time and pretending that the opposing fans weren't even there (don't look them in the eye and they won't punch you!)

* Watching a charity game of football reffed by Alan Ball with Alan Ball senior playing for one of the teams

* Beating Oz in 1978

* Watching Phil Blake lose a boot and still ghost through the opposition.

* Seeing Cull's debut and telling anyone that would listen that I went to school with him (also Sean Mellor playing for Leigh and a guy called Paul Lowndes playing for Oldham)

* Throwing pennies into the charity blanket being carried round

* Having my car registration number called out over the tannoy for parking illegally!

* Cullen throwing an opposing player's boot into the crowd (poss a Wigan player?)

* Dessie punching Offiah behing the sticks at the Fletch & the ref not noticing

* Wondering how Phil Ford got all them strange lumps on his head

* Wondering how anyone could possibly watch a rugby match from down the touchline whilst standing in the Fletch (now stand in South Stand and wondering why people choose to go in West Stand!)

* Singing "Brian Johnson's Barmy Army" for the last 20 mins against Sheffield, on top of the world.

* Taking it in turns to bring the sweets that only got dished out when points were scored

* My lucky half time apple (not the same one every week)

* Meeting my dad in the Causeway for a pint after a night match, or going to the Saracen's Head with my mates instead



Jeez, I could go on and on, what fantastic memories.