Accrington Web

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willie Miller

Hi All

Just a couple of questions

1 Where is the football ground situated

2 How did the name Stanley attach itself to Accrington

Cheers, & somebody should make a website with this information on

Thanks in Advance

Jase

If I may help you on this one , Mr. Miller :-

1 The football ground is situated between the concrete terraces at either end and the metal structures at either side .

Originally a piece of rope was considered sufficient to form an indication of the rectangular perimeter , but a design error which placed it at a height of 90 centimetres (approx three feet in pre-1962 measurements) allowed various ovine species to peregrinate the greenish area of the ground and turn it into a more brownish area of the ground .
A prohibition notice was erected at the time , but had little effect ( learn more about this in J.Thomas Looney's seminal work about Accrington Stanley in the late Sixties - "Sheep Can't Read" )

2 The first goalposts erected on the grassy knoll of a much earlier Accrington Club were deemed by over-zealous Football League officials (in a show of shameless bureaucracy which could not possibly , of course , take place today) to be a quarter of an inch oversize just 5 hours before an important match against Clogthorpe Unathletic .

It was Accrington's good fortune that an ambitious entrepreneur brought his new invention of a retractable-bladed knife to the town, having been rejected by a Welsh venture capitalist known as Dragons Den .

Local supporters got to work with these remarkable new implements and, just before the deadline , the posts had been whittled down to the requisite size.

The inventor , a Mr. Stanley , was then awarded perpetual naming rights to the Club.

This is, of course, well documented elsewhere . Nevertheless I felt it only good manners to provide you with this authentic account as you had taken the trouble to contact us.

Kindest Regards,

Henry Morton, Curator , The Accrington Stanley Museum .