Home Park is a football stadium in the area of Milehouse, Plymouth, Devon, England. With a capacity of 17,900, the ground has been the home of Plymouth Argyle Football Club since 1903, and was also used between 1900 and 1903 by Argyle Athletic club and Argyle F.C. and for athletics and rugby. The amateur Argyle F.C. later formed the modern-day professional Plymouth Argyle F.C. in 1903.The Home Park Story Greens on Screen. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
After undergoing considerable development in the 1920s and 1930s, the ground suffered heavy damage in World War II. It reopened in time for the resumption of the Football League in 1945, and underwent further improvements in the 1950s, including the installation of floodlights and a new double-decker grandstand. The ground remained relatively unchanged until 2001, when construction of three new all-seater stands began.2001 Redevelopment Greens on Screen. Retrieved 16 January 2010. Temporary solutions saw the stadium become all-seater in the summer of 2007,No Standing Room Plymouth Argyle FC. Retrieved 16 January 2010. before the Mayflower Grandstand, the oldest part of the ground, was redeveloped in 2019.
The stadium's record attendance was in 1936, when 43,596 spectators watched the club play a Second Division match against Aston Villa. The record average attendance for a single season, 23,290, came in the 1946–47 season.Argyle Seasons Greens on Screen. Retrieved 16 January 2010. The stadium was selected as part of England's 2018 FIFA World Cup bid by the FA in December 2009.England's 2018 World Cup Bid BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 January 2010.New Home Park Western Morning News. Retrieved 16 January 2010. The ground has played host to England youth internationals, and a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup match between Saint-Étienne and Manchester United in 1977.European Cup Winners' Cup Manchester United FC. Retrieved 16 January 2010. Home Park has also hosted Rugby union and athletics, and live music in the summer, with Elton John, George Michael, Take That, and Rod Stewart among the acts who have performed at the ground.George Michael at Home Park Plymouth Argyle FC. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
Stands Stand nameForCapacityBeacon Electrical Mayflower Grandstand Home Fans5,403 (seated - includes the Family Zone)Babcock International Devonport End Home Fans2,832 (seated)Portcullis Legals Lyndhurst Road Stand Home Fans7,072 (seated - includes the Zoo Corner)Kawasaki Barn Park End Home & Away Fans2,907 (seated)
The Mayflower stand, known as the Grandstand, reopened fully on 1 January 2020 following a significant refurbishment. The other three stands are each very similar in design and are linked together at the corners, having been built in 2001.
The Devonport End houses the more vocal of the club's supporters.Family Area Plymouth Argyle FC. Retrieved 18 January 2010. The Lyndhurst Stand is the largest of the three stands, holding about 7,000 spectators, including the corners. The corner towards the West side of the ground is the dedicated family corner, while the East side is known as the Zoo Corner. The Barn Park End is where the away supporters are housed. It holds about 3,000 spectators. The standard allocation given to visiting clubs had previously been 1,300, and this is increased as and when demand requires it.
All three stands have good views and standard facilities for a football stadium, including concourses, merchandise stands and food and drink outlets. The pitch measures about 100 metres (109 yards) long by 66 metres (72 yards) wide, with a few metres of run-off space on each side. The ground also has two pitch covers, rain and frost, to protect the pitch against adverse winter weather.
History
Construction and early years Home Park was originally used by the now defunct Devonport Albion rugby team from 1893 to 1894. Following a dispute with the ground's owners over rent, Albion left and the newly formed Plymouth Rugby moved in, eventually also leaving, in 1899. In 1901 the Argyle Athletic Club obtained a lease on the ground, then an oval-shaped bowl and cinder track surrounded by allotments and farmland.The 100 Football Grounds 100 Grounds Club. Retrieved 16 January 2010. The new owners staged their first event, an athletics meeting, on Whit Monday in 1901, however, leaseholder Clarence Spooner was keen for it to stage football. Following a series of successful trial matches involving Argyle Football Club, which attracted healthy crowds, Spooner made the decision to focus on establishing the first professional football club in Devon. The club, formed in 1886, changed its name to Plymouth Argyle in 1903 and became professional that same year. Home Park played host to its first competitive match, against Northampton Town, on 5 September 1903 in front of a crowd of 4,438. At the time the ground had one wooden grandstand which could accommodate 2,000 people, while the other three sides of the ground were surrounded by slag heap banking with a waist-high fence. When Argyle joined the Football League in 1920 several improvements were required to meet safety requirements.
The wooden grandstand was demolished and replaced by a much larger and more modern structure at a cost of £12,000, while concrete terracing with crush barriers were added around the other three sides of the ground. A pitched roof was erected along the main entrance at the Devonport End of the ground, to provide cover for supporters using that terrace. The new grandstand incorporated players changing rooms and club offices. Many of these facilities were built with funds provided by the official supporters club. By the 1930s the ground was regularly hosting crowds in excess of 20,000 and on 10 October 1936 the record attendance was set. A crowd of 43,596 were in attendance to watch the club play out a 2–2 draw with Aston Villa in the Football League Second Division. The ground continued to host Second Division football until the outbreak of war in 1939.The Plymouth Blitz Plymouth Data. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
Wartime bombing The city of Plymouth was hit hard during the Second World War due to its strength as a military base: HMNB Devonport was the largest naval base in Western Europe.HMNB Devonport Royal Navy. Retrieved 16 January 2010. As the ground was so close to the city centre and Plymouth Sound, it was unlikely that it would escape unharmed. The Football League was abandoned three games into the 1939–40 season, but Home Park continued to host matches until summer 1940 in the hastily organised South West Regional League.1939–40 Season Greens on Screen. Retrieved 16 January 2010. In April 1941 there was a series of Luftwaffe bombing raids on the city, known as the Plymouth Blitz; Home Park did not escape. The Grandstand was all but destroyed after sustaining multiple hits and the pitch was littered with impact craters, which left the club facing a major rebuilding operation when the war ended in 1945.
Post-War
Several drastic measures were required to be ready for the resumption of a regionalised Football League in 1945. Disused army huts were used as changing rooms, buses and trams were used as offices, and railway sleepers were used for terracing. The Football League was still split into North and South divisions, having been created four years earlier in order for the League to continue whilst limiting the amount of travel by teams during the war. The 1945–46 season was its only full campaign. Records from this time tend not to be included in official records. Plymouth Argyle's first official match back at the ground for six years was played on 31 August 1946. 25,659 spectators watched a 3–1 victory against West Ham United in the Second Division.1946–47 Season Greens on Screen. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
A new double-decker Grandstand was built in 1952, one of the last to be based on the template made popular during the 1920s and 30s by prolific football stadium architect Archibald Leitch, with floodlights installed in October 1953. Running the length of the pitch, it had standing room in the first tier, known as the Mayflower Terrace, and wooden seating in the second tier.Home Park 100 Grounds. Retrieved 17 January 2010. When a roof was erected on the Lyndhurst side of the ground in 1964, three-quarters of the ground were under cover, with all but the second tier of the Grandstand being standing room. In the 1969–70 season seats were added at the back of the Mayflower Terrace, which took the seating capacity to 4,100 and the overall capacity to 40,000. In the late 1970s the pitched roof at the Devonport End of the ground had to be removed for safety reasons. It was replaced in 1984 by a non-pitched structure, leaving just the Barn Park End uncovered.Home Park Pre-2001 Football Stadiums. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
The ground remained relatively unchanged throughout the 1990s, aside from the Lyndhurst Stand being made all-seater. However, its future seemed unclear when the club outlined plans to move to a new site in Central Park in 1996. The Plymouth Tradium, designed by Alfred McAlpine, would have seated 25,000, and also incorporated community sports and leisure facilities.Plymouth Tradium CN Plus. Retrieved 17 January 2010. These plans were soon shelved in favour of revamping Home Park.
Redevelopment (2001–02)
A new plan, based on wholesale redevelopment of the existing ground, was announced in 2000 which at the time would cost an estimated £9million. The stadium would be rebuilt in two phases, with the first phase seeing the complete redevelopment of the Devonport End, Lyndhurst Stand, and Barn Park End. The second phase involved the Mayflower Grandstand which would be replaced by a new three-tiered structure to complete an 18,500 capacity all-seater bowl.Groundtastic Greens on Screen. Retrieved 17 January 2010. The green light came in June 2001 when the club and Plymouth City Council agreed a new long-term lease for the ground. The building firm Barr Construction moved onto the site two months later.
During the first six months of the 2001–2002 season supporters watched the club's matches from one touchline before the first phase was completed in February 2002.2001–02 Season Greens on Screen. Retrieved 17 January 2010. One of the biggest attendances since the redevelopment was set on 20 April 2002, as 18,517 spectators watched Plymouth Argyle recorded a 2–0 win against Cheltenham Town in the Division Three, shortly after securing promotion as champions of that division.2001–02 Champions Greens on Screen. Retrieved 17 January 2010. A feat which was bettered in 2004, and then in 2007. Home Park attracted its highest average league attendance since the early 1960s in 2004–05 season in the Championship, the first season after it was rebranded from its former name of Division One.2004–05 Season Greens on Screen. Retrieved 17 January 2010. Despite this, a start date for the second phase of redevelopment would not materialise. The former chairman of Plymouth Argyle, Paul Stapleton, declared that not completing the project was the biggest disappointment of his tenure.Passing On The Baton Plymouth Argyle FC. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
Freehold purchase and conversion to all seater