Field size 110 by 70 yards Closed 1950 Opened 1913 | Surface Grass Capacity 20,000 Demolished 1950 | |
 | ||
Full name The Old Recreation Ground Location Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England Similar Victoria Ground, Vale Park, Burslem Park, Potteries Shopping Centre, Isle of Portland | ||
The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium, located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent and home to Port Vale for almost 40 years. The Rec had been Vale's home between 1913 and 1950 and was the sixth ground the club used.
Contents
Structure and facilities
The stadium was in rather bad condition, especially following years of neglect during World War II. The dressing rooms were bare, there were no toilet facilities throughout the entire ground, and racing pigeons were kept by The Sentinel and a number of supporters so as to relay the scoreline to different parts of the city.
Leaving the ground
Port Vale were forced to sell the land to the city council, under the chairmanship of Tom W.Flint after suffering a financial crisis, they received £13,500. This came after the club's president Major William Huntbach died in 1943, leaving £3,000 of loans to be repaid to his estate. The council initially refused to allow the club to play at their ground, but eventually relented for rent of £400 a year. In 1950, the city council decided to construct a shopping centre on the site forcing the club to move to their current home of Vale Park. Ironically the club raised £50,000 to construct the new stadium, leading some to question why the directors did not simply attempt to raise a relatively much smaller sum of £3,000 in order to pay off the Huntbach family.