Latest news with #ArchibaldLeitch
Hypebeast
03-08-2025
- Sport
- Hypebeast
The Architecture of Football: RIBA & Tate Liverpool Unveil Fall 2025 Exhibition
In partnership with theTate Liverpool, theRoyal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)presents a Fall 2025 exhibition centered on a quintessentially English sporting culture. 'Home Ground: The Architecture of Football' at Gallery One of Tate Liverpool traces the historical development of football stadium design, dating from the 1890s to the present day. Featuring more than 50 global football stadiums, the Fall 2025 exhibit will dive into the stories and plans for some of the world's most important football venues. As the city prepares for the eventual opening of the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool in 2027, a wealth of architectural models, photographs, and other archival materials will grant visitors insight into the architectural considerations that form the stadium experience and the accompanying social culture of football fandom. 'Football has a unique ability to stir emotions, cross borders and captivate the world,' shared RIBA President, Muyiwa Oki in a statement. 'At their best, stadiums are as iconic as the players themselves, etched into the hearts of fans long after the final whistle. For architects, they offer a rare opportunity to help shape the beautiful game.' From Everton to Chelsea, the exhibit will start at the foundations of modern stadiums led by early designers like Archibald Leitch, one of the foremost club architects in the early 20th century. RIBA then offers a snapshot of modern stadiums designed by firms like BDP, Populous, Herzog & de Meuron, gmp von Gerkan, Marg and Partners Architects. 'From the red and blue cauldron of Barcelona's Nou Camp to the iconic arch of Wembley rising in the backdrop of London, great design can amplify atmosphere, heighten drama and leave a lasting mark on a city's skylines,' Oki added. The Home Ground exhibition will be open from October 15, 2025, to January 6, 2026. Information and tickets will be available atthe official Tate website. Image Credit: Hill Dickinson Stadium, Liverpool, © Christopher Furlong (left), Tottenham Hotspur Stadium © Populous (right) Bottom row: FA Cup semi-final, Portsmouth vs Aston Villa 1929 © Historic England (left), Herzog & de Meuron, Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany, © Robert Hösl (right)
New York Times
17-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Archibald Leitch: The forgotten godfather of Goodison Park and Britain's football stadiums
For 99 years, the criss-cross balcony motif that runs along the Bullens Road Stand has been the symbol of Goodison Park's enduring charm. On Sunday, those season-ticket holders in the front row of the stand's top tier will have one last opportunity to drape their flags and bang on the steel before Everton (the men's team anyway) say goodbye. Advertisement The balcony was not always in the club's blue and white colour scheme, as it is today. Originally, it was painted matt green because this was a functional aspect of the design by its Glaswegian architect, Archibald Leitch, in 1926, rather than a deliberate aesthetic extra, even though it has become fashionable to use the reversed saltire as piping on the collar of Everton's home kits. The pattern was obscured from view by advertisements for many years, which is fitting considering how Leitch, a colossus in the fabric of British football in the 20th century, has been forgotten by the wider community. He is the godfather of British football stadiums, the man whose drawings and engineering brought to life dozens of stadiums that stood for almost a century. Between 1899 and 1938, he was the brains behind more than 45 stands at grounds in England and Scotland. Middlesbrough's Ayresome Park became the first purpose-built football stadium in 1903, and when England won the 1966 World Cup on home soil, six of the eight stadiums to stage matches during the tournament were either fully Leitch designs or featured his stands. Some were complete builds and others were redevelopments but the list of Leitch clients included Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Blackburn Rovers, Fulham, both Sheffield Wednesday and neighbours United, Bradford City, Sunderland, Leeds United, Rangers, Heart of Midlothian and Dundee. He set the template for what was possible in an experimental period where football was evolving into a thriving commercial entity. But after Leitch died in 1939, his contribution to British football was barely remembered. His name was invisible for decades, until the exhaustive research of stadiums expert Simon Inglis brought his body of work to life in his 2007 book Engineering Archie. It is a rich resource that the architect of Everton's new home at Bramley-Moore Dock, Dan Meis, mined as he considered how he could respectfully carry on the baton. Meis has designed many stadiums and arenas across the world in the past 30 years, including the Staples Centre in Los Angeles and Qatar's Sports City Stadium for the 2022 World Cup. Roma's new 52,000-seater ground, which they will move into in 2028, is another, but the Everton commission has been a unique experience because of how involved the fans have been and the weighty task of following in Leitch's footsteps. 'It is incredible when you think about how long Goodison and Leitch's work has lasted,' Meis tells The Athletic. 'There is nothing like it. That is testament to the innovation, energy and intimacy he created. In the United States, we have one-billion-dollar stadiums that sometimes get replaced within 25 years. Advertisement 'One thing that was clear when I first met Everton was that they are not like other clubs. The discussion quickly became about the people, the place, the history of the club and the city. It was clear that it was less about architecture and more about how do you capture the magic of Goodison because, for all the challenges of its age, it is one of the great footballing experiences. 'The fans were very sophisticated about their brand and the architecture of Archie Leitch. I was getting messages telling me what it should be like. It felt like I was collaborating with the entire fanbase — it was kind of intimidating!' Finding a way of bottling Goodison's soul was the gist of those messages. The American contemplated taking literal sections of Leitch's balcony and integrating them into his design, but eventually he has sought to memorialise instead. 'In some ways, being an American gave me an advantage because I didn't take anything for granted,' Meis says. 'Leitch is a huge part of the history of English football, and there was a lot of engineering innovation in the way they added second tiers to stands and the expression of the truss (criss-cross steelwork) became an iconic symbol of the club. 'But once we started work, I really dove in deep and learnt a lot about him and a lot of historic grounds. 'It is very subtle but in the actual brickwork (of the new stadium) we have a pattern that references the Archie Leitch truss in different coloured bricks. The plazas have utilised the truss-work pattern, (and) the railings and concrete benches. It is all very subtle, rather than trying to be too kitschy, but they are definitely nods to the Archie Leitch history.' Sunderland rehoused a section of the red and white latticework from Roker Park, their old home, in the car park at the Stadium of Light when they moved there in 1997, while Tottenham migrated sections of the White Hart Lane criss-cross pattern to their new stadium in 2019 and placed them above the bar in its hospitality suites. The Scot built 17 stands with the iconic pattern but only three remain: the Bullens Road at Goodison, the Bill Struth Main Stand at Ibrox, home of Glasgow giants Rangers, and the South Stand at Portsmouth's Fratton Park. A Leitch stand has been an endangered species for decades, and there are now fewer than 10 left, which is why Everton's men's team moving out of Goodison on Sunday will be such an emotional day for many. Advertisement 'It will be a poignant day, but the news that the women's team will be taking over the stadium is excellent,' Leitch's grandson David Easton tells The Athletic. 'It means his legacy will remain, and hopefully it can encourage more people to get behind the team. Our family are delighted.' Easton, 63, and his children are Tottenham supporters based in Kent, in the south-east of England. His dad was not a football fan and Easton was only nine when he died, but his father was able to share anecdotes with them on how fanatical a Rangers supporter Leitch was. It was only through Inglis' book, however, that Easton truly learned about the extent of his grandfather's imprint. 'I'm still surprised his name isn't as well-known in football,' he says. 'It is only as more and more teams leave or knock down the stands that his name crops up, but he created so many of these 'cathedrals'. That's what Goodison is. It's a cathedral that people have come to once a fortnight for 100 years and love it like no other place. We are Spurs fans and my son got in touch with the club this season to inform them of our connection and we were blown away by the noise. Goodison is that little more intense. 'Not many structures last for 100 years, especially when they were built in that era. It is a surprise that they didn't move earlier when you look at the old pictures of the terracing and how packed in everyone was. 'It is an amazing privilege to be part of his work and, for as long as me and my sons are alive, we will keep telling the story.' Meis has been engaged to build a stadium that will allow Everton to compete commercially. Although Goodison has played host to more top-flight English games than any other, the capacity was reduced to just over 40,000 in the 1990s. More than a century ago, Leitch's expertise was requested under similar circumstances. Henry Hartley's Goodison Park design had helped make Everton one of the pre-eminent clubs but the facelift Leitch provided for Anfield in 1906 meant their city rivals were threatening to overtake them. Advertisement In 1909, Leitch was hired to build a new Main Stand. In 1926, he added the Bullens Road Stand, and in 1938, when he was 73, designed the Gwladys Street End. Leitch had built his first double-decker stand (terracing at ground level, seats in the tier above) for Bradford Park Avenue in 1907, but he learned from Hartley's work on the Park End at Goodison, which saw the upper tier raised higher so that the terracing underneath could stretch all the way back. He applied the same method, but on a bigger scale at Goodison. Just as the sheer height of his stand at Anfield saw it christened the Spion Kop — named after a prominent hill in South Africa — the 14,500-capacity Main Stand at Everton was nicknamed 'Mauretania', after the world's largest ship, which had recently docked in the city's harbour. By 1938, Leitch had made Goodison the first stadium to have seats and terracing on all four sides, all of them double-decker, which was also groundbreaking. Leitch was actually a factory designer by trade, which is why many of his early works were functional. He knew how to build in a cost-effective and efficient way, which garnered him a level of respect in the game. He was not the first to build a stand, a pavilion or a grandstand, but he did it on a scale and at such a prolific rate that he wrote many of the rules which stood for most of the 20th century: the dimensions of terracing, the sight lines and the patented crush barriers he installed in unbroken lines — advice that was mostly ignored by clubs until the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. That loss of 97 Liverpool fans led to the Taylor Report, which recommended that all stadiums be converted to all-seater models. It meant the sudden revamping or erasure of the vast majority of Leitch's creations. Tragedy is what bookended his era of architectural dominance. Advertisement Indeed, his career in football could have been over before it really began. Having successfully lobbied to have the 1902 edition of the annual Scotland-England international staged at Ibrox, Leitch arrived at the home of his beloved Rangers three hours before kick-off to observe what should have been a crowning moment in his life. He had helped dream up an 80,000-capacity stadium, the world's largest, before his 37th birthday. Instead, 40 minutes into the game, after various issues with crowd control and crush barriers, despite the recorded attendance being 12,000 under the official limit, he witnessed any architect's worst nightmare unfold. Seventeen wooden joists in the south-west corner's terracing collapsed, sending those standing in the affected area through the floor, with some mangled in the steel and others plunging all the way to the ground. In total, 26 people died, 516 sustained injuries and 587 would receive compensation. The cost of restoring the stand almost bankrupted Rangers but an upset Leitch stated he was 'surely the most unhappy eyewitness of all'. There was a court trial. Rather than Leitch being in the dock, it was the contractor Alexander McDougall, accused of culpable homicide. Leitch apportioned blame on the basis that McDougall had ignored stipulations in the contract by using shorter length joists and substituting red pine for weaker yellow pine. McDougall was found not guilty, as several leading architects questioned the calculations in Leitch's design. Leitch risked being a pariah but avoided potential stigma as Rangers retained his services for the rebuild, and commissions south of the border then followed. Rather than allow the tragedy to define his life, Leitch used the lessons as motivation to ensure it never happened again. He helped progress the standards and safety of football immeasurably. 'My son studies drama and writes musicals,' says Easton. 'He is thinking of writing one called The Ibrox Man, about how he recovered from the disaster because, although he had done some work, most of it came afterwards. The way he responded is the real story.' Advertisement Fulham's Craven Cottage pavilion, the Trinity Road Stand at Villa Park, completed in 1924, and the South Stand at Ibrox, in 1928, were widely credited as his best work. Villa demolished that stand in 2000 and at Manchester United's Old Trafford the only remaining part of the 1910 design is the 'Munich tunnel', which was used as the players' entrance until the 1990s. Easton and his son Sam were invited as special guests to the opening of the Ibrox museum in 2023, where they were given a special tour of the stadium and shown the replica model Leitch used to pitch his ideas to the Rangers board, which was only rediscovered in recent years. Leitch was engaged by Rangers on two separate occasions but the red-brick facade on the Main Stand was the pinnacle. It remains in great condition and is listed, albeit there were changes in the 1990s. 'It was only when we went there in person that we realised how incredible it is,' says Easton. 'It is old-fashioned but timeless. The reception, with the marble staircases, is wonderful and it is fitting that, being such a mad Rangers fan, he created something so special just minutes from where he lived. 'When we went out onto the grass and looked up, you could really appreciate how impressive the scale is. A man found out we were his family and was in awe, saying, 'If it wasn't for Archie, we might not be here' and it made me think about how significant a role he played at so many clubs. He was a pioneer.' Meis hopes his design for Everton can have the same longevity after he prioritised the acoustics to ensure it replicates Goodison. 'Not too many fans have been able to get inside Bramley-Moore yet but they will notice instantly that we've got fans close to the pitch,' he says. 'There's such a commercial emphasis on adding boxes but a lot of those things that drive the stadium to become larger push a lot of the seating away from the pitch. We tried to stay as close as we could, inside regulations. The upper deck (South Stand) is very steep and feels like you are on top of the pitch. 'Of all the new grounds in the last 10 to 15 years, that is what will stand out.'
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Everton's legendary former player and manager Joe Royle takes an emotional tour of Goodison Park before Toffees finally leave the famous old ground
There are few remaining who hold as many memories here as Joe Royle. Grand Old Tales to be told of the Grand Old Lady. So, as we visit a Goodison Park nearing its end, let's start at the start - and a long voyage embarked upon via the help of a sailor. 'Tommy Stewart lived on our street and he was a tugboat captain,' the man himself explains of his first visit. 'His two sons were my best mates and my dad was an engineer but he was also a musician who played the clubs all weekend. He couldn't bring me so Tommy did. We all got the 17D bus from Norris Green.' It was under Tommy's astute guidance, and long before Royle's debut, that his eye for goalmouth opportunity developed just yards away from where we currently sit. 'We started on the paddock over there,' Royle, now 76, recalls, pointing over to the Bullens. 'I was seven or eight. But every now and then we'd come behind the goal here at the Park End. For some reason the crowd used to throw coins into the net. Tommy would lift me up and throw me over the wall to pick them up. Wonderful times.' Plenty more would follow and, as one of English football's great cathedrals prepares for final prayers, Royle is here with Mail Sport to reflect. On a glorious Spring morning time seems to stand still. Archibald Leitch's blue, cross-braced panels dominate a perfect picture as they have for 99 years, robbed of a century by the imminent move to futuristic Bramley-Moore Dock. This iconic landmark, with its fluctuating tiers and church still visible in the corner, sits in an almost-contemplative silence, save for the gentle hum of the groundsman's mower beneath us. Royle continues. 'I instantly loved the place. I went to a school down the East Lancs Road where the headmaster was also an Evertonian. I ended up as head boy and he used to put me on a bus and send me to pick up free tickets for reserve games. I loved the coming and having a look around when it was empty.' After rejecting Manchester United to sign as an apprentice, a job that would include cleaning the dressing rooms for the likes of Eusebio and Pele at the 1966 World Cup, he would soon see it full. 'I was in the boot room under the main stand on a Friday afternoon when Gordon Watson, one of the coaches, told me the manager, Harry Catterick, wanted to see me. I was wearing the overalls we had to put on while we were polishing and headed up in the lift wondering what I'd done wrong. When I got to his office he told me he had my dad on the phone and that he was just telling him if the weather didn't worsen I was in the team for the next day.' Making his debut on an ice rink at Blackpool at the age of 16, Royle became Everton's youngest player, a record that would stand for 40 years. His first goal would be here, against Chelsea, and would feature more profiteering at the Park End. 'I thundered one in from all of about seven inches,' he recalls with a smile. 'You don't forget that. As Mike Channon always said it was a feeling you can't scratch. I was only a kid but for an Evertonian to score for Everton in front of these fans, it was terrific. Terrific.' Many more goals would follow. Many more trophies and many more golden Goodison moments. Like cruising to the First Division Championship in 1970 and scoring 23 times in the process. The party started in the dressing room. 'There's a picture and there were eight bottles of champagne between 11 of us,' Royle remembers. He may have left for Manchester City in 1974, but Goodison would never leave him. Indeed, in a fitting twist of fate, Royle's final goal in football would come here – in the colours of Norwich City a year before his retirement. 'My first and last goal here,' he says. 'And it was the strangest thing – I scored and I was applauded. Ken Brown, the Norwich manager said to me: "I can't believe it. You've scored against them and they've applauded you." I said, "Well, I'm a Liverpool boy, an Evertonian. I'm one of them." I didn't celebrate it, mind, I'm not that daft.' After entering management with Oldham, Royle was a regular visitor for midweek matches in Howard Kendall's glorious 1980s. 'I actually got pick-pocketed in the main stand,' he says with a chuckle. 'Good Scousers, hey? I was queuing up for a pie and all of a sudden this fellow banged into me. Then he disappeared and so did my wallet. Only in Liverpool.' Not long later came happier memories, when he answered an SOS in 1994 with the team in real danger of dropping outside the top tier for the first time in 40 years. It was not a task without immediate challenge. 'The first game was Liverpool, here, Monday night. I'd given my team talk and the players were in the tunnel. I'm in the dressing room and the physio, Les Helm, tells me Duncan Ferguson, who was starting up front, had been done for drink driving and had spent time in a cell over the weekend. 'He's walking out onto the pitch and this is the first I'm hearing. I was raging. I wasn't raging after the game. Neil "Razor" Ruddock did my job for me. He's hit him hard which was the worst thing you could ever do to Duncan. It's enraged him and he was terrific after that. Terrific. We won 2-0. The noise that night. Wow.' As he reflected on a job well done back in his office, Royle could have been forgiven for thinking his work for the night was over. 'A steward came in and said: "Joe, do us a favour. Will you go in the Winslow (the pub over the road) and go and see the fans?" 'I said "Why?". He told me they were refusing to go home until I'd been in to see them. So I went in and it was awesome. It must have been midnight when I got there and I was in for a long time. It was a riot.' Perhaps it is of some solace to those on the blue half of Merseyside that, while the stadium may go, the fanbase most certainly will not. 'I've always maintained that the Goodison crowd have changed results,' Royle explains. 'There's been games when they've got the team going and then there's a late rally here. It's that kind of place. And you know, it's always been I can't remember it ever being empty. Even in the bad times, and we had a few of those, the support was always there. The noise was always there.' We are sat opposite the Gwladys Street End, Goodison's raucous soul. Royle is well-qualified to comment on its impact. 'When I was old enough I moved to the boys' pen in the far corner,' he says. 'Let's just say it was an education! There were loads of kids, scrambling over the railings and getting up to mischief. It was for rascals, but nice rascals. The Gwladys Street has always been where it all comes from. It's always been the Gwladys Street End.' His vantage point from 1994 to 1997, a run which saw Everton lift the FA Cup, was the halfway line and featured some different characters. 'They're all junior managers around the dugout aren't they?' he says. 'You know, they are they've all got an opinion, something to tell you, which is great.' He stops, train of thought shifted, and gazes across his old stomping ground. 'You know, I'm sort of tingling looking around at it. Look at the pitch for God's sake. If you couldn't control it on that, you couldn't control it, could you?' It's a stupid question, but I ask if he will miss the place. 'A lot,' he responds. 'A hell of a lot. It's going to be strange when it's Saturday and you're not coming to Goodison. Silly things like just coming in. Behind here, the big car park when you get here – it used to be a training pitch. When the big pitch was out of order we'd go out there and get some terrible injuries! I'll even miss seeing that.' Royle's three sons, Lee, Darren and Mark, who have joined us for the morning, are now speaking to the groundsman next to a rickety old trailer used to collect cuttings you imagine may not be making the switch to the new home. On its side the club's motto: Nil Satis Nisi Optimum (Nothing but the best is good enough) has been carefully hand-painted. 'Don't believe a word they say!' Royle shouts down. 'That's the groundsman, Bob, another Everton character,' he explains. 'He's been here since about 1800.' Just then, the unmistakable siren that marks the start of Z Cars sounds from the speakers, shattering the silence. A tour of the ground is taking place and the club are recreating the matchday experience for those on it. 'Johnny Todd', Royle says, giving the walkout anthem its original name. I ask how he will feel when he hears that played here for a final time. 'Ah, dear,' he says, taking a breath. 'I never saw Dixie Dean, that was before me, but I'll think of Alex Young and Alex Scott and Jimmy Gabriel and Brian Labone, all those people. Ray Wilson - Ramone Wilson - Alex Parker. You know, all the people I've seen here, Alan Ball, Colin Harvey. Howard Kendall and Fred Pickering as well, Fred Pickering, what a striker he was. There's been so many memories.' Royle will be here for the Southampton match. 'I always scored against them,' he jokes. 'I got four once and they still gave Alan Ball man-of-the-match! Quite rightly, I must add. I'm not one for souvenirs. I'll just take the memories.' He is yet to visit the new stadium but is looking forward to doing so. 'It's progress,' he adds. 'If nothing else they need the money to pay the players' wages.' We make our way over to the impossibly-narrow players' tunnel where Royle happily mingles with those on the tour. Outside, we pause to take his picture under a 50ft mural of himself in blue shirt, white shorts, controlling an orange ball. 'Legend' shouts a man passing on a scooter. Some stop and ask for selfies. There is still time to make more memories. Before we head off for lunch there is one final question to be asked and perhaps the most obvious one. What does Goodison Park mean to him?
Reuters
11-02-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Merseyside poised for final derby at Goodison Park
LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The last-ever FA Cup tie at Goodison Park proved to be the dampest of squibs on Saturday and Everton fans will demand something of a higher order for what will be an emotional last Merseyside derby at the famous old ground on Wednesday night. Everton stumbled to a 2-0 defeat by Bournemouth, their gloom lifted only by Liverpool's subsequent shock 1-0 loss at Plymouth Argyle, and though Everton will now focus their attention on avoiding relegation and Liverpool will seek to widen their lead at the top, Wednesday's game will exist in its own world away from the Premier League table. The fixture was due to be played in December but postponed due to Storm Darragh and so, instead of a Saturday lunchtime kickoff, it gets the midweek evening prime-time slot such an historic match surely deserves. This will be the 245th meeting in all competitions between the largely friendly rivals divided by less than a mile of Stanley Park, making it the most played fixture in English football. The first was in 1894, two years after Everton left Anfield following a row over rent. While the new club of Liverpool FC was formed at the old ground, Everton built what was then the best ground in England, and so began 131 years of fixtures there that will end when Everton move to their new home next season. In that time at Goodison, in all competitions the teams have 41 wins each, with 37 draws, though those figures have been taking on a reddish hue in recent decades. When Everton won 1-0 at Goodison in 1978 it ended a record seven-year, 15-game winless spell against their greatest rivals. Goalscorer Andy King was famously told to "get off the pitch" while being "gently ushered" by a policeman, interrupting his TV interview moments after fulltime as the fans celebrated furiously. They would never have believed that that dire run would be surpassed by the shocking 23 games Everton went without success from 2011-2021, and they have managed only two wins since then - including April's 2-0 success at Goodison in the most recent derby. Everton have won only two of their last 27 Premier League games against Liverpool, drawing 13, and nine of the last 12 at Goodison have been draws. The Toffees need to go back to their title-winning season of 1984-85 for the last time they won consecutive league derbies and the last time before that was in 1964-65. SPECIAL FIXTURE Whatever the teams' respective form, however, it is always a special fixture for the city and it is no surprise that Goodison's record attendance of 78,299 came in a derby, in 1948. Ten years later, it became the first ground in Britain to install undersoil heating, with another claim to fame being the first pitchside dugouts in England, installed in 1931. Its Archibald Leitch stands are recognised around the world, while the home fans' favourite Gwladys Street End was named after Howard Kendall in 2016 in recognition of the club's manager during their glory years of the mid-1980s. Goodison Park has hosted more top-flight games than any other stadium in England and also has a rich history of other big matches. It hosted the FA Cup final in 1894, has had myriad semi-finals and was a venue for the 1966 World Cup. It also hosted 10 England internationals, including in 1949 when Ireland became the first team outside the home nations to beat England at home. But it is the derby that the ground will be remembered for and in David Moyes, long-suffering Everton fans can roll back, if not quite to the golden years, at least the decent ones. Since returning last month, Moyes has overseen three successive league wins and though he accepts his team are still light years away from their red rivals, he is relishing the challenge of closing the gap, as he did the first time around. "I always go back to my last two years where we finished above Liverpool in the league twice (2012 and 2013)," said Moyes, who did so despite having a dire record in derbies. "The gap between the two teams at the moment has probably been as big as it has been for a long time, So it's something I have to bridge, and start bringing the two clubs closer together."
