Blackburn Rovers

Like a gentleman lover who took his time to realise his one true love, Blackburn Rovers called numerous different stadiums home before finally settling at Ewood Park. They started life at Oozehead Ground, a piece of farmland that was used to graze cows when no-one was playing football on it. They spent part of a year at Pleasington Cricket Ground before moving to another cricket pitch, Alexandra Meadows for four years. It seemed like they had found a permanent home when they spent nine years at Leamington Road, the club’s first purpose-built ground, but an increase in the cost of the lease saw them forced into moving for one final time. Ewood Park was built in 1882 and was an all-purpose sporting venue that hosted football matches, dog races and athletics meets before Rovers took over and turned into an exclusively footballing ground. The club had actually played some games there when it was first opened in 1882 and so when the board realised they would have to leave Leamington Road it seemed like the most obvious fit for their needs.