Bury

NOTICE: Following Bury's expulsion from the English football league in August 2019 Gigg Lane is now closed for the foreseeable future. If the stadium is used for football in the future we will update you. Gigg Lane was built specifically for Bury Football Club to play their games at and opened in 1885, with the club from the Manchester suburb moving in straight away. Things began well for the club, too, with the first ever fixture being a friendly against Wigan that the home side won 4-3. They also scored four goals and won when they played their first league game against Manchester City, running out 4-2 winners on the 8th of September 1894. The club played their first ever floodlit match in 1889, before the Football League had even authorised the use of floodlights for competitive matches; floodlights didn’t get installed at the ground permanently until 1953, however. Despite a rivalry with Tranmere Rovers, with Bury fans calling Tranmere fans ‘plastic Scousers’ and Tranmere fans returning the compliment by calling Bury fans ‘plastic Mancs’, Gigg Lane saw its lowest ever attendance when just 461 people turned out to watch the two teams play a Freight Rover Trophy match in 1986.