On this Day 20th August 1994- The McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield is opened

On this day in 1994, the McAlpine Stadium was opened in Huddersfield. With its banana shaped roofs, set among the surrounding Pennine hills, the stadium certainly had a distinctive presence in the town centre. Huddersfield Town kicked off their 1994-95 Division Two campaign against Wycombe Wanderers, although they ended up losing 1-0 in front of 13,334 fans. At the time it was a pioneering project, which would not only unite the town’s football and rugby teams, but also provide a community sporting facility. Named after its developer, the McAlpine would become the blueprint for other community stadiums around the region, including the KC Stadium in Hull and Doncaster’s Keepmoat complex. Nowadays it is known as the John Smith’s Stadium.

Cover Photo credit: Andrew Ringrose, geograph creative commons