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Belle VueOpening on the 14th April, 1879, it's fair to say that the oldest ground in rugby league has seen better days. It's hosted the 1888 New Zealand Maoris, and also the 1922-23 Challenge Cup final between Leeds and Hull as well as cycling, baseball, football, American football and rugby union (with the 1908 Wallabies tour coming to Belle Vue to play Yorkshire). The East Stand was officially opened as a covered terrace on 20th Sept 1924 with a 44-0 victory over Widnes. This would be partially converted to 3,000 seats in September 1952. This 1925 footage of Leeds v Hull KR at Belle Vue shows the newly covered East terrace and is a brilliant bit of history. Hull KR beat Leeds 7-6 in front of 25,163. Here's Belle Vue with a cycle track. On May 1932 the West Stand was officially opened, and was the most iconic part of the ground with its ornate roof and even chimneys at the back. When I first visited as a nine year old the West Stand seemed massive. I can just about remember walking through the back of it in 1985. It was demolished on safety grounds following the Bradford Fire. Despite being partially roofed in February 1958, the South Stand was demolished in 1979 in the mistaken belief that either a superstore would be built on that site or, as I was told by a former director, that the terrace was collapsing due to its composition. The presence of nothing but a wall at that end of the ground destroyed the integrity of Belle Vue, and has only been partially rectified by the installation of executive boxes. The original floodlights were first switched on in October 1967 before a match between Yorkshire and the Australians and the current four corner floodlights were installed in the 1990/91 season. Belle Vue is famous for having been used for most of the rugby scenes in This Sporting Life starring Richard Harris, shot in the early Sixties when the ground was at its best. I certainly never knew that the Mexico City Olympic 200 metre gold medal winner and infamous Black Power saluter Tommie Smith was once at Belle Vue: On the links page I've added a few old images and YouTube clips showing Belle Vue. God only knows how they shoehorned 37,906 there for the 1936 Challenge Cup semi-final. It's great to see some cover finally being put up at Belle Vue in 2012, but I'd have preferred a cantilever roof on both stands. Having said that, it's better than nothing and it's going to be great to go back to Belle Vue to see how the covers improve the atmosphere and keep the crowd noise in. A futher update in May 25: The main stand is a triumph, there is a small South Stand terrace and so we are finally a proper four-sided ground again for the first time in my Trin-supporting life. Plans are afoot to build a West Stand and also to start again with the North Stand, which is ultimately what needs to be done. The club are sixth in the table and the future is bright. Three cheers for Matt Ellis! I loved reading Trevor Delaney's The Grounds of Rugby League and also Mike Latham's British Rugby League - a Groundhopper's Guide - both excellent books and thoroughly recommended. | Coaches Ken Traill 1958-70 Neil Fox 1970-74 Peter Fox 1974-76 Geoff Gunney 1976 Brian Lockwood 1976-78 Ian Brooke 1978-79 Bill Kirkbride 1979-80 Bill Ashurst 1981-82 Ray Batten 1982-83 Derek Turner 1983-84 Geoff Wraith 1984 David Lamming 1984-85 Len Casey 1985-86 Tony Dean 1986 Trevor Bailey 1986-87 David Topliss 1987-94 David Hobbs 1994-95 Paul Harkin 1995-96 Mitch Brennan 1996-97 Andy Kelly 1997-2000 Tony Kemp 2000 John Harbin 2000-01 Peter Roe 2001-02 Shane McNally/Adrian Vowles 2002-03 Shane McNally 2003-05 Tony Smith 2005-06 John Kear 2006-11 Richard Agar 2011-2014 James Webster 2014-2015 Brian Smith 2015-2016 Chris Chester 2016-2021 Willie Poching Sept 2021 to 2022 Mark Applegarth 2022 to 2023 Daryl Powell 2023 to date |