ST JAMES PARK – A CRUMBLING FORTRESS

Exeter City were unbeaten in 21 of their 23 home matches in the promotion season. So St James Park was something of a fortress. But what was the state of the actual stadium which had been pretty much unchanged since the 1930s? Not too good it appears.

The first worry was the state of the grandstand roof. It had been built in 1926 after the original stand burnt down the year before. What became known as the ‘Old Grandstand’ was showing its age.

Tony Court reporting in the Express and Echo announced in July 1963 that ‘work starts this week on several thousand pound three month job at St James Park – the re-roofing of the entire Exeter City grandstand.

‘This is a job which the club have been postponing for years. But the roof has been getting worse and worse – and the job became vital in the summer when a six foot piece of guttering came crashing down onto the training track’.

‘Luckily, no one was around at the time. But if one section had fallen it was obvious that the rest was weak and might collapse when the players were training or even during a match’.

They must have done a good job as in December the club was approached by British United Airways who were interested in advertising on the new roof.

Another problem was the state of the fencing alongside the Jungle Path up to the Big Bank. Before the season started the Board agreed to ask British Railways for a copy of the 1921 agreement regarding rental of land to enable full consideration to be given to their request for repair of fencing adjacent to the railway embankment.  

Also causing concern were the state of the floodlights, originally installed in 1953. In October the Football League notified City that complaints had been received about the standard of the floodlighting. The Club insisted action was being taken with Chairman Reg Rose saying it was “the number one priority”.  It took a year to sort, however. An old floodlight lamp is now in the ECFC Museum.

Long standing fan, Bill Jarman, now 92,  saw his first City game in 1937/8 when just 6 years old. For the promotion season he watched matches primarily from the Big Bank “but especially remember the 6-1 victory over Chesterfield when I was in the grandstand with my father”. And Bill’s verdict on the floodlights in the promotion season: “They were very poor!”

Promotion Factfile

Exeter played Halifax twice in October sixty years ago; drawing 0-0 at home and losing 2-0 away.  It was the first time the clubs had ever met. Halifax were previously in the Third Division North and then when the Leagues were reorganised in 1958 played for five seasons in the new Third Division while City were in the fourth. They were relegated at the end of the 1962/ 1963 season.