Football Returns To Gigg Lane After Three Years Absence
Fantastic news this weekend for a stadium in Lancashire as the famous Gigg Lane reopened its doors to spectators and competitive football once again graced the hallowed turf.
Three years have passed since the demise of Bury FC leading to their expulsion from the Football League. Since then fan groups have worked tirelessly to resurrect the club. The stadium at Gigg Lane is one of the world’s oldest professional football stadiums and has been home to Bury FC since the club’s founding in 1885.
As mentioned previously in FSM with the help of a grant from the Community Ownership Fund (COF), supporters volunteering and an enthusiastic community pulling together the stadium which had lay in ruin was cleaned up and transformed to assist in ensuring football could return to Gigg Lane for the 2022/23 season.
The vital funding was awarded to Bury Football Club Supporters Society to re-establish the 12,500 seater ground into a cherished asset for the whole community, providing facilities for the men’s and women’s teams, youth football, local schools and the public. It was the Bury FC Foundation Women's Team, who are currently seeking promotion, that received the honour of being the first team to play in the ground since 2019. The East Stand was open to fans and 500 supporters attended to celebrate in the sunshine and witness events that many thought would never return to Gigg.
The Bury FC Foundation Women’s side have confirmed they will play each of their last three games of the season at Gigg Lane, with the stadium hopeful of seeing the return of men’s football in the pre-season.
The Prime Minister has visited Gigg Lane to mark the stadium’s return to football after a three-year hiatus. Mr Johnson today met with members of the Bury FC Supporters Foundation, following Sunday’s match between Bury FC Foundation Women's Team and the Fleetwood Town Wrens.
"You've done an amazing job to restore it - great work!" he told members. He was given his own Bury FC shirt with number ten and ‘Boris’ on the back, before having a go with the pitch marker. Despite commenting that the Bury weather was a “bit nippy”, he couldn’t resist also having a kick of the ball on the infamous pitch.
