GRANDSTAND ABLAZE AT FOOTBALL MATCH

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6864, 21 May 1932, Page 11

GRANDSTAND ABLAZE AT FOOTBALL MATCH

Damage To Famous Cricket ; Ground At Headingley, Used For Tests The main grandstand at the famous I Headinglcv ground at Leeds, used hy the Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the Leeds Rugby League Football Club, burst into flames during a match between the Leeds and Halifax Rugby League clubs recently. The grandstand, including the directors’ accommodation and press boxes, was destroyed, but the pavilion was saved. The game had to be abandoned. The match had been in progress only a quarter of an hour when dense smoke began to pour out from one side of the stand. The crowd of 5000 on the stand immediately began to rush across the football ground to the other stands, where another 15,000 people were accommodated. Then came a burst of flame and an explosion, which threw splinters of wood and glass high in the air. At first the fire was confined to one end of the stand, hut the flames quickly spread, and soon the whole length was involved. Several fire-engines attended, and the firemen concentrated on saving the pavilion—a separate building. Meanwhile ambulance men were busy carrying off a number of women who fainted. . The grandstand, which was built in 1926 and had just been repainted for the cricket season, was entirely destroyed, and an hour after the beginning of the game nothing remained but the stone-work, iron girders, and smouldering wood. The fire brigade was greatly handicapped by the lack of water, the hoses having to be run out a considerable distance. The firemen’s task was a hopeless one from the start, and in 20 minutes the entire stand was ablaze from end to end. The pavilion was soaked with water and the flames were prevented from spreading m that direc--11 The Yorkshire county cricket field, the scene of many an England-Aus-ti-alia Test match, which had been carefullv tended by the groundsmen during the winter, was badly damaged. The dense smoke blackened the grass, and wheel tracks and hoof marks showed almost everywhere. Hundreds of people also damaged the grass with their feet, and the groundsmen were hastily called out to rope off the wicket, and they had some difficulty in keeping the crowds hack.