History

Blackburn Rovers moved to Ewood Park in 1890, the site having previously been a multi-purpose sports ground that hosted football, athletics, dog racing and trotting.

The first major developments of the facilities took place in the 1900s when a cover for 12,000 spectators was erected at the Darwen End of the ground, followed by a main stand. It was built along Nuttall Street with changing rooms and offices underneath and was designed by the famous Archibald Leitch, who also constructed stands at Ibrox, Roker Park and Goodison.

In between the two Championship wins of 1912 and 1914, the Riverside Stand was built, with over 2,000 seats on a raised tier above a large terrace. The Blackburn End was terraced in 1928, but did not acquire its concrete cantilever roof until 1960.

Ewood Park then remained in something of a time warp as the team struggled to recapture past glories after relegation from Division One in 1966. It was not until 1987 that the Riverside Stand was replaced by a new, single-tier stand housing over 4,300 spectators and built with steel provided by the man soon to become the club’s benefactor, Jack Walker. The Walkersteel Stand (later renamed the “CIS Stand”) is now the oldest part of the modern Ewood.

In the early 1990s, the other three sides of the stadium were all redeveloped with two-tier stands of similar height, all with executive boxes between the tiers. The main Nuttall Street Stand was ultimately renamed the Jack Walker Stand. The total cost of rebuilding Ewood Park is believed to have been in the region of £60 million. Some funding came from the Football Trust, but Jack Walker declined to build a brand new stadium elsewhere, believing that Ewood was the Rovers’ spiritual home.

Modernisation/Improvements

The ground today has a slightly lopsided look, with three matching stands with blue seats throughout rather dwarfing the old CIS Stand, which has red and blue seats with the word Rovers picked out in white. Plans have been conceived for a new Riverside Stand to complete the development and bring the capacity nearer to 40,000, but the present management, probably wisely, has decided to focus its investment on the team first and leave the CIS Stand unchanged for the foreseeable future.

General Ground Information

Ewood Park comprises four separate stands, three for home supporters and one, the Darwen End, which is allocated in whole or in part (depending on the opposition) for away supporters.

Although there was much demolition of the surrounding terraced houses and mills at the time the stadium was redeveloped by Jack Walker, the ground is still in a largely residential area with the land behind the CIS Stand bounded by the River Darwen.

Turnstiles generally open 1.5 hours before kick off, but be aware that you cant buy tickets at the turnstiles. The main ticket office is at the Blackburn End of the ground, but there is also a ticket office for away supporters at the Darwen End, which is open most matchdays. Watch out for the major games (e.g. against Liverpool and Manchester United) when there may be no ticket sales at all on the day. Queues at the turnstiles are usually kept to a minimum with only modest security checks.

By and large the policing at Ewood is quite low-key, indeed home supporters sometimes query why the better-supported visiting clubs’ supporters seem to be able to “get away with” things such as continued standing. There isn’t usually much bother, though visiting supporters found in home areas tend to be swiftly ejected (or reunited with the other visiting fans).

In case you want to bring your drum and/or flags, you’ll need to contact the club’s safety officer (John Newsham) to make sure that you won’t have them confiscated at the turnstiles.

Blackburn players park in the car park behind the Blackburn End Stand which means they have to make their way through the fans round to the Players’ Entrance halfway along the Jack Walker Stand. The away coach pulls in between the terraced houses on Bolton Road and parks right outside the Players’ Entrance. Autograph hunters have to be quick as visiting players only have a few feet to walk from the team coach before they are in the sanctuary of the stadium. After the final whistle, it’s usually about 45/90 minutes before the players depart from Ewood.

Programmes are available from various sales points both inside and outside the ground for £3.00. The Club operates a matchday lottery ("Drawn at half-time, paid at full-time", as one of the sellers outside the Blackburn End regularly chimes) called “Rovers Return”. Tickets cost £1 and if your number is drawn by a guest player or ex-player on the pitch you win half of the money raised in ticket sales: typical payouts are between £500 and £700, with a maximum of £1,000.

Former Blackburn and England captain Ronnie Clayton is the usual escort on the ground tours, which take between 90 minutes and two hours and cost £3.50 (£2 for children and senior citizens), with a family ticket costing £10. They are offered three times a day during the summer and twice a day in the winter months. Booking is advisable, the number to call is tel. 08701 123456.