The Impact of WWII on Football Stadiums
When people think of Britain during World War II, it’s often images of air raid shelters, ration books and blackout curtains that spring to mind. But one of the most enduring hallmarks of the time was the country’s collective ‘Blitz spirit’ – the resolve to keep calm, carry on and defy the odds despite daily uncertainty and danger.
Perhaps less well known is the important role that football played in helping to keep morale high during these dark years. Although the 1939 – 1940 league season was suspended just three games in following the outbreak of war, fans across the country were determined to keep the game alive. Many risked their safety to watch and play football, even though stadiums themselves presented viable targets for the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). Wartime football was quickly restricted to localised leagues and regional cup competitions, but the people’s love for the game endured.
Football stadiums were not spared the destruction of war. From direct bomb damage to military requisitioning, these once-bustling centres of community life bore witness to the conflict in unique and lasting ways. This blog explores the wartime history of several well-known stadiums, highlighting both the damage they sustained and their role in the war effort.
Football Carries On: The Wartime Leagues
When war was declared in September 1939, professional football came to an abrupt halt, just three games into the season. After a short pause and a handful of friendlies, clubs reformed into regional leagues to limit travel and reduce risk, with matches resuming in October. Some teams were forced to withdraw from the restructured programme as many of their players enlisted. Grimsby Town’s first game was even delayed by an air raid warning, an early indication that football would continue, even under the shadow of conflict.
Crowds were initially capped and travel heavily restricted, but these measures gradually eased as football proved its worth in boosting wartime morale. The newly formed War Cup, introduced in April 1940, saw an astonishing 137 games played in just nine weeks.
Throughout the war, new competitions took shape and lesser-known teams thrived. A sweet factory side from Newport, Lovell’s Athletic, outperformed top clubs like Aston Villa. Bath City won the Northern League in 1944. Matches regularly drew huge crowds, with nearly 90,000 fans attending a 1945 clash between Millwall and Chelsea, the largest wartime attendance for a club match.
By the war’s end, football had provided far more than entertainment. It offered consistency and comfort in a time of upheaval – and many of the same grounds used during those years are still in use today, sometimes sitting atop hidden legacies of the war.
St Andrews, Birmingham
Birmingham City Football Club has called St Andrew’s home since 1906. While the club has enjoyed moments of glory, including promotion to the Premier League in 2002, an FA Cup win in 1956, and League Cup wins in 1963 and 2011, the war years were some of its most difficult.
Following the outbreak of WWII, all outdoor sports were temporarily banned while safety risks were assessed. Although football returned within weeks, St Andrew’s remained closed due to its location near strategic targets, notably the Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) Company factory, just 1.5km to the south of the stadium.
This proximity resulted in heavy bombing in the area. In 1941, St Andrew’s was hit by at least 20 direct bomb strikes. The roof of the Kop End was destroyed, while the Railway End suffered severe structural damage, forcing the club to relocate temporarily whilst repairs were carried out.
To make matters worse, the Main Stand, used by the National Fire Service during the war, burned down in an accident involving a bucket of petrol. Despite these setbacks, Birmingham City returned to St Andrew’s in 1943, once the aerial threat had subsided.
Bramall Lane, Sheffield
Sheffield, known as the Steel City, is home to one of football’s fiercest rivalries. Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday both have strong ties to Bramall Lane – the oldest major stadium still in use in the world.
In 1985, decades after the war had ended, the city was reminded of its past in dramatic fashion. Less than 24 hours before a scheduled match between Sheffield United and Oldham Athletic in the old Division Two league, a 2,200lb German unexploded bomb (UXB) was discovered on Lancing Road, just behind the Kop End.
The 33rd Engineer Regiment, responsible for Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search, was called in and 300 residents were evacuated. The operation to make the area safe took 36 hours, hampered by snow and freezing temperatures. Sheffield United remains the only English club known to have postponed a fixture due to an unexploded WWII bomb.
Although Bramall Lane wasn’t a designated target, the Luftwaffe’s bombing of Sheffield’s industrial heartland meant the stadium suffered overspill damage. Bomb census records show incidents directly on and around the ground, including one that caused the partial collapse of a stand.
Old Trafford, Manchester
Arguably one of the most iconic stadiums in the world, Old Trafford has been home to Manchester United since 1910. During the war, however, it was temporarily repurposed as a military supply depot.
Located within Trafford Park, one of the most heavily targeted industrial areas in Britain, Old Trafford suffered severe bomb damage during WWII. Although football continued to be played at the stadium, on 22nd December 1940, during the Manchester Christmas Blitz, the stadium sustained significant damage. A further raid on 11th March 1941 destroyed much of the South Stand, forcing the club to relocate operations to a local cold storage facility.
Aerial imagery from August 1945 showed the devastation clearly: entire sections of the ground had been reduced to rubble, with only the central tunnel between the dressing rooms and pitch reportedly surviving intact. Manchester United did not return to Old Trafford until August 1949, over eight years after it was first bombed.
Highbury, Boleyn Ground, and The Old Den, London
London has one of the highest concentrations of professional football clubs in the world, with seven clubs playing Premier League football this season and others aspiring to reach the heights of their neighbours. In the early 1940s, however, title wins and promotion stories were a far lower priority as the Blitz raged over the skies of London, wreaking widespread havoc that the stadiums could not avoid.
Millwall’s Old Den in New Cross, designed by famed stadium architect Archibald Leitch, suffered extensive bomb damage due to its location near the Surrey Commercial Docks. A 500kg high explosive bomb and subsequent fire destroyed the main stand in April 1943. Thanks to volunteer labour from loyal fans, the stadium reopened in February 1944.
Arsenal’s Highbury, another Leitch masterpiece, was also affected. The stadium was repurposed as an Air Raid Precautions (ARP) station, with a barrage balloon tethered to the pitch and the West Stand used as an air raid shelter. Arsenal played their wartime home fixtures at rivals Tottenham Hotspur’s White Hart Lane. Although the war years brought success to Arsenal, winning local league titles in 1940, 1942 and 1943, Highbury wasn’t spared enemy action. Bomb census records show it was hit at least once, leading to the collapse of the North Bank roof due to a fire and the destruction of much of the South Stand terracing.
West Ham United’s Boleyn Ground, commonly known as Upton Park, was also struck during the war. In August 1944, a V-1 flying bomb hit the south-west corner of the pitch, destroying parts of the South Bank Terrace and the Main West Stand. The blast caused a fire in the club’s offices, destroying many of its historical documents. The damage forced the team to vacate the ground for several months, during which time they won nine consecutive games in a remarkable run of form.
Then, in January 1945, the area surrounding the stadium was hit again. A V-2 rocket exploded in Boleyn and Priory Roads on 28th January, killing sixteen people and seriously injuring twenty-seven others. Five houses were completely destroyed, and more than seventy were damaged. The club was finally able to return to their stadium in December 1944.
Wembley Stadium: Wartime Landmark and Symbol of Recovery
While London’s club grounds were damaged or repurposed during the war, Wembley, then known as the Empire Stadium, took on a broader national role. Its closure at the outbreak of war was quickly reversed when the government recognised the negative impact on morale. Instead, Wembley became a hub for relief efforts, acting as a distribution centre following the Dunkirk evacuations and hosting military reviews and parades.
During the war, 9,000 bombs fell on the Wembley area. 149 people were killed, and over half the houses in the Borough were damaged. Although the stadium escaped direct hits, a V-1 flying bomb reportedly landed nearby in 1944, striking greyhound kennels close to the site.
Wartime football continued under the War Cup, with Wembley hosting its first final in 1940, just days after the last soldiers were rescued from Dunkirk. A crowd of 43,000 watched West Ham defeat Blackburn, joined by hundreds of recently returned troops. Matches like these became powerful symbols of national resilience. In 1941, 60,000 fans watched Preston take on Arsenal, and an England vs. Scotland fixture that same year drew 78,000 fans, with Winston Churchill in attendance. Later finals saw crowds rise even higher, up to 85,000, with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the future US President, among the guests.
After the war, Wembley’s story continued. Just two years later, the stadium hosted key events of the 1948 Olympics, helping to welcome a world emerging from the shadow of conflict.
Signal Iduna Park, Germany
The legacy of wartime bombing isn’t limited to the UK. Germany, too, continues to feel its impact – both above and below ground. Allied and Soviet forces extensively targeted Germany’s industrial heartland throughout WWII, including cities such as Dortmund, Cologne and Dusseldorf.
In 2015, during renovation works near Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park, workers discovered a 450kg unexploded high explosive Allied bomb in a car park close to the stadium’s western tribune. Due to the significant risk posed by its size and the volatile nature of its components, the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) evacuated a 500 metre radius, including 20,000 residents and the entire stadium complex, while bomb disposal teams defused the device.
The incident served as a stark reminder of the lasting dangers that remain hidden in former war zones. Even decades later, the legacy of WWII is far from over.
Brimstone UXO’s Work on Football Stadiums
Over the last nine years we’ve been fortunate to work on several football stadium projects, including:
- Bramley Moore Dock, Liverpool: Brimstone conducted a marine UXO survey at the site of Everton Football Club’s new stadium development at Bramley Moore Dock, Liverpool. As a result, 12 items of ordnance were discovered and safely disposed of.
- Craven Cottage, London: During the development of Fulham Football Club’s new Riverside Stand, Brimstone conducted an Intrusive UXO Survey prior to piling work. During this project, we had to use a crane to drop our CPT Rig onto the bed of the River Thames when the tide was out!
- Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London: Brimstone conducted a Detailed UXO Risk Assessment prior to the construction of the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
- Griffin Park, Brentford: Prior to the old Brentford Football Club stadium being demolished and redeveloped into housing, Brimstone conducted a Detailed UXO Risk Assessment.
We’ve also worked in very close proximity to the London Stadium, Old Trafford, Fratton Park and Wembley Stadium, all of which have been in ‘photo view’ from our sites.
A Lasting Legacy and Ongoing Risk
These stories reflect more than just damage to bricks and mortar – they highlight the lasting impact of wartime bombing, even decades later.
At Brimstone UXO, we specialise in helping developers, planners, and engineers safely manage these risks. From historic research to on-site surveys and explosive ordnance disposal, our expert team works nationwide to ensure sites are safe, compliant, and ready for use.
If you’re working on a site with potential wartime history, or just want peace of mind, get in touch to see how we can help.
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