1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay : Mon May 05, 2014 8:39 pm  

Hello all,
Today marks the 60th Anniversary of the 1954 Challenge Cup Final replay between Halifax and Warrington at Odsal Stadium in Bradford. I thought I would share this aerial photo of the match to mark this occasion.

This picture is framed and up in my house (hence the reflection on the picture) as my Granddad, Mr Ron Gelder, refereed the match. It holds the record (I think) for the highest official attendance at a match in this country, of 102,000 people. I believe that many more people without tickets climbed over fences to get in to the match too, taking the unofficial attendance to closer to 110,000 people.

Visiting Odsal as I do nowadays as a Saints fan, I find this picture incredible.

Re: 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay : Mon May 05, 2014 9:46 pm  

It is absolutely staggering to see such a thing, would never happen today.

Re: 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay : Mon May 05, 2014 10:20 pm  

It's interesting to view the original glass plate photos rather than all the many doctored 'cut & paste' media issued photos that show the ground completely full all the way around the stadium(yours looks like a copy of an original plate)
Many photos had differing names/sponsors on the roof of the stand for commerical purposes and it has been shown that the crowd were copied from other sections and pasted onto an enlargement and it then reprinted as 'original' for the press and such like.

The stadium had around 60k for the first final, to suggest it had almost double is extremely doubtful, epsecially when you look at the photographs of the crowds at Odsal for previous finals and their 'official' attendances are around the 60-66k mark

It's kind of sad to dismantle folklore but it is very likely true there were not anywhere near 100k that day..
kindly reproduced from myyorkshire.org (fact or fiction)

Re: 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay : Tue May 06, 2014 12:10 am  

A 50 year late conspiracy theory! Love it!

In fact there are more images from that game than you could shake a stick at and they all show the ground full to bursting, with thousands even spilling over the front fences onto the perimeter track. Strange thing to do if the place was half empty I should think.

Anyway as they say about our -6 points - read the attendance in the papers!

Re: 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay : Tue May 06, 2014 7:56 am  

I am surprised that non of the sad anorak's on here have not blown the picture up & counted them by hand? It is sad to think that today with modern transport & much more leisure time that we can't get 10,000 for a cup game now.

Re: 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay : Tue May 06, 2014 9:39 am  

The 2nd photo above is of someone creating a 3D model, not doctoring a photograph. So why post it, it does nothing to support your text?

Re: 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay : Tue May 06, 2014 11:52 am  

Looks like they had some real wizards in the special effects in 1954 cos they managed to fake the crowd to look full in the videos too!

/watch?v=PB_lG2XLSaY if you know a certain video sharing site

Some stills from the footage:

Re: 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay : Tue May 06, 2014 12:03 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Looks like they had some real wizards in the special effects in 1954 cos they managed to fake the crowd to look full in the videos too!

/watch?v=PB_lG2XLSaY if you know a certain video sharing site

No it's true! There was only 50k there and they were only there due to cheap ticket offers.
Just like the Wales v Italy and Fiji v Australia games in the World Cup didn't actually happen.

Re: 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay : Tue May 06, 2014 12:08 pm  

Odsal - even today - is huge. Take away the gap of the old speedway track, the corporate stand, the current terracing boundaries and fill it from top by the road to pitchside, and then allow for higher crowd density that today's regulations permit and you could easily fit 100,000+. Easily.

Think I'll trust the film footage and many other pictures that show Odsal packed literally to the brim all the way down to sitting pitchside, and the accounts from many, many witnesses.

If someone did later doctor a few glass plates and add sponsors on the stadium roof, it's most likely for commercial purposes and to make the image a little more impressive to match the reported crowd.

Re: 1954 Challenge Cup Final Replay : Tue May 06, 2014 12:14 pm  

No, there were only 50,000 there but the stadium authorities doubled the crowd so they could pay tax on 50,000 tickets they never sold, and share out between the two teams gate money they never took! That seems by far the most plausible explanation to me.

They impressively managed to make sure not a single person in on this conspiracy ever grassed. A bit like the fake moon landings, maybe it was the same people what done it.