FOOTBALL


T


ranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adopted their current name in 1885. They were a founder member of Division Three North in 1921 and were a member of The Football League until 2015 when they were relegated to the National League, the fifth tier of English football. On 12th May 2018, they beat Boreham Wood in the 2017-18 National League play off final to regain their status as a Football League member. Prenton Park is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers FC, Liverpool FC Women and Liverpool FC Reserves. Its main tenant, Tranmere Rovers, moved here in 1912. The


ground has had several rebuilds, with the most recent occurring in 1995 in response to the requirement of the Taylor Report to become all-seater. Today’s stadium holds 16,587 in four stands: the Kop, the Johnny King Stand, the Main Stand and the Cowshed (for away supporters). Attendances at the ground have fluctuated over its hundred-year history. Its largest-ever crowd was 24,424 for a 1972 FA Cup match between Tranmere and Stoke City. In 2010, an average of 5,000 fans attended each home game.


I arrive at Prenton Park on a rather chilly and windy day. Outside the club shop, I first meet up with Callum Robinson, eighteen years old, one of two young groundsmen who tend to the pitches at Tranmere. After


PC December/January 2019 69


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