Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facility with a capacity of 31,367, and four sections: the Bryan Douglas Darwen End, The Ronnie Clayton Blackburn End, the Riverside Stand, and Jack Walker Stand, named after Blackburn industrialist and club supporter, Jack Walker. The football pitch within the stadium measures
The "old" Ewood
Football had been played on the site since at least 1881; Rovers played four matches there when it was known as Ewood Bridge and was most likely little more than a field. Their first match was against Sheffield Wednesday on 9 April 1881.
Ewood Park was officially opened in April 1882 and during the 1880s staged football, athletics and some form of greyhound racing (not oval). Rovers moved back in during 1890, signing a ten-year lease at an initial annual rent of £60. Their first match at the ground was against Accrington in September. In 1893, Blackburn Rovers bought the freehold of the ground for £2500, but came close to disaster soon after when part of a stand collapsed under the weight of a 20,000 strong crowd for the visit of Everton.
In 1903, a roof was built on the Darwen End of the ground, at a cost of £1,680. The stand now held 12,000 spectators.
In 1904, the Nuttall Street Stand was built, based on designs by the architect, Archibald Leitch at a cost of £24,000. The stand was first used by supporters on New Year's Day 1907 for a match against Preston North End. In 1905, the textile baron Laurence Cotton became chairman and set about overhauling both team and ground. In 1906, construction started on a new main stand seating 4,112 on its upper tier with a paddock for 9,320 in front with changing rooms and offices underneath, cranked at one end to follow the angle of Nuttall Street.
1913 terrorist incident
An attempt was made to destroy the ground in 1913. As part of the suffragette bombing and arson campaign, suffragettes carried out a series of bombings and arson attacks nationwide to support their campaign for women's suffrage. In November 1913, suffragettes attempted to burn down Ewood Park's grandstand but were foiled. In the same year, suffragettes succeeded in burning down Arsenal's then South London stadium, and also attempted to burn down Preston North End's ground. More traditionally male sports were targeted in order to protest against male dominance.
Later 20th century
The Nuttall Street stand changed very little until a fire in 1984 in the Blackburn End corner of the Stand. The club took the opportunity to redevelop this section of the stand with executive boxes and glass-fronted lounge overlooking the ground. The development cost £250,000 and was named the John Lewis Complex, after the club's founder.
The Blackburn End is so named as the town of Blackburn lies behind the stand and is for home supporters. The Blackburn End was terraced in 1928, but did not acquire its concrete cantilever roof until 1960, which was financed after an FA Cup run to the 1960 FA Cup Final.
A double tiered Riverside Stand was built in 1913, bringing the capacity of Ewood Park up to 70,886 with 7,000 seats. In 1928 the Riverside Stand roof was re-roofed for a total outlay of £1,550.
Ewood Park saw its largest crowd – 62,522 for the visit of Bolton Wanderers in 1929. Floodlights were installed in 1958 and were first used in a friendly against Werder Bremen.
The "new" Ewood
After selling Walkersteel to British Steel Corporation for £330 million, Jack Walker decided to buy Blackburn Rovers and set about changing Ewood Park to one of the most advanced grounds in the country. Having gained full control of Blackburn Rovers by the end of the 1990–91 season and funded the construction of the new stand to replace the Riverside Stand three years before, Walker unveiled plans to rebuild the three other sides of Ewood Park and in June 1992 the local council plans for three new stands to be built, which would give the club an all-seater stadium with a capacity of more than 31,000. By February 1994, the new two-tiered Blackburn and Darwen End stands were opened with car parks situated behind both stands. This had involved the demolition of terraced houses in Nuttall Street and also the demolition of Fernhurst Mill.