The Main Stand(s)
The Main Stand sits on the east side of the ground, and contains the changing rooms, tunnel, director's box and press area. The eldest stand of the four, the Main Stand contains the only part of the original stadium built at Vicarage Road still standing.
Constructed in 1922 as Watford moved from Cassio Road to the present ground, the stand was included as part of the stadium constructed with the financial help of Benskins' breweries, who initially handed the land to the football club on a 21-year lease. The construction cost was approximately £7,000.
In 1969 a new extension to the main stand was constructed. The extension added approximately 1,700 seats to the East side of the ground. Seats were added to the terrace in front of the original main stand in 1982 to create the club's family enclosure, and capacity was further increased with the addition of uncovered seats towards the Vicarage Road end of the stadium around the same time.
In 2004, parts of the stand were closed, after they were deemed unfit for use. The remainder of the stand closed to spectators in 2008. Two years later, the part of the roof which remained from 1922 was dismantled due to structural concerns.
Read more about this topic: Vicarage Road
Famous quotes containing the word main:
“But oh, not the hills of Habersham,
And oh, not the valleys of Hall
Avail: I am fain for to water the plain.
Downward, the voices of Duty call—
Downward, to toil and be mixed with the main,
The dry fields burn, and the mills are to turn,
And a myriad flowers mortally yearn,
And the lordly main from beyond the plain
Calls o’er the hills of Habersham,
Calls through the valleys of Hall.”
—Sidney Lanier (1842–1881)