In the 1972 1st XV photograph below you can see part of the old wooden clubhouse. When I joined Barnsley in 1970 I had no idea how long the clubhouse had been in use. I found out later that when Barnsley first began to use the Stairfoot ground the Keel Inn, a pub a few hundred yards away, was used for changing. This arrangement continued until after World War Two. The first mention that I can find of changing rooms on the ground is in the 1949/50 Yorkshire County handbook.

By the 1970s the wooden clubhouse although, it appears to have only been in use for a little over twenty years, certainly looked as if it had seen better days. On a match day, even in the mildest weather, the dressing rooms and bar were cold and with beer served from wooden barrels and a very basic food preparation area it wasn’t a place where anyone stayed very long after a game.

It did have however one very impressive feature and that was a large tiled bath for each dressing room. The baths were so good that when the clubhouse was rebuilt in 1973 the new building incorporated the old baths that had been left in situ when the wooden building was demolished.

If you have any memories of the old clubhouse, good or bad, or have other photographs of the building please contact Sam Moss who will be happy to feature them on the club website.

Follow or click the link: https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/barnsley/contact
Click 'EMAIL' next to Sam Moss and fill out the form.

Written by Stuart Sheard