Next up in our look at former homes of football clubs, it’s the McCain Stadium of Scarborough.
The Athletic Ground, which went on to be known as the McCain Stadium, was a football stadium located on Seamer Road in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. It was the home of Scarborough, a defunct football club who last played in the Conference North before they were dissolved on 20 June 2007 with debts of £2.5 million.
The ground was first opened in 1898, when Scarborough moved from playing at Scarborough Cricket Club. In 1988, under a sponsorship deal, the club sold the naming rights of the Athletic Ground to McCain Foods and, until its closure in 2007, the stadium was known as the McCain Stadium.
Covenant existed on the ground that restricted its use only to sporting activities. Scarborough failed to convince the Scarborough Borough Council that its proposals to sell the McCain Stadium to a housing developer would raise enough money to both to pay off the debts and build a new ground.
A sad & abandoned Athletic Ground,latterly known as the McCain Stadium,once home to Scarborough FC (1898-2007) #Scarborough #abandonedground pic.twitter.com/tNvfXrsZkm
— Football Back Then ⚽️?⚽️ (@FootballThen) October 24, 2017
Scarborough were given an eight day ‘stay of execution’ following a ‘change of heart’ by their local Borough Council.
The winding up of Scarborough paved the way for the supporters’ trust to form a new club as Scarborough Athletic and secure a place in the Northern Counties East League, Division One with effect from 2007-08.
In 2007, Scarborough Borough Council announced its intention to purchase the ground from the liquidators. The liquidators applied to have the covenant lifted which was contested by the Council. As a result the stadium remained empty and derelict, and has been subject to vandalism. The ground also has a fire.
In 2008, the Council finally purchased the ground from the liquidators. Then, a year later, the Council announced that it had decided to invest money in a new facility rather than regenerate the stadium.
Years later, it was confirmed the demolition talks begun along with a vote on whether it should be demolished or not.
Scarborough’s Seamer Road ground is now houses and a Lidl store, but the gates live on at Scarborough’s Athletic’s new Flamingo Land Stadium pic.twitter.com/kPs3bQ179f
— Vince Taylor (@Groundtastic) July 20, 2017
Demolition of the stadium began in September 2011 and was completed in November 2011. The gates at the entrance to the ground have been preserved and incorporated into successor club Scarborough Athletic’s new stadium.
Check out more photos and memories of the ground on the next page.

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