NEVER mind leafy Edgbaston being considered a candidate for most intimidating ground in world cricket – as daft a claim ever broached at a major sports press conference, with Australia soon showing how much the venue scared them by thrashing England by 251 runs last week– the arena no visiting team wanted to enter was Tybridge Street football ground, Worcester in the 1930s.

Now absorbed into the peaceful setting of Cripplegate Park, all those years ago the place was a veritable hell-hole. Long before the days of football hooliganism, Worcester Schools Football Association felt things were so bad they wrote to the city’s Chief of Police to draw his attention to the goings-on at Tybridge Street.

This was after reports sent in to the Association early in 1930 highlighted the problems of spectator rowdyism at the ground. An entry in the Association’s minute book for February that year stated : “A letter was received from Mr F Osbourne who had refereed the match between Hound’s Lane and St George’s at Tybridge Street. He complained of the unruly conduct of spectators and expressed his unwillingness to referee any further matches at this ground.”

Another entry in April added: “Certainly members who had refereed matches on the Tybridge Street Ground complained of its unsuitability and also of the demoralising effect on the lads of certain habitual spectators whose remarks and conduct are disgusting.”

And it wasn’t only the onlookers either. In one game between St Martin’s and St Peters the conduct of one of the teachers, a Mr Riley, was brought into question. Specifically what Mr Riley did was not minuted – although the teacher did admit it was “entirely wrong” – but while wanting to protect the standing of the referees, the Association decided to let him off with a caution.

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The park has also had its share of vandalism over the years with the bowling greens and Sons of Rest pavilion coming under sporadic attack, So the recent news the tennis courts are to have a refurb is most welcome, But only after having first made sure the proposed floodlights don’t disturb the local bats. Ahh, bless.

Cripplegate Park was originally created in the mid-1800s, but was remodelled in the 1930s and the new park was opened in 1932 by the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edwards VIII, when he visited Worcester to open the widened nearby bridge over the River Severn.

In more recent years the park has hit the headlines for controversial reasons. Back in the 1990s there was a well backed move to extend it down to the river frontage, creating a new riverside area . This would have meant doing away with that stretch of Hylton Road up to the bridge and realigning the road up Tybridge Street and then cutting left across Cripplegate Park to enter New Road opposite the entrance to the County Cricket Ground. On the area of land between this new carriageway and St John’s it was proposed to build a supermarket.

After much heated debate the plan failed to get City Council approval and St John’s had its new supermarket somewhere else. But the vision of a riverside park still hangs on in some quarters and the project may not be completely dead yet.