Title
Memories of cricket at Grace Road
Subject
Sport
Description
Former county cricket player Rod Pratt remembers the poor state of the facilities at Grace Road in the 1950s.
Creator
East Midlands Oral History Archive
Source
Interview with Rod Pratt for the East Midlands Oral History Archive. Uncatalogued.
Publisher
East Midlands Oral History Archive
Date
1950s
Contributor
East Midlands Oral History Archive
Rights
You may use this item in accordance with the licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/
Format
.mp3
Language
English
Type
Oral history
Original Format
.wav
Duration
1 min 36 sec
Bit Rate/Frequency
128kbps
Transcription
What were your first impressions of walking into Grace Road then? You didn't know it existed before you got there.
I didn't know it existed. Well, the school played football on it, didn't they? The City Boys. There was one to about four football pitches on there. And the opposition, a lot of opposition, because it wasn't a very good outfield, rolled and all that, and didn't have the best of groundsmen, the opposition had to wear boxes a lot of the time to field in. Yeah, I mean that was, then you were doing that. It was completed if so, I mean I was, I was taking them out, you know, but it was old pavilion, rickety pavilion, you know, the floorboards were, but that didn't matter to me, I was, I hadn't seen anything like it, so it was new. I'd only played in the fields, you know, at Stoney Stanton and South Leicestershire League, played a little bit then. They used to play a lot of out cricket, you know, at Loughborough and Snibston, colliery and pit, Ashby. Or I say a lot, they used to play five or six matches through the season. Well, going to the, going to other grounds, I mean that it looked a little bit, well, it was wasn't very good, and facilities weren't very good, but to me I hadn't seen anything like it, so it was it was a biggish stadium for me.
I didn't know it existed. Well, the school played football on it, didn't they? The City Boys. There was one to about four football pitches on there. And the opposition, a lot of opposition, because it wasn't a very good outfield, rolled and all that, and didn't have the best of groundsmen, the opposition had to wear boxes a lot of the time to field in. Yeah, I mean that was, then you were doing that. It was completed if so, I mean I was, I was taking them out, you know, but it was old pavilion, rickety pavilion, you know, the floorboards were, but that didn't matter to me, I was, I hadn't seen anything like it, so it was new. I'd only played in the fields, you know, at Stoney Stanton and South Leicestershire League, played a little bit then. They used to play a lot of out cricket, you know, at Loughborough and Snibston, colliery and pit, Ashby. Or I say a lot, they used to play five or six matches through the season. Well, going to the, going to other grounds, I mean that it looked a little bit, well, it was wasn't very good, and facilities weren't very good, but to me I hadn't seen anything like it, so it was it was a biggish stadium for me.
Interviewer
Colin Hyde & David Collins
Interviewee
Rod Pratt
Location
Interviewee's home address
Feedback