Maurice Rebak Stadium
ance of 5,161. Described as looking like a mini-Wembley, the crowd was five deep in places, with metal sheds being commandeered as vantage points.
Designed by Finchley Council engineer and surveyor Percival T Harrison, the proposed double-sided stand at Summers Lane was a bold and innovative venture and the first sports stand in Britain to feature a cantilever roof. However, its projected cost spooked council officials, and Sir Owen Williams, engineer for Wembley Stadium, was brought in to suggest modifications. These included increasing the proportion of cement used, raising the seating deck six inches to improve sightlines, and using benched seating rather than individual tip-up seats. With work on the stand still to commence, Finchley belatedly played their first match at Summers Lane, an Athenian League fixture against Barking Town on 22 February 1930. As an interim measure, wooden huts were utilized as dressing rooms, an arrangement which together with the lack of spectator accommodation, persuaded the Athenian League to remove Finchley from the competition at the end of the 1929 / 30 season.
Finally, after a change of contractors further delayed matters, the stand and ground were officially opened on 20 December 1930 by FA Secretary Sir Frederick Wall. Followed by a friendly against Hampstead, the presentation speeches revealed that the new pitches and stand had cost £ 8,000 to build and that each side of the stand seated 660. One councillor rather gracelessly remarked that the stand was not a thing of beauty, and Percival T Harrison’ s subsequent buildings, which included the nearby Finchley Lido, Finchley Fire Station and Finchley Library, were more neo-classical in design, which suggests that the Summers Lane stand might have been an outlier in his portfolio.
In addition to the stand, the football ground portion of Finchley’ s new home was banked on three sides of the pitch and provided with a rudimentary covered enclosure, which with its profusion of timber roof struts was stylistically the opposite of the sleek structure facing onto it. And sleek though the new stand was, its open design meant it tended to be draughty, so glazed screen ends were soon fitted. It quickly became apparent also that the cantilever roof offered little protection from the rain, which blew in from the prevailing westerly wind. To rectify this, in 1936 / 37 £ 400 was spent on a steel framed canopy, which was fitted to the front of the roof. Supported by four thick columns, it certainly did its job but unfortunately rather defeated the object of the original obstruction free roof.
A packed Summers Lane in the mid-1950s Photo: John Tayler
Readmitted to the Athenian League, the 1950s and early 1960s saw an upturn in Finchley’ s fortunes, with a league title in 1953 / 54, and several good runs in the FA Cup and FA Amateur Cup. Both ends of Summers Lane were terraced, and the covered enclosure, nicknamed The Cowshed, was extended to span the full length of the pitch, meaning there was room for a record Summers Lane crowd of 9,550 for an FA Amateur Cup Quarter Final against Bishop Auckland in 1949 / 50. Other large crowds in this period included 7,500 for a 3-1 FA Cup victory over Crystal Palace in 1952 / 53, and 9,000 v Southend United in an FA Cup tie in 53 / 54. The last major addition to the Summers Lane facilities before the merger with Wingate came in 1962 when a set of floodlights was installed. As most amateur clubs did, Finchley opted for the budget conscious four pylons a side system, a by product of which was that one of the pylons was planted in front of the stand, adding yet another impediment to viewing.
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