SOVIET STAND OF THE BORDERS
VINCE TAYLOR REPORTS ON THE ONLY CATEGORY A LISTED STAND IN SCOTLAND
The two football stands in Scotland that have been granted listed status by Historic Scotland could hardly be more different. Rangers' South Stand at Ibrox is the epitome of traditional building methods and materials. Opened in 1929, it veers not an inch from the orthodox, though admittedly designer Archibald Leitch had done much to establish what
was considered orthodox at a football ground in the first place. Built only 35 years after
the structure at Ibrox, the stand at Netherdale in Galashiels is of a different stamp entirely.
While serving the same function as Leitch's stand at Ibrox, it manages also to be a stunning
piece of concrete geometry.
Ahead of its time, yet strangely of its time, the modernist stand at Netherdale has been
accused of having a Soviet appearance to it, and certainly in 1964 images of the Soviet
space programme, and in fact Soviet infrastructure in general, were much in the public
consciousness. Commissioned by Gala Fairydean, long established members of the East of
Scotland League, the stand was seen as an essential element of their plans to join the Scottish League. Gala Fairydean, together with ground sharers Gala Rovers of the Border Amateur League, had taken up the lease at Netherdale during 1961/62, following Gala RFC's
departure to New Netherdale next door. Prior to then Gala Fairydean had been based at
Raid Stane Park, a field bereft of any spectator facilities, that ran parallel to the rugby
ground. The rugby club left behind an antiquated wooden stand and pavilion, that dated
back to the ground's opening in 1912. Though an attractive period piece, the stand did
not exactly suggest a Scottish League club in the making. Cash rich thanks to a lucrative
lottery promoted jointly by Fairydean and Rovers, a substantial budget of £25,000 was
available for a suitably eye-catching stand, but one wonders if the club knew what they
were letting themselves in for.
Netherdale in 2015
Photo: Pete Miles
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