One year ago today we welcomed fans to our historic Griffin Park home for the final time. Brentford left their former stadium last summer after 116 years to move to a new home a short walk away. And while the farewell was not as planned, the final day when our stadium was full was one to remember and Griffin Park's legacy lives on.
There was already signs of the impending issues the Covid-19 outbreak would cause when The Bees faced Sheffield Wednesday a year ago with reduced interaction between players and fans. But that did not affect Brentford on the pitch as they ran out 5-0 winners. And with social distancing not yet an established norm, 12,273 were inside Griffin Park to watch.
The Covid-19 outbreak brought football to a halt six days later and Brentford did not play again until late June. There were further matches inside our historic home, with more memorable days and nights, great goals, hat-tricks, comebacks and heartbreak, but none in front of fans. But Griffin Park lives on in the minds of those who stepped inside and in a real way at other football grounds.
As part of the legacy of Griffin Park, memorabilia was sold to fans while key artefacts were kept. The Club also donated seats and other useful items to other clubs. One recipient club was Hallen AFC, who play in the Western League Premier Division. The Bristol-based club took a donation of 200 seats from Griffin Park late last summer to complete a renovation of the main stand at their Tips Stadium. Sky Sports visited Hallen and the story can be seen here.
Some of the turnstiles from Griffin Park were donated to Bedfont Sports FC while equipment has gone to clubs including Hampton and Richmond Borough and Hanwell Town. Those three clubs also have some seats from Griffin Park, as do many others. Clubs as far afield as Whitchurch Alport, close to the Welsh border near Crewe, and Ynyshir Albions, in the Rhondda Valley, now have some of our old seats, as do Merthyr Town FC.