It was in 1957 that floodlights were
erected at Turf Moor, although it was not the first time football had been played there
under illumination. Way back in March 1891 Burnley played a friendly against Nelson at
Turf Moor. Sixteen Wells lamps were mounted on railings around the ground and were worked
by compressed air and 140 gallons of refined creosote oil, which was equal to some 50,000
candles. Apparently the lighting around the ground was adequate but it was dark in the
middle. In any event Burnley won 4-2.
The 1957 floodlights were installed by Webster’s of Burnley
and each tower had 42 lights fitted with 1500 Watt bulbs. To mark the opening of the
lights a special match was arranged against the old enemy, Blackburn Rovers, on 16th
December 1957. The two teams were:
Burnley: McDonald, D Smith, Winton, Seith, Adamson, Shannon,
Newlands, McIlroy, Shackleton, Cheeseborough, Pilkington.
Blackburn: Leyland, Taylor, Smith, Clayton (England’s right
half), Woods, McGrath, Douglas (an England right winger), Stephenson (ex-Burnley and a
1962 Championship winner with Ipswich), Briggs, Vernon (a Welsh international), McLeod (of
Allie’s ‘Tartan Army’ infamy).
Rovers won 1-0 with a second half penalty from Bryan Douglas.
16,575 turned up to see the new lights and everyone seemed impressed. Burnley issued an
eight page programme, priced 3d. Pages 2 and 3 were taken up by an editorial, page 4
included the team line-ups, page 5 featured photographs of McIlroy, Pilkington, Douglas
and Clayton and pages 6 and 7 displayed both team photos. The final page gave the league
tables for the First and Second Division (Blackburn were then in the latter) and also
provided some details about the floodlights.
Five days later, Burnley played their first league game under
floodlights at Turf Moor, against Portsmouth. Burnley made one change from the side which
played Blackburn, with Pointer replacing Shackleton. Portsmouth lined up: Uprichard (a
Northern Ireland international), Gunter (a lay preacher), Wilson, Albury, Rutter,
Dickinson (an England international), Harris, Gordon, Derek Dougan (a future star for
Blackburn, Wolves and Northern Ireland), Crawford (also a 1962 Championship winner with
Ipswich and a future England international) and McClelland. Burnley won comfortably 3-1
with Newlands (2) and Pointer scoring for Burnley and Gordon for Portsmouth in front of
19,961 people.
