Model stadium: yours for £ 25k
Model stadiums are a painstaking process for Peter Oldfield- Edwards – but the Etihad sold for £ 25,000
It takes years to construct a modern football stadium – and the same is true for the model version, too.
Peter Oldfield- Edwards, an artist based in Sussex, has spent more than 20 years creating exquisitely- detailed models of British football grounds – from Premier League beacons like Old Trafford and the Etihad, to the Balmoral Stadium, home of Scottish League newcomers Cove Rangers.
Oldfield- Edwards makes the models for commercial clients and super fans, who are happy to pay thousands of pounds for a table top version – the miniature Etihad went for £ 25,000.
If you think that sounds quite a lot, fashioning the 1: 220 scale stadium took Oldfield- Edwards around 2,000 hours of research, and a build time of more than two years. The model had to be constructed so it could be dismantled for an 1,100- mile journey to a supporters’ club in Norway. “There were two single doors and one set of tight stairs to negotiate, with the model turned on its side,” he tells FFT. “What could possibly go wrong?!”
Building replica football grounds requires practicality, perfectionism and passion. “I’ve really got to look at each stadium, thinking, ‘ OK, how am I going to do this, how am I going to do that?’,” explains Oldfield- Edwards. His Old Trafford required 58 sections. Sadly, it doesn’t include a despairing Ed Woodward in the directors’ box.
Along with gathering hundreds of pictures, Oldfield- Edwards absorbs a sense of each ground. “I will build a connection with the club and find out about their heritage,” he adds.
He has also made other models, featuring unexpected subjects like the Kop end terrace at Chesterfield’s old Saltergate stadium. “I got the chance to visit one afternoon and the Kop caught my eye,” he says. “It may be weather beaten, but to me it could tell a thousand stories. It’s important that these grounds are captured in physical form for future generations.”
As a long- time fan of Brighton & Hove Albion, he’s built a model of the Amex Stadium – having previously constructed a miniature Goldstone Ground, the club’s home until 1997. “My memories of the old Goldstone stretch over an 18- year period in which I went through every emotion a supporter goes through,” continues Oldfield- Edwards, who also finds older grounds more distinctive. “I could tell a stadium by the goalposts alone!”
Asked about models he would love to do, he picks out the 1930s art deco masterpiece that was the East Stand at Arsenal’s former Highbury home.
“I got a tour before they knocked it down – I’d like to make a seven- foot model with the tunnel, changing rooms, plus Avenell Road behind,” he says. Other contenders include Anfield and the Brian Clough- era Trent End at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground. Further afield, he cites Ajax’s old De Meer Stadion. “The problem is getting the photographs I need,” he admits.
The time needed to make each one is an issue. “I just don’t have the time in my life to build every one of the 92,” sighs Oldfield- Edwards. Given his love for Brighton, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t get round to Selhurst Park.