Crystal Palace Wallsend

Wallsend Rovers Football Club was formed in 1887. The club played games on Hopkin's Reserve, which was renamed Federal Park, and Wallsend Number One. Eventually, the club's greatest asset would be its new home ground. Johnson’s Paddock, a swampy piece of land between Wallsend and Plattsburg on Iron Bark Creek, was leased from Newcastle-Wallsend Coal Company and filled to form a football ground which was officially opened and named Crystal Palace in 1921. The ground was officially opened by the Mayor, Alderman Rae, on Saturday 19 March, 1921. 

No sooner had the ground opened when heavy rain caused a 'pit-fall' on the north-east corner of the ground. The Newcastle Sun report on 13 June, 1921, noted that while the oval was not affected by the 20 foot deep by 18 feet wide hole, it was caused by mining operations underneath. Another mines subsidence fall at the lower end of Crystal Palace after heavy rainfall and floods in April 1927 made the ground unable to be used for the remainder of the season with home games played at Wallsend and Federal Parks.

Wallsend purchased the ground in 1929 for 750 pounds. In 1935, the final payment was made to the Newcastle-Wallsend Coal Company and the ground belonged to Wallsend.