Spotland Stadium from 1902 to 1903, but both folded. The present Rochdale A.F.C. was then formed to use the ground in 1907, later buying the freehold for £1,700 in 1914. By the time the club joined the Football League in 1921, a low wooden grandstand had been built on the south side of the ground, once the location of the cricket pavilion. Also by this time, the name of the surrounding area of the town, Spotland, had been adopted as the ground's name. In August 2016, Rochdale A.F.C. renamed Spotland Stadium the Crown Oil Arena as part of a sponsorship deal by
English public school football games later headmaster at Merchant Taylors' School (1561) and St Paul's School (1596) has been described as "the greatest sixteenth Century advocate of football". He tells us that towards the end of the sixteenth century football in England had grown to "greatnes ... [and was] much used ... in all places". Mulcaster's unique contribution is not only referring to "footeball" by its correct English name but also providing the earliest evidence of organised team football. Mulcaster confirms that his was a game closer to modern football by differentiating it from games involving other parts of the body, namely "the hand ball"