The WORST FIELD in Buffalo Bills HISTORY | Chargers @ Bills (1968)

Ever want to know what a game of football would look like on a mud pit? Well, here you go
During week 11 of the 1968 AFL season, the Buffalo Bills played the San Diego Chargers at War Memorial Stadium. And thanks to absolute incompetence on the part of everyone involved, the field ended up resembling something straight out of a pig pen, to the point where not only was the field a giant pile of mud, but head coach Sid Gillman said that Buffalo didn't deserve a professional football team if that was how the field was going to look. This is the story behind these atrocious field conditions
Videos Mentioned:
Heidi Game: • The OTHER Heidi Game |...
Other Heidi Game Video: • The NFL vs. WILLY WONK...
Bills/Packers 1982: • The WORST FIELD in NFL...
Bills Move to Seattle: • When The Buffalo Bills...
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[@johnboutet7560]

Throw in the Dec 1980 Bills game AT Candlestick Park in SF. That was maybe worse than the other two fields.

[@WaltGekko]

And that was after the 49ers went from AstroTurf to grass after the 1978 season to help OJ Simpson's knees and wasn't the only "mud bowl" game played there after that. It showed why at the time many stadiums had AstroTurf (that stadiums were already starting to go to when this game in this video took place). Grass fields back then were very poorly maintained as a rule and it wasn't until Prescription Athletic Turf came in during the late 1980s that would change.

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

that is bizarre that this game occurred on the exact same day as the Heidi Game. No wonder no one outside of Buffalo noticed.

[@Bruce12867]

I'm sure they noticed in San Diego too.

[@ricknibert6417]

NBC cut away from this game to show the Jets-Raiders kickoff.

[@christophercole8114]

There's a quote that whatever war the Buffalo War Memorial Stadium was dedicated to must have been fought within its confines. But the former venue does live on in the movie "The Natural"

[@dgc770]

I believe it was Brock Yates that said that when they used to hold auto races there.

[@davidlafleche1142]

"War Memorial Stadium looks as if whatever war it had been a memorial to was fought within its confines."

[@mediochreeuchre8391]

I warched that 1982 game live, those mud games were always a blast. That field in Milwaukee seemed to be in much better shape; it didn't seem like the players were sinking into the ground every time they took a step like in this '68 game.

[@donaldellis-wt6xl]

That Monday night game in 1976 in Washington between the Cardinals and Redskins was the worst I’ve ever seen not only had it rained before the game but a monsoon during the game as well.

[@goofygus6855]

I remember watching this game.

[@goofygus6855]

Bambi and the Ghost on the outside.

[@kai-saunanderson8724]

That's my dad getting the ball at 4:48 #22 Max Anderson. Thanks for posting this footage. R.I.P Dad.

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

That's awesome! RIP to your dad. What a memory

[@VinnyXwolf]

He also got a face full of mud and was lucky he could breathe afterwards.

[@kai-saunanderson8724]

​@@OfficialJaguarGator9 🙏🏿

[@mistamajor]

I grew up in that *air quotes* "bad part of town"! Only blocks from the Tops market shooting unfortunately 😢. My dad told me stories of the team getting chicken wings after each of game from the birthplace where it was created. One of the reasons they left to Orchard Park and never came back.

[@xp8969]

They didn't move to OP cause of the Anchor Bar, and it's not in a bad part of town, it's in between Jefferson and Main, not Filmore and Bailey, the mayor literally lives a few streets up the road 😂

[@mistamajor]

@@xp8969 first of all I was not saying they moved cause of anchor bar. I'm sorry you read it that way. I was talking about Mr. Johnny Young not Ms Teresa who was given credit for the chicken wing even though My Johnny was doing it in 1961. Second, I was implying they moved to OP in 1972 because of what was displayed in the video. Bad field conditions in a "bad part" of town was the catalyst to them going to the South towns. The Rock pile is in off Jefferson and E North st, not Jefferson and main St!! I clearly remember playing little league there in the 80s. You are horribly mistaken! Lol 😆

[@xp8969]

@@mistamajorJefferson runs parallel to Main, they don't intersect, and War Memorial is exactly where I said between Jefferson and Main, look at the map, also it's on Best and Dodge, not on E. North Street

[@mistamajor]

@@xp8969 so correction when your not even correct?? If it's off Best and Jefferson, why even bring up Main Street? Had nothing to do with proximity to what was called war memorial and now called Johnny Wiley. Why not start with that?

[@xp8969]

😂@@mistamajorI mentioned Main Street because it's literally in between Jefferson and Main, the fact that you're confused about what street it's on and where on that street it is makes it seem like you've never even been to Buffalo, LOOK AT THE MAP 😂

[@bdautch20]

Went to the Rockpile to see minor league baseball back in the day. Whenever it rained even a little, consider it a rainout because there was practically NO drainage at that place.

[@davidlafleche1142]

A critic said that "War Memorial Stadium looks like whatever war it had been a memorial to had been fought within its confines." The worst weather game I ever saw was Seattle at Kansas City. It was pouring rain. The drainage system at Arrowhead Stadium was totally gunked up. There was six inches of water on the field!

[@johnboutet7560]

Maybe Sid Gillman was a little butt hurt from having his team thumped in back to back AFL Championships by ...... The Bills?

[@ShrexyGuy]

The OG chargerings got to Sid so the modern day chargerings can just be memes

[@WaltGekko]

San Francisco had more than one "mud bowl" game at Candlestick after they went from AstroTurf back to grass following the 1978 season. This included a very memorable game in the mud in Week 16 of the 1980 season when the 49ers hosted the Bills in a game the Bills needed to win the AFC East. The Bills won that game in extremely muddy conditions (I remember someone doing a video of it to Barry Manilow's 1980 hit "I Made It Through The Rain" in fact). There were those who felt the NFL should have stepped in and forced the 49ers and Candlestick to go back to AstroTurf after that.

[@davidlafleche1142]

No, they weren't going back, no matter what. Candlestick Park switched to Astroturf when it was enclosed in 1971 and the 49ers moved in; but everyone hated Astroturf. Giants outfielder Bobby Bonds said, "If cows don't eat it, I don't want to play on it!" Astroturf was always very dangerous, causing lots of knee injuries and skin damage (sliding on it scraped layers of skin like a cheese grater). Bonds led the charge to rip out the crappy surface and put real grass back in. BTW: Before football, the Giants had it all to themselves. Back in the 60s, the Dodgers had a great base stealer, Maury Wills. When the field is prepared for baseball, the ground crew must spray a LIGHT COATING of water on the infield to keep the dust down. But the Giants told their crew to put a little too much water around first base, to prevent Maury Wills from running. It was so bad, the area was nicknamed "Camp Swampy."

[@WaltGekko]

@@davidlafleche1142Not entirely true. The then-Oakland Raiders actually played the 1961 and '62 seasons at Candlestick before finally playing in Oakland at first Frank Youell Field, a temporary stadium that was build while the Oakland Coliseum was under construction and opened in 1966.

[@Hogtownboy1]

i used to go see game there a touch water . five minute you couldn't tell each team players apart.

[@jayfelsberg1931]

Longtime Chargers OL Terry Owens was the State Farm agent in Samson AL for years after he retired from football. .. He told me that playing that game was playing in a South Alabama swamp, and he was waiting for gators to show up.

[@jeremydobbs5578]

I miss the old Rockpile. It was a terrible stadium to watch a football game and a complete travesty to watch a baseball game there. Memories

[@marcus813]

That field was even worse than Gillette Stadium's natural turf field was when the Patriots lost a 2006 home game to the Jets, which happened not too long after a thunderstorm. I remember watching that game at a sports bar via Sunday Ticket and there were divots all over the field. It didn't appear any safer than those old-school artificial turf fields. The NFL usually doesn't allow its clubs switching from either natural or artificial turf to the other mid-season, but with Gillette Stadium's field being all but unplayable, the NFL made an exception. After the Pats played 2 road games, they had a FieldTurf surface waiting for them when they hosted the Bears.

[@WaltGekko]

I believe the Cowboys did the change from AstroTurf to FieldTurf at Texas Stadium in mid-season in the early 2000s.

[@davidlafleche1142]

That was the only time in the history of sports when an artificial surface was an improvement over grass.

[@marcus813]

@@davidlafleche1142 That might have been the case in Giants Stadium's final years, too. The natural turf field there was such an unmitigated disaster that the NJSEA had it there for only 3 years before switching to FieldTurf.

[@quasimoto7662]

Not exactly any options in those days. Artificial turf was first used in 1968 with the oilers but wasn’t used for a team that played outdoors until the eagles did it the next season. The real shift to the artificial stuff started in 1970 with most college programs and in the NFL

[@ShrexyGuy]

And Achilles everywhere have paid simply cause a few extra bucks is too much for millionaires and now a days billionaires

[@WaltGekko]

The University of Houston played games in the Astrodome on AstroTurf beginning with the 1966 season I believe and I do know the University of Tennessee began playing on AstroTurf with the 1968 season (there is a video of an October 1968 game on KZbin that was played on AstroTurf). They went to AstroTurf because grass fields were often very poorly maintained and in many cases were dirt fields that when frozen were harder than AstroTurf late in the season. An example of this was opening day of the 1970 MLB season (April 1970) in Yankee Stadium where the Yankees were hosting the Red Sox and the field looked like total patchwork to have it at anything resembling playable shape for opening day that was why stadiums were going to AstroTurf at the time: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJzCl4GXgZ2nsJY And Leonard Tose paid for the AstroTurf for Franklin Field out of his own pocket.

[@chrisguardiano6143]

Man that field is absolutely terrible & reminds me a lot of how Foxboro Stadium (where the Patriots played before their current home) treated MLS when it came to the field in the first ever MLS Cup in 1996 between DC United & LA Galaxy. A nor'easter had gone through the area prior to the start of the game & had flooded the field even though there were tarps on it to prevent that from happening. As a result, the field was muddy in areas that were not totally flooded making it impossible for the players to get good footing even more so given the fact that soccer cleats have shorter studs than football cleats. Even though the field conditions were absolutely terrible & MLS was thinking about postponing the game to the following week, the Patriots ordered the league to continue on with the game since they wanted all soccer related activities done by the end of November so that the field crew could only focus on football for final month of the NFL season. Despite all of this, the first MLS Cup was a thriller with DC winning 3-2 in OT after being down 2-0 with 30 minutes left. After the match like Sid Gillman, DC coach Bruce Arena absolutely ripped the field conditions saying that the NE Revolution (the MLS team that played there) should have chosen a different venue to play their home matches in. To make things even more crazy, the press box at Foxboro Stadium became so filled up with journalists during the game that the fire marshal had to kick everyone out due to a possible capacity code violation & resulted in ABC's announcers for the game along with Univisions's having to call it from the concourse.

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

I hated cleats so much I didn't wear them at all during soccer or track n field where most people wore cleats n cross country were you'd be surprised that some long distance runners wore cleats including our state top 10 runner RELIGIOUSLY wore cleats I couldn't stand cleats and if I was in football I would wear steel toes as a kicker (you're allowed steel toes as a kicker or punter) I would have been a football division 2 starter in high school at kicker too was good from 35 without kicking shoes or any coaching (but STUPID d2 weight limit kept me from being on the team and the head coach was pissed he couldn't put me out there)

[@ianpoyant9772]

And what’s sort of ironic is the fact that Arena was recently head coach of the Revolution (granted, this was long after the Pats and Revs had moved to Gillette).

[@tonythomas2391]

War Memorial Stadium, then known as Roesch Stadium, was built in 1937. I went there for a minor league baseball game in the mid-80s and froze in the right field bleachers. It was mercifully torn down in 1989

[@daveerhardt1879]

This is the stadium were the movie 'The Natural' was filmed.

[@davidlafleche1142]

@@daveerhardt1879 Yes, and it certainly looked like a run-down, 1930s-era baseball stadium.

[@randytracy1742]

War memorial stadium was the worst place to play pro football in- I heard when the chiefs played the bills they said the field was awful and the locker room showers hardly worked!😂😂😂😂

[@xp8969]

The Chiefs have a long history of crying 😂

[@randytracy1742]

@@xp8969 yeah? Well their complaints were real- Gilman made a valid point about that muddy field!!

[@davidlafleche1142]

Even worse: Sick's Stadium in Seattle, a ballpark that truly lived down to its name.

[@randytracy1742]

@@davidlafleche1142 The Seattle pilots played a t the place in one year (1969) and after that season they moved to Milwaukee where they can became the brewers!

[@edwardburek1717]

If FDR was still alive at that time, he'd have probably said something like, "November 17th 1968 - a date that will live in AFL infamy." Then again, probably not. Regarding the state of the field, I dare say that Derby County fans of a certain age might have something to say about that.

[@CTubeMan]

This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made a video about Chargers Coach Don Coryell complaining about the field conditions in his home game against the Bengals in 1982.

[@WaltGekko]

That he did. It was noted how bad the field was for that game yet it was one of the more explosive games of the year.

[@Jason_Maier]

Soon as I saw this thumbnail; I clicked. Yup, War Memorial Stadium was a dump (with the not so affectionate nickname of 'The Rockpile'). Other 'Mud Bowl' games in the NFL: 1977 Divisional Round: Vikings at Rams 1997 Divisional Round: 49ers at Packers 1982 AFC Championship Game: Jets at Dolphins

[@anthonyrivera4735]

1997 NFC Wild Card Eagles @ 49ers because the score was 14-0

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

1982 was bizarre because the game was played in Miami where it often rains but no tarp on the field supposedly..leaving "Orange Mud" (at the time, the Dolphins played at the Orange Bowl)..

[@Hodaggium]

@@anthonyrivera4735 And then the 49ers went on to lose to the Green Bay Packers a week later at Lambeau Field in another game known in Green Bay as The Mud Bowl. That was the first game I ever attended.

[@Jason_Maier]

@@andrewpadaetz5549 Don Shula claimed the reason why the Orange Bowl wasn't covered was that since the stadium was owned by the city; it was their responsibility to maintain it. Naturally; Jets coach Walt Michaels was furious. As for War Memorial Stadium, never heard the story about the bat boy being held at knife point; and there was an incident where one of the locker rooms was robbed during a baseball game. But Bisons attendance was so bad, they were actually moved in the middle of the 1970 season to become the Winnipeg Whips.

[@Bruce12867]

1982 Week 7: Steelers at Browns. I remember one of Steve Cox's punts landed in a puddle and just died there.

[@ronpeacock9939]

These problems happen across the league back then... but this might be the big reason why Rich Stadium went with Artificial Turf... Still, I think the worse turf was the last Astrodome preseason game that got canceled because it was deemed dangerous..

[@daveerhardt1879]

It looked like the stadium in Milwaukee was slip and slide, but it did have some green areas. But the stadium in Buffalo was just mud, so I vote for the Buffalo stadium for being the worst.

[@rngfootball759]

The Rockpile definitely does not meet NFL field standards. It is built for baseball.

[@davidlafleche1142]

No, it wasn't. It was always more suited to football or track. There was very little foul room on the 3rd Base side, and right field was only 310 feet.

[@MetJetPat]

after this in 1982 playoffs between the NY Jets and Miami Dolphins in the Orange bowl the league Let Miami leave the field uncovered the night before during a torrential Rain storm with the AFC championship game the next day.. That one was known as the mud bowl.

[@geraldfields6169]

Shula was a hypocrite. He complained to no end about the Patriots not covering the field when they lost 3 - 0 to the Pats in a snowstorm

[@WaltGekko]

Actually, I believe, Shula did it in violation of league rules but was let off the hook. After that the NFL made it mandatory no matter what to have a tarp covering the field before games.

[@ricknibert6417]

Maybe that's why so many high school fields in Ohio have turf. It's not just for player safety

[@mikerichards8456]

damn that stomp at 5:04 was brutal

[@jeremyfox1511]

Mismanagement by the city of Buffalo? No way!!! 😂😂

[@jeremydobbs5578]

Agreed. I live in Florida now and tell people here that Buffalo is the Algonquin word for "village where many chiefs don't make a bridge".

[@luisreyes1963]

I hate to be the equipment manager for the Bills, having to handle all those mud-drenched uniforms & cleats. 😧

[@rjflesher]

Yeah, Tony Marchitte had his work cut out for him that day.

[@hiramlewis3873]

You would think their were worse fields in the 1930's and 1940's because the NFL was just starting out and it seemed like they wouldn't have had the the money to upkeep the fields because of the depression.Their would be the lack of Man power in the 1940's( because of WWII).

[@davidlafleche1142]

The best grass field of all time was old Tampa Stadium ("The Big Sombrero"). Everyone agreed it was an excellent place to play. The worst was at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots worked hard to grow real grass, but could never do it. The field was so bad, the Patriots asked for a waiver so they could fix it during the season. The NFL agreed. With the Patriots on a two-week road trip, the field was completely removed, a new drainage system was built, and Field Turf was installed. The crew worked triple shifts and barely finished in time for the next game.

[@Davepool-hs7vr]

Sid Gilman was in the right to vent

[@marcomcdowell8861]

Looked fun. Looked like a football game. Coryell sounded like a little kid.

[@scottybbadd]

Recently the Bills threatened to move to Austin, TX. The City of Austin said they were unaware of this. Besides San Antonio is the better option, in Texas, for an NFL franchise. Also the McNair nor the Jones family would approve of this move.

[@VinnyXwolf]

What about the Rams-Vikings playoff game in 76 or 77?

[@coiler3927]

Was instantly reminded of the Steelers Dolphins Monday Night Mud

[@WaltGekko]

Yeah, I remember that one. The last 3-0 game before the Vikings beat the Raiders by that score a few weeks ago.

[@homersimpsonsfatguyhat9541]

That field looks like a muddy cow lot

[@gordonwhitney6052]

From the school of "Canadian Football is 'professional' football" - not so fast on calling these two fields the worst in the history of pro football. Allow me to present the 1950 Grey Cup from Varsity Stadium in Toronto. One of the earliest games to earn the appellation "Mud Bowl". Since it was a championship game, it's not that hard to find footage from the game online, even though it was from 1950. Varsity Stadium did not have a tarp. Because why would you need one? In Canada. In late November. The bit that frequently comes up about one of the players nearly drowning in one of the little pools of water that dotted the field was humorous exaggeration. No actual truth to it.

[@davidlafleche1142]

Exhibition Stadium: the Rain Bowl (1982). It was pouring so hard, the fans had to go under the grandstand to watch it on TV. The sellout crowd of 54,000 shouted, "WE WANT A DOME !!!"

[@princealigorna7468]

And I thought the 07 Mudbowl was awful...

[@stevenbauer4799]

most afl stadiums were shit. they looked like erector sets. pats ayed in some mud bowl games at fenway. most afl teams got astro turf (arrowhead/rich) after being built in '70's after the merger or shared a new multi purpose stadium with mlb (shea, sd, oakland alameda). Pats settled for a crappy stadium more suited for h s football.

[@WaltGekko]

Pats stadium (originally Schafer Stadium) was built for $6 Million (about $70 Million today) in 1971. Gillette Stadium (it's replacement) was built for $325 Million opening in 2002, which was very cheap even by early 2000's standards by then to build a stadium.

[@scottybbadd]

Buffalo not deserving a professional football franchise. There are sime debating that to this day.

[@robertwilloughby8050]

So what was the BEST field (considering the conditions) that was so good the other team accused them of cheating?😅

[@johnmaring7056]

& I Thought MetLife Stadium In East Rutherford, NJ Where The NY Giants/NY Jets Play Their Home Games Wasn’t The Only Worse Field To Play In The NFL! Regardless Of The Field Conditions! 🌫️🥶❄️☔️🌬️

[@Mbarnstein62891]

What was the worst field conditions not involving the Bills?

[@docnoc66]

I disagree, the worst game in AFL history as far as conditions was the patriot dolphin game in 1969, which you reported on in a previous video

[@adamtparker6515]

1969 CIN at BOS...wow. Ok visitors you won the toss...your pick? Can we measure the maximum flood depths on either side before giving you an answer?.

[@Fireyninjadog]

The bills worst season, other than 1971

[@xp8969]

One of the best stadiums in NFL history

[@luisreyes1963]

Seriously? 😕

[@xp8969]

@@luisreyes1963 100%, it's not about the physical building or the playing surface, it's allll about the atmosphere in the crowd being there, anyone from any visiting team who has been to the #BillsMafia tailgate at a game in Buffalo already knows what I'm talking about but what made the Old Rock Pile so wild was that it was right in the middle of the city with plenty of bars and restaurants within walking distance (all up and down Jefferson and on Main Street and nearby in Allentown) and the rules were waaay less strict in the stadium back in the 60's so people would bring grills and literal kegs into the stadium bringing the tailgate right into the game, Buffalo has always been one of th best cities in the NFL to go to games at but the Old Rock Pile back in the AFL days were truly something special 💪🦬💪

[@Bruce12867]

Yeah, the NFL really didn't take their groundskeeping too seriously until around the late 1990s.

[@WaltGekko]

No, it was grass fields in general were very poorly maintained until Prescription Athletic Turf came into play in the late 1980's. That's why many stadiums went to AstroTurf, there were many stadiums then where by the end of the season the fields were dirt and often harder than AstroTurf when frozen.

[@eddiekulp1241]

Be nice to see mud games again in the NFL. Some games the field should be ripped up some and water dumped on to create the mud boggs we remenber

[@rushbroussard5399]

YES WAR MEMORIAL STADIUM WAS A BAD STADIUM FOR THE BUFFALO BILLS IN 1968 THE BUFFALO BILLS STADIUM HIGHMARK STADIUM AKA RALPH WILSON STADIUM IS A GOOD STADIUM BECAUSE HIGHMARK STADIUM HAS ARTIFICIAL TRUFF WAR MEMORIAL STADIUM HAD GRASS😂🎉😅

[@ShrexyGuy]

"Buffalo got hit by 2.8 inches" Weird, I dont remember mushroom stamping Buffalo