A couple who became the first to marry on a football pitch say they have mixed feelings about the stadium’s demolition next year. Alyson and Del Thornton married on June 19, 1999, at Everton’s Goodison Park, after supporter Del saw an advertisement in The Evertonian magazine advertising the club’s new wedding licence. “I’d always said I didn’t want to get married in a church,” Alyson told me. “I wanted no fuss and I just said to Del: ‘You just sort it out and tell me where and when’ – which was quite brave of me really.”
Del stated that he phoned the club to set up a date and that “it just so happened that we were the first couple”. “I thought: ‘Well she said I could pick where we get married’, so I went for it!” he told me. Aly had hoped for a low-key event, but the local newspaper showed up to capture the momentous moment. “We had the Liverpool Echo come over to take photos and ended up in the paper,” Aly told the reporter. Now, as they celebrate 25 years of marriage, the couple has returned to the stadium to reminisce ahead of the club’s final season there.
“Now we are coming into the last ever season at Goodison, it’s all become quite real,” Del told me. “I think there will be a lot of tears from lots of people but I’ll have that extra thing of the fact we got married here and that’s going and we won’t ever be coming back here again,” he told reporters. “I am excited about us going to the new stadium of course, but I’m also a bit sad that the place where we got married will be gone.” Everton will relocate to Bramley-Moore Dock for the 2025-26 season, with the current Goodison Park location being renovated.
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