O/T Fotball Ground Hopping

spen666

Totally o/t but wondering if there is anyone else wno is sad like me and a member of the 92 club ( been to every football ground in premier & football league) or who goes ground hopping at non league games.

I've started to blog about them as well as other things - mainly law or cycling related.

Am I sad?


If you are int o it, how many grounds have you been to?

LeicesterLad

But did you cycle to them all?

walkingbootweather

spen666 wrote:

Am I sad?

Yes

spen666 wrote:

If you are int o it, how many grounds have you been to?

About a dozen, including 1 (Darlington) that is no longer in the football league, and has just gone into administration so may never host football again

el_presidente

Done about 70 at last count. They keep building new ones and teams get relegated so the count is going down. Not much interest (or time) in completing the 92.

Best - old Highbury
Worst - Victoria Park, Hartlepool - open terrace, pouring rain, 3 sides to the ground only so no shelter from the east wind whipping straight off the North Sea

spen666

LeicesterLad wrote:

But did you cycle to them all?

Lack of secure cycle parking at most grounds.


There was a Bristl City fan who cycled to every game one season. He was gutted when they got into play offs and drew....Hartlepool

Think he was doing it for charity in a year's sabbatical from work.

Much respect

spen666

el_presidente wrote:

Done about 70 at last count. They keep building new ones and teams get relegated so the count is going down. Not much interest (or time) in completing the 92.

Best - old Highbury
Worst - Victoria Park, Hartlepool - open terrace, pouring rain, 3 sides to the ground only so no shelter from the east wind whipping straight off the North Sea

Hartlepool - been there a few times. It was awful when a 3 sided ground and as you say very cold.

Think have been to a few bad grounds, including Accrington Stanley's current one. Brighton's Goldstone ground as it was falling down aqnd terracing crumbling.

Best ground was probably Old Trafford before the prawn sandwich brigade spoilt it

Gussio

Probably been to around 30 grounds. My all time (biased) favourite is the old Victoria Ground in Stoke. The best in terms of facilities is probably the Emirates (but very low score on atmosphere). Miserable experiences at Mansfield, Stockport, Barnsley and Northampton.

lastant

I'm on seventy-four of the current ninety two, seventy-one of which I've done with Norwich*; Brighton and Rotherham have moved and my trip to Dagenham was abandoned at half time so I'm not counting that one yet.

Had some terrific trips to Oakwell and the City Ground, although mainly thanks to the days out as opposed to the architecture. If I had to sum up a best and worst I'd probably go with the Emirates as the most impressive looking, with Molineux and White Hart Lane as the best atmosphere when they get going.

London Road is up there as one of the worst grounds, needs a lot of investment; but Selhurst Park probably takes the biscuit (Loftus Road a close second). A lot of the trips that I made in League One were probably pretty bad, but the football we were playing as we won the league made up for that! Special mentions for Goodison Park and Anfield as awful for the away fans!

* - Arsenal, Burton, Peterborough in case you were wondering (although the trip to the Emirates at the end of the season will make it seventy-two out of the current seventy-four with Norwich).

el_presidente

lastant wrote:

I'm on seventy-four of the current ninety two, seventy-one of which I've done with Norwich*; Brighton and Rotherham have moved and my trip to Dagenham was abandoned at half time so I'm not counting that one yet.

Had some terrific trips to Oakwell and the City Ground, although mainly thanks to the days out as opposed to the architecture. If I had to sum up a best and worst I'd probably go with the Emirates as the most impressive looking, with Molineux and White Hart Lane as the best atmosphere when they get going.

London Road is up there as one of the worst grounds, needs a lot of investment; but Selhurst Park probably takes the biscuit (Loftus Road a close second). A lot of the trips that I made in League One were probably pretty bad, but the football we were playing as we won the league made up for that! Special mentions for Goodison Park and Anfield as awful for the away fans!

* - Arsenal, Burton, Peterborough in case you were wondering (although the trip to the Emirates at the end of the season will make it seventy-two out of the current seventy-four with Norwich).

I have soft spots for Selhurst and London Road, they are dinosaurs now but no bad thing imho to remember what all grounds used to be like. Goodison as well to some extent.

Gussio

London Road is a friendly ground to visit - I remember drinking in the "home fans only" bar under the stadium with Posh fans in about 1995. Wearing Stoke colours with no bother whatsoever.

Several happy trips to Selhurst Park, once on Valantine's Day with the missus (we lost something like 6-1). el_presidente was there that day.

People moan about Craven Cottage, but I like it because a) I can get there by bus; and b) it is a lovely walk along the river from Putney Bridge.

rick_chasey

Gussio wrote:

b) it is a lovely walk along the river from Putney Bridge.

Even more lovely when there's no football on

lastant

el_presidente wrote:

I have soft spots for Selhurst and London Road, they are dinosaurs now but no bad thing imho to remember what all grounds used to be like. Goodison as well to some extent.

Absolutely agree...I grew up in Peterborough and went to a silly number of games there (Fry introduced a £3 U-18 rate, if Dad didn't follow Norwich or have any interest in football I'd have no doubt been a Posh fan) so that'll always be a ground I'm fond of. Was strange seeing it on terrestrial telly this weekend, mind!

Selhurst Park though...not so much! Ended up sitting in the home end opposite the Norwich lot last January. Whilst the seats are nothing special, the facilities under the stand are leagues away from what the away allocation have to endure - remember hearing Simon Jordan say there was no point catering for them as 'they'll turn up anyway'! Still end up going every time we play them, though. Hey ho...

Goodison's very tight but a lovely example of how football grounds were, and the view from Anfield if you're past about twenty rows back is diabolical. You can't see the goal if people are standing - silly, silly decision to simply plonk another tier on top of that stand and should never have been granted.

CyclingBantam

I'm up to 85 at last count and I'm really pleased that I have managed to do them all with Bradford (well, not that pleased as I have seen us relagated 3 times in the last 10 years). I get to tick off another three this season, Wimbledon, Plymouth and Bristol Rovers.

The two biggest struggles for me will be Fulham and Blackburn Rovers. We haven't played them for years (due to missing with promotions and relegations) and it doesn't look like we will play either soon.

Really don't want to go to either without City.

I class old grounds as one as well. (I.e. Been to Highbury but not Emaraites).

My favourite, after Bradford, is probably West Ham or QPR - IMO proper football grounds. Have a bit of charactor, I like going to London for games and we have had some good results/good games there (lost 5-4 to West Ham in the game Di Canio sat on the pitch after Redknapp refused to substitute him after he didn't get some fouls from the Ref)

My least favourite is Gillingham - Absolute hole both the place (Sorry if you live there) and the ground. Honourable mentions go to Rotherham at the Don Valley - Cold and you can't see a thing due to the massive running track, Leeds - Hole, and I'm not biased in any way..., Morecambe's new ground which has literally (and I mean literally) an 6 foot wide concorse at the back to queue for food, go to toilet, move about etc, and finally, most of the 'new' grounds, normally just an identikit stadium tailored with the club colours (compare Derby County and Hull for example).

Been to a few Non League and foreign ones as well but hopefully no more (non league anyway) in the near future!

NGale

spen666 wrote:

Totally o/t but wondering if there is anyone else wno is sad like me and a member of the 92 club ( been to every football ground in premier & football league) or who goes ground hopping at non league games.

I've started to blog about them as well as other things - mainly law or cycling related.

Am I sad?


If you are int o it, how many grounds have you been to?

Just completed my 92 with a visit to the Riverside at the start of the season (I'm a Middlesbrough fan, yet never visited the Riverside until 2011! Had only even been to the old Ayresome Park)

When running the line in the Devon League I often see the ground hoppers doing the rounds. Usually dressed in anoraks and carrying flasks of tea!

As for cycling to matches, I try to where possible, it provides a cracking warm up before running around a field aimlessly for 90 minutes

NGale

CyclingBantam wrote:

My least favourite is Gillingham - Absolute hole both the place (Sorry if you live there) and the ground. Honourable mentions go to Rotherham at the Don Valley - Cold and you can't see a thing due to the massive running track, Leeds - Hole, and I'm not biased in any way..., Morecambe's new ground which has literally (and I mean literally) an 6 foot wide concorse at the back to queue for food, go to toilet, move about etc, and finally, most of the 'new' grounds, normally just an identikit stadium tailored with the club colours (compare Derby County and Hull for example).

Been to a few Non League and foreign ones as well but hopefully no more (non league anyway) in the near future!

If you really didn't want to watch a football match then the Withdean (Brighton and Hove) was the place to go! The crowd are about half a mile away from the pitch due to the athletics track and the clubs idea of a press stand was a fold up table and an umbrella in case it rained :shock:

Gillingham/Maidstone/Chatham is a pit of an area anyway, so it follows the football ground will be!

Best non league clubs I have been to are, Cambridge City and the Royal Marines AFC. The RM have invested money into their pitch, have a nice little stand and a nice club house. Mal also serves some stonkingly great pasties and pies in the club house and the beer is cheap. The football isn't great but that's Devon League standard for you, but it has something professional football doesn't have (IMO anyway) and that's passion and enjoyment from the players. They play because they love the game and they are supporters themselves and they like to have a run out on a saturday afternoon.

secretsam

spen666 wrote:

There was a Bristol City fan who cycled to every game one season. He was gutted when they got into play offs and drew....Hartlepool

Think he was doing it for charity in a year's sabbatical from work.

Much respect

All of us fans of the mighty reds deserve much respect, we are all truly excellent people. Unlike our Gaseous neighbours, who all have 6 fingers on each hand and eat babies. Raw.

Am rather pathetic on this front, have only been to a dozen or so, but included in that number are Brighton's Goldstone Ground, Derby's Baseball Ground, Oxford's Manor, Millwall's (old) Den and Chester's ground, all now gone. But the prize for the most now-defunct grounds goes to the Gastards AKA Bristol Rovers, as I've been to both Tesco's/IKEA central (AKA Eastville) and Trumpton Park (a cowfield in Bath).

To be fair, most of the grounds I've been to were pretty gack, with special mention to Northampton's Sixfield (utterly vile, cheap and nasty 4 sheds and a pitch affair) and Vicarage Road (Watford) and Aldershot's ground (not sure if it's still the same) which only had 3 stands...

NGale

SecretSam wrote:

spen666 wrote:

There was a Bristol City fan who cycled to every game one season. He was gutted when they got into play offs and drew....Hartlepool

Think he was doing it for charity in a year's sabbatical from work.

Much respect

All of us fans of the mighty reds deserve much respect, we are all truly excellent people. Unlike our Gaseous neighbours, who all have 6 fingers on each hand and eat babies. Raw.
.

Heck you lot at Ashton Gate haven't got much to shout about either...you just eat babies cooked instead :roll:

el_presidente

Eastville and the Baseball Ground are two now defunct grounds I regret not getting a chance to visit. The Vetch and Plough Lane would have been nice too. I have though been to:

Manor Ground
Goldstone Ground
Maine Road
Ayresome Park
Roker Park
Elm Park
Highbury
Ninian Park
Victoria Ground (Stoke)

all of which are sadly no longer with us.

the_fuggler

el_presidente wrote:

Worst - Victoria Park, Hartlepool - open terrace, pouring rain, 3 sides to the ground only so no shelter from the east wind whipping straight off the North Sea

Ah - the good old days. Been four-sided for many years now. Decent playing surface too. Positively palatial compared to Mansfield. Hereford, Cheltenham and Kidderminster have a rural charm to them (i.e. knackered, but a half decent location and a chance of winning), but my favourite place for watching Pools has to be St James Park, Exeter.

el_presidente

The Fuggler wrote:

el_presidente wrote:

Worst - Victoria Park, Hartlepool - open terrace, pouring rain, 3 sides to the ground only so no shelter from the east wind whipping straight off the North Sea

Ah - the good old days. Been four-sided for many years now. Decent playing surface too. Positively palatial ......

If I recall we were 2-0 down at half time and won 3-2, all goals scored at the down-wind end.

spen666

SecretSam wrote:

spen666 wrote:

There was a Bristol City fan who cycled to every game one season. He was gutted when they got into play offs and drew....Hartlepool

Think he was doing it for charity in a year's sabbatical from work.

Much respect

All of us fans of the mighty reds deserve much respect, we are all truly excellent people. Unlike our Gaseous neighbours, who all have 6 fingers on each hand and eat babies. Raw.

Am rather pathetic on this front, have only been to a dozen or so, but included in that number are Brighton's Goldstone Ground, Derby's Baseball Ground, Oxford's Manor, Millwall's (old) Den and Chester's ground, all now gone. But the prize for the most now-defunct grounds goes to the Gastards AKA Bristol Rovers, as I've been to both Tesco's/IKEA central (AKA Eastville) and Trumpton Park (a cowfield in Bath).

To be fair, most of the grounds I've been to were pretty gack, with special mention to Northampton's Sixfield (utterly vile, cheap and nasty 4 sheds and a pitch affair) and Vicarage Road (Watford) and Aldershot's ground (not sure if it's still the same) which only had 3 stands...

You don't want me to say I was at Bristol City's defeat @ Crawley on Saturday adding that one to my list

I did meet some interesting BC fans there - as mentioned in the relevant blog post on my blog. I hate to say it but Crawley wanted it more than BC

the_fuggler

el_presidente wrote:

The Fuggler wrote:

el_presidente wrote:

Worst - Victoria Park, Hartlepool - open terrace, pouring rain, 3 sides to the ground only so no shelter from the east wind whipping straight off the North Sea

Ah - the good old days. Been four-sided for many years now. Decent playing surface too. Positively palatial ......

If I recall we were 2-0 down at half time and won 3-2, all goals scored at the down-wind end.

Sounds about right. Remember a game against Scunthorpe when we the closest we came to scoring was hitting the post with a shot direct from the kick-off. Goal kicks were ending up going out for a corner. Classic stuff.

NGale

el_presidente wrote:

Eastville and the Baseball Ground are two now defunct grounds I regret not getting a chance to visit. The Vetch and Plough Lane would have been nice too. I have though been to:

Manor Ground
Goldstone Ground
Maine Road
Ayresome Park
Roker Park
Elm Park
Highbury
Ninian Park
Victoria Ground (Stoke)

all of which are sadly no longer with us.

The Vetch was a god awful ground which should have been renamed The Retch!

I went to watch Exeter City play Swansea there a few years ago. The day did not go well. The family and disabled supporters bus came under attack by a group of idiot Swansea fans who decided it would be fun to throw bricks at the bus and scare the crap out of the kids on the bus.

Exeter fans were then treated like the hooligans by being herded into the ground by police on horses and with dogs (this was a group of families and disabled remember) into the away supporters end of the ground which was essentially a caged area which was then surrounded by police and stewards meaning we could barely see the game.

The club and police reasoning for their actions 'Your team had an ex Cardiff player, we were trying to protect you' Yeah right! scaring kids witless to the point where they never wanted to go to a football match again is not protection!

spen666

el_presidente wrote:

Eastville and the Baseball Ground are two now defunct grounds I regret not getting a chance to visit. The Vetch and Plough Lane would have been nice too. I have though been to:

Manor Ground
Goldstone Ground
Maine Road
Ayresome Park
Roker Park
Elm Park
Highbury
Ninian Park
Victoria Ground (Stoke)

all of which are sadly no longer with us.

Been to all the above inc 4 you didn't and wanted to

Add to it

Millmoor (Rotherham)
County Ground (Northampton)
Saltergate (Chesterfield)
Twerton Park (Bristol Rovers)London Road (Huddersfield)
Layer Road (Colchester)
Selhurst Park & Upton Park (Charlton)
The Dell (Southampton)
The Den (Millwall)
Filbert St (Leicester)
Bootham Crescent (Hull)
Bell Vue (Doncaster)
Loftus Road (Fulham)
Morecambe

el_presidente

spen666 wrote:

el_presidente wrote:

Eastville and the Baseball Ground are two now defunct grounds I regret not getting a chance to visit. The Vetch and Plough Lane would have been nice too. I have though been to:

Manor Ground
Goldstone Ground
Maine Road
Ayresome Park
Roker Park
Elm Park
Highbury
Ninian Park
Victoria Ground (Stoke)

all of which are sadly no longer with us.

Been to all the above inc 4 you didn't and wanted to

Add to it

Millmoor (Rotherham)
County Ground (Northampton)
Saltergate (Chesterfield)
Twerton Park (Bristol Rovers)London Road (Huddersfield)
Layer Road (Colchester)
Selhurst Park & Upton Park (Charlton)
The Dell (Southampton)
The Den (Millwall)
Filbert St (Leicester)
Bootham Crescent (Hull)
Bell Vue (Doncaster)
Loftus Road (Fulham)
Morecambe

OOh yes I have done Millmoor, Layer Road, Saltergate (didn't know this was defunct) and LEEDS Road (huddersfield). I have done Bootham Crescent (York not Hull) (saw our striker manage to hit a penalty so far over the bar it went out of the ground). I have also done Boothferry Park (Hull)

spen666

el_presidente wrote:

...

OOh yes I have done Millmoor, Layer Road, Saltergate (didn't know this was defunct) and LEEDS Road (huddersfield). I have done Bootham Crescent (York not Hull) (saw our striker manage to hit a penalty so far over the bar it went out of the ground). I have also done Boothferry Park (Hull)

Whoops meant Boothferry Park as York is not defunct yet and I was only including league grounds

el_presidente

York is called Kit Kat Crescent now I believe *the horror*

spen666

el_presidente wrote:

York is called Kit Kat Crescent now I believe *the horror*

Yeah and Newcastle is called the Sports...... B*ll*cks its still St Jsmes Park and York is still Bootham Crescent.

secretsam

NGale wrote:

Heck you lot at Ashton Gate haven't got much to shout about either...you just eat babies cooked instead :roll:

Mmm, add a dash of pepper and some brown sauce, yum yum

So declare your allegiance Ms G, let me guess - Plymuff????

secretsam

el_presidente wrote:

Eastville and the Baseball Ground are two now defunct grounds I regret not getting a chance to visit.

Seriously, you've not missed anything by not going to Eastville. Eastville was vile, stupid dog track round the edge and built as a huge bowl, offering unlimited opportunity for 80s style running terrace battles, which many teams took advantage of (friend recalled going to see Chelsea there and running battles for all 90 minutes). And it was "full" (I use the term loosely in regard to the blue few) of Gasheads.

Mind you, Eastville was the Emirates in comparison to Trumpton.

secretsam

spen666 wrote:

You don't want me to say I was at Bristol City's defeat @ Crawley on Saturday adding that one to my list

I did meet some interesting BC fans there - as mentioned in the relevant blog post on my blog. I hate to say it but Crawley wanted it more than BC

I'm frankly not bothered, although I was disappointed. Like most City fans, it's the league that concerns us. Most important things were no injuries and we weren't a big shock, thanks to Swindle et al. Plus the Gas got beat as well so no crowing from them.

On with the league, Del!!! COYR