Hallam Football Club
The Hallam FC website
Thackley AFC
Name - Dennyfield
Stadium Accessibility - Ok, we set off for Bradford at 12:45 pm and having complicated things by going through Stalybridge, up the M60 (taking the wrong junction onto the M62) we arrived in Bradford at about 2:20pm. We found the ground at 2:40 thanks to our Sat Nav!
Parking - Huge car park for both sets of supporters and street parking outside the ground
The Area - Having seen Eccleshill 4 months ago, I love Thackley. To say its in Bradford the ground is surrounded on three sides by fields of horses and on the other by woods. Brilliant really
Outside The Ground - The Car Park behind the east end of the ground with 3 turnstiles to get in.
Capacity - 3,000 but I'd say 2,200 at the most
Inside The Ground - Fantastic. As you come in there is the canteen, as you walk further you find the best stand in the league. 6 rows of benches with the stand going 20 yards either side of the half way line. If you don't like sitting then there is room for hard standing behind the benches. This offers a better view than anywhere else in the ground
View - I like standing and I stood inside the stand for 90 minutes. You can make some noise from it and it was very good
Atmosphere created, home fans - After hearing my chants a few locals decided to give their side some encouragement - it didn't work!
Atmosphere created - away fans - Around 15-20, which is good. Hallam probably had 30 - 40% of spectators inside the ground
Food - Having ordered 4 Cheese Burgers at £1.70 each - Me, My Sister, Mum & Dad tucked in to the best burgers we've had in ages! Yummmm!
Pickering Town
Name - Mill Lane or Recreation Ground
Stadium Accessibility - Having set off early we arrived in Pickering at 1:35pm so journey time was about 2 hours and 20 minutes
Parking - Good, plenty of street parking, a club car park and numerous car parks round the town
The Area - What can you say? A lovely town in a lovely part of North Yorkshire
Outside The Ground - 2-3 turnstiles at one end of the ground, 2-3 turnstiles round the back and a view of the cricket pitch
Capacity - 2,000
Inside The Ground - You enter behind the North goal where a seated stand holding around 100 seats is situated, you go onto the West side to find the old Main Stand holding 150 and being held up by 5-6 poles. As you come to the South End of the ground you are greeted by more turnstiles at a small terrace holding cover for around 250-300
View - Good, I stood infront of the Main Stand (which is raised above ground level) where it was covered by the Main Stand roof. You get a good view from anywhere in the ground though
Atmosphere created, home fans - Weren't particularly good
Atmosphere created - away fans - Not much.....
Food - Didn't have
Other Points - Quite a lazy performance but after visiting Heartbeat Country before the game you could say it was a good day out
Glasshoughton Welfare
Another game at Glasshoughton, first time I liked the narrowness of the end's. The main stand this time smelt of pee. If it wasn't pee then it was something disgusting. The stand was covered in leaves and looking like it needed rebuilding.
I found most of the Glass supporters to be quite welcoming, in an attendence of 40 they made up 20 - 25 of the support. However a few of the younger supporters found it funny to taunt myself, my sister and a few others. The covered end behind the goal remains one of my favourite stands in the league.
Despite Glasshoughton's players spoiling the game and making themselves look like thugs and not footballers I enjoyed my day to an extent. Maybe 6/10 for the ground (the stand needs rebuilding), 5/10 for the supporters and 1/10 for the players
Thanks TJ
2 months later
In a simple sentence I will describe each ground
Guisborough Town - Nice, good clubhouse and great crisps
Flixton - Friendly but a bit of a tip. Not the best ground ever but it has its good sides
Liversedge - Good as ever, I was called a f**king pr**k by one of their younger supporters. Great pies though
Esh Winning - What a waste of time. Nice clubhouse. Main stand was dainty and the view was shocking
Sheffield - You can't not like the place. Great food stand, the terrace is fantastic
Carlton Town - Small stand at one end - the ground was recently reopened after building work on a bypass. Nice clubhouse, classy dug-outs but a bumpy pitch
Eccleshill United - Hated the place. I was charged to get in, we lost 3-1. The ground was falling down and the supporters were idiots
Brodsworth Welfare - Good stand, good charging - £0 it cost me, nice clubhouse, fantastic terrace at one end. Supporters were part of the local chav association
Sutton Town - Great little terrace, good grub, good stewards, good seated end and just generally a nice place to be
Armthorpe Welfare
Not much to say. Two hard standing sides, one ramshackle of a main stand and a covered terrace behind the goal that could hold maybe 200.
I'm not the biggest fan I must say.
Silsden
Name - Cougar Park
Stadium Accessibility - Got to Silsden in 1 hour and 15 but took 10 minutes to find an entrance to the ground
Parking - Street Parking only. Not brilliant really
The Area - The ground is on an industrial estate, Keighley is a nice area though
Outside The Ground - 10 turnstiles. Walk up to the main stand
Capacity - 7,800
Inside The Ground - Straight ahead on entrance is a massive main stand holding around 1,800 people. If you carry on going round you find the open South terrace holding 1,800 people. To the left on entrance is the (almost identical ) North terrace it was covered and very pleasant. If you go round to the side you'll find the East (open) terrace holding 2,400 people - it was about 20 rows deep minimum.
View - Good in the first half as I stood behind the goal - on the North Terrace. In the second I regretful sat in the Main stand on the back row, it was quite big - yet it had 5-6 poles infront of it
Atmosphere created, home fans - Aint seen many better - 101 there but sounded like 300
Atmosphere created - away fans - A few there - 10-20, I cheered throughout the game
Food - Didn't have
Other Points - Good performance - now looking forward to Hallam vs Silsden on Tuesday and SWFC vs Wrexham on Wednesday
Glapwell
Nostell Miners Welfare
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
I never actually did a review of this ground and I will just give a short one now.
It was fine Friday evening and Derbyshire Phantoms would take on Leicestershire Foxes in a Twenty20 Cup match at the County Ground. The ground itself was good. On the scoreboard side was the Don Amott stand and room for standing. To the right of the picture is the famous Grassy bank where supporters can sit in their cars and watch, stand and watch or sit and watch. To the left is some uncovered seating and the pavillion in the near left. I was seated behind the lounges and the bar. Again uncovered but it gave a good view of the action. The ground apparently holds 9,500 and about 6,000 in seats (which is hard to believe)
The food was good yet quite expensive. The fans of both sides were well behaved their is very friendly between the two sets of supporters. The game itself wasn't brilliant. Leicestershire smashed 206/5 off their 120 bowls and Derbyshire slumped to an 86 run defeat after going 120 all out with Marcus North grabbing 45.
A good night out, like Basketball Twenty20 cricket is good event and is very fun to watch for everyone. I prefer a good Twenty20 cricket match to a football game in the sense its exciting and can produce thrilling finale's
Tom
