Sussex by the Sea

On my way to the coast, I decided to visit Crystal Palace FC. They are situated deep in South London, a difficult ground to reach at the best of times, but through the Saturday morning traffic and road works, it is a nightmare. At least the Forest game at Brighton had been moved to a 1730 kick off because of a university open day, so I had time on my side. When I last visited Selhurst Park, the Holmesdale Road end was a giant terrace, now it is a giant stand.  And from the outside, that is really the only improvement made since that time. Of course, it isn't the only improvement to the ground; every aspect of the stadium has been improved, but these changes are only visible from the inside and, sadly, I could not get inside. From the outside it still looks run down and in need of a coat of paint, not Premier League at all. Even the player's entrance is protected by a chain-link fence.

The Holmesdale Road stand gives a clue to the improvements made. From the road, it does not look like a football stand at all, more like a block of flats. And, as it is in a predominantly residential area, that is probably what it is supposed to look like. After a brief tour of the exterior, it was onwards to the seaside.

The last game before the latest international break took Forest to the American Express Community Stadium (or the AMEX) at Falmer, home of Brighton and Hove Albion.
We expected a tough game here because Brighton had shown strong form last season, getting to the playoffs, though their form this season has been much more patchy. This may be due to injuries suffered by key players, most notably Ulloa, their influential free-scoring forward.

The AMEX is a new build, bowl-type ground completed in 2011, with various interior additions made during the intervening years. The design concept is based on the roll of the South Downs and the stadium is built into a hillside which necessitated removing vast quantities of chalk during the build. This design concept no doubt accounts for the slope of the roof of the stadium as the West Stand has one more tier than the facing East Stand. Anything would be an improvement on the Withdean Stadium (really just an athletics track) which Brighton used after leaving their old Goldstone Ground in the late 1990s and ground-sharing with Gillingham for a couple of seasons.

The AMEX is no doubt a fine stadium, but access for the visiting fan is difficult. Probably the best approach is to come by official club coach, because these are parked (nose to tail) in a car park just above the away fans South Stand. The problem of access comes because of the isolated site and the fact that the ground is plumb in the middle of the campuses of two Universities, those of Sussex and Brighton. There is nowhere adjacent to find parking space, so fans, both home and away, must use public transport. The club and town have gone to great lengths to provide a variety of links to the ground; park and ride, bus and/or trains being the main transport, with tickets to games marked "Free travel included". However, our game was attended by over 27,000 fans and getting that number away from the ground after the games is a problem.

I parked in Lewes and, as the game was late on Saturday, I parked for free, and travelled to the AMEX by train. Coming back to Lewes we waited for the train in a vast queue in the open air for about half an hour. It was a dry balmy evening. That wait on a cold winter's day or in driving rain would, I guess, take the edge off the enjoyment of any game, win or lose. I heard that the park and ride queues can take even longer to dissipate.

Prior to the game I was wandering around the ground taking my usual photos and videos and noticed a group of VIPs coming down the hill towards me. Didn't take much notice of the group as I was rather distracted by the young lady leading the party! Only as they passed me, did I realise that it was Fawaz al Hasawi, the Forest owner, and his family. No doubt more extrovert members of the travelling fans would have called out to him, but I am too shy for that and just allowed them to proceed unmolested.

The game itself was a classic "game of two halves".  We did not play well in the first half, but, even so, were unlucky to go one down on the half hour mark. Their right winger mishit a shot which went straight across the goal to Crofts and he dived forward and headed in from close range. In the second half we scored almost from the kick off. The ball was put out for a corner and Lansbury scored with a fine header. Shortly afterwards Cox pushed a ball back to Henderson and he scored with an instinctive left foot shot. Finally Cox again turned provider, only this time it was winning a penalty for a trip in the box. Lansbury got his second, with an unstoppable penalty which nearly bust the net. Cue hysteria from the visiting fans. We went down to ten men for the last 20 or so minutes, but saw  the game out quite comfortably.

Eventually I was on the road again and heading for Crawley in order to visit my third ground of the weekend. On a misty, but mild October morning I made my way to the Broadfield Stadium of Crawley Town FC. This is a relatively new stadium (built 1997) made up of 4 separate stands, with additional facilities, such as ticketing, away travel etc, in portacabins set about the site. The ground is difficult to miss as on the roundabout outside is a giant red and white football. 

The whole setup is  in a wooded area and seems spacious because there is a car park around two sides and a artificial turf five-a-side pitch to the rear, where there is also a bar "The Redz".

Whilst I was there one of the Crawley Town girls sides was gathering for a Sunday morning fixture. More evidence that clubs at all levels of football get themselves involved in the community.

On this trip I was really mixing the ancient and modern in stadium design. Because my next ground was Fratton Park, home to Portsmouth. From the ultra modern AMEX to Fratton Park is a journey in time. Pompey were founded in 1898 and have been at their present ground all that time. In my young days, just after WWII, they were a power in the land, twice winners of the Div 1 title. Recently, however, they have suffered severe financial troubles, are currently owned by a supporters trust and have been relegated in short order from the Premier League to League 2.

Their ground is old and, frankly, tatty, but shows the obvious love of the fans. For instance, the whole way down the outside of the North Stand is graffiti which is, to my eyes, artistic and suited to the ground.

During my walk around the ground, I started chatting to a bloke who obviously had knowledge of and affection for the club. It turned out that he is their CEO. He promised to give me a tour of the ground later as the players were, at that moment, training on it. Sadly I had to move on.

My trip now took me just a few miles along the coast, but miles up the football pyramid. For I travelled to St. Mary's  Stadium, home of Southampton FC currently in the Premier League and housed in a brand new stadium, opened in 2001. This is of the familiar bowl type plan and, I must admit, the in reception area at the front of the ground looks grand.

However, despite this effort to differentiate the ground from all other new 'bowls', it is rather bland, with it's rather plain exterior and spiky protruding metalwork, necessary for strength, but with attempts by the architect to make it something of a visual feature to offset the functionality.

Actually, I wasn't able to 'case the joint' as thoroughly as I had the other grounds because my planning had let me down. I had originally found that there was no game on the day I decided to visit, but because of the success in Europe of Swansea City, the visitors, the game had been put back a day. Thus I was rather surprised to arrive in the area along with hordes of fans and stewards and, worst of all, traffic wardens. I attempted to explain the purpose of my visit and pleaded for just five minutes  to take my photos and wander round the ground, then I would be off out of their hair. No go. As I passed the same couple of stewards on 'traffic management duties' for the fifth time, they took pity on me and allowed me to park in a small layby opposite the main entrance of the ground, whilst at the same time assuring me that if there was any official intervention, they knew nothing about anything.

This was good enough. I raced around the ground; well, not all around it, but the bits that looked interesting and took my pictures. Statues are becoming very popular outside grounds. St Mary's ( the stadium name derives from the fact that the club were originally named Southampton St Mary's because of the association with the local St Mary's church) has one of Ted Bates, who filled almost every position at the club from manager to president during his time at the club, from his 1937 transfer from Norwich City to his death in 2003.

Not wishing to outstay my welcome, I soon left and headed home.