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Favourite quirks of Scottish stadiums.


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6 hours ago, CityDave said:

A view of the unusual J shaped covered standing area at Links Park. Was this meant to go all the way round opposite the Main Stand to behind the other goals to make a c shaped covered standing area? 

 

Football travels March 08 to May 08 001.jpg

It used to curl around the corner flag but the pitch was moved when the new stand was built in the early 90s. There used to be a covered enclosure where the new stand is with a small wooden stand opposite.

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Bold.

What restricted views have ICT, Hamilton or St Johnstone? How many of rest - who, granted, have stands with posts - have genuine 'restricted views'? How many apply to away stands?



Other than Celtic Park, You have restricted viewing at the following grounds...

Ibrox, Tynecastle, Victoria Park, Dens Park, Pittodrie, Fir Park, Rugby Park & Firhill all have them. If you want you can add New Douglas Park for the fans in the gazebo. The restricted view is as bad as where your seat is. If you're sat right behind even a thin post it's be a more restricted view than if you are say 10 seats further back from the same post.

Pittodrie doesn't have any restricted views due to posts/pillars in the away end but the view is a poor one for away fans. Equally I remember sitting in a stand at Tannadice that had no restricted views but the design with the barriers in front & how it was badly designed with fans going past to go to the toilet every few mins meant the view was often obstructed. However it again would only have affected a small number of fans.

Regardless of it being in the visiting fans end, my point is that it's hypocritical of fans to moan about restricted views at Celtic Park when their own grounds have them.
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North Juniors club Burghead Thistle's Forest Park one of the most unusual settings for a football ground but one of my favourites.

 

 

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Somewhere behind this forest of trees is a football ground

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Edited by CityDave
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6 minutes ago, Dave1875 said:

Thought Cove play at Harlaw until Calder Park is built?

Not that simple... Last season they 'nominated' four different venues for league purposes: Banks o'Dee Juniors, Formartine, Inverurie, Keith (which is a long way from Aberdeen!)... In the end, they played 8 league games at Inverurie, 5 at Formartine and 4 at Banks o'Dee. They played a pair of League Cup ties at Inverurie and Keith.

This season they seem to have nominated Banks o'Dee, Huntly, Inverurie and Keith - there are rumours Formartine declined this time! - and so far they have announced 8 games at Inverurie, 3 at Huntly, 2 at Keith, 1 for Banks o'Dee and 3 still to be confirmed.

It's worth saying the Aberdeenshire FA hasn't allowed this travelling circus - they must play all their Cup and Shield ties away from home.

They register Inverurie with SFA for Scottish Cup and licensing. In the promotion playoff SF last season they used Inverurie; in the Bet Fred and Irn Bru cups this season used Forfar.

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5 minutes ago, Davie Bhoy said:

 


Other than Celtic Park, You have restricted viewing at the following grounds...

Ibrox, Tynecastle, Victoria Park, Dens Park, Pittodrie, Fir Park, Rugby Park & Firhill all have them. If you want you can add New Douglas Park for the fans in the gazebo. The restricted view is as bad as where your seat is. If you're sat right behind even a thin post it's be a more restricted view than if you are say 10 seats further back from the same post.

Pittodrie doesn't have any restricted views due to posts/pillars in the away end but the view is a poor one for away fans. Equally I remember sitting in a stand at Tannadice that had no restricted views but the design with the barriers in front & how it was badly designed with fans going past to go to the toilet every few mins meant the view was often obstructed. However it again would only have affected a small number of fans.

Regardless of it being in the visiting fans end, my point is that it's hypocritical of fans to moan about restricted views at Celtic Park when their own grounds have them.

No mention of the offending concrete wall that blocks the view to the other side of the pitch. Pillars are less of a problem because you can move back and forward in your seat as you would do at the likes of Tynecastle (Main Stand), Cappielow or Somerset Park, but unless you have the power of x-ray vision and can see through concrete you are not exactly getting value for money. btw most of the fans in that photo you put up are standing up not sitting, kind of proves my point.

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51 minutes ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

Agreed. And those stands usually havr one or two pillars that block one line of the pitch rather than whole sections . The other problem at Celtic Park with the restricted views is that the Stewards seem intent on stopping you moving to a seat where you can see the full pitch. 

That Turriff stand is crazy. Is it just that they've plonked seats onto an existing social club or something? Some of the grounds in the Highland League are quirky. I liked visiting Clach's ground with its large unused terrace at one end, the social club at the other end and a wee stand on one side. And when I was there, a young lad bouncing on a trampoline who saw a second of the game every two seconds or so for about 30 minutes from the gardens behind the hedge on the other side.

At Clach the unused end was where the wine shed used to be which was popular with the more vocal and hardcore Clach fans. If I remember the old roof was a health hazard with asbestos and decades of pigeon droppings in the rafters. This was replaced a couple of years ago with a new covered enclosure for standing.

Image result for clachnacuddin fc

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Ibrox had restricted views for away fans? Where?

Tynecastle does, Pittodrie does because of the segregation fence, Tannadice doesn't, Dens doesn't, Hibs/Killie/Hamilton doesn't, never been to Thistle, Caley doesn't

Surely it's only Aberdeen/Celtic and Hearts that do in the Prem?

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Something there that amused me was the pitch boundary fence continuing up the hill shown in the photo on the upper right. You can just see the part of the hill that's been removed to make space for the corner flag. For about 15 minutes in the 2nd half I sat up there on the grass above the corner flag.

Lochee Utd v Bathgate Th 27th Sept 08 (4).jpg



Local junior team would be Violet but they're shite, second closest Lochee, think I'm away to make a wee visit to the cup game against Downfield on Saturday...

Actually looking forward to a visit after seeing these photos, never seen the ground before. Mon the Lochee.
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4 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

 


Local junior team would be Violet but they're shite, second closest Lochee, think I'm away to make a wee visit to the cup game against Downfield on Saturday...

Actually looking forward to a visit after seeing these photos, never seen the ground before. Mon the Lochee.

 

I was there yesterday with Bonnyrigg. Wished I had my hillwalking boots.

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Just now, 1320Lichtie said:

Ibrox had restricted views for away fans? Where?

Tynecastle does, Pittodrie does because of the segregation fence, Tannadice doesn't, Dens doesn't, Hibs/Killie/Hamilton doesn't, never been to Thistle, Caley doesn't

Surely it's only Aberdeen/Celtic and Hearts that do in the Prem?

I don't think anyone has mentioned Hampden where in some seats down the front you have a perfect view of.........the back of someones head such as the shallow angle the seats are at. Not a problem if you are just there to watch Queen's Park since you can move elsewhere but I can see it as an issue if this is for a cup game or an international.

With most ground no one objects if you move seats to get a better view as long as you don't take anyone else's seat,  but if you have no choice...it can be a let down.

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45 minutes ago, CityDave said:

Something there that amused me was the pitch boundary fence continuing up the hill shown in the photo on the upper right. You can just see the part of the hill that's been removed to make space for the corner flag. For about 15 minutes in the 2nd half I sat up there on the grass above the corner flag.

Lochee Utd v Bathgate Th 27th Sept 08 (4).jpg

That pitch is like the 3D chess board in the original Star Trek series.

Where the ref is standing to the corner to his left is a square the size of a bowling green, then towards the other corner it slopes off like it has suffered subsidence, the half nearest the clubhouse probably the best part of the ground.

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44 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

 


Local junior team would be Violet but they're shite, second closest Lochee, think I'm away to make a wee visit to the cup game against Downfield on Saturday...

Actually looking forward to a visit after seeing these photos, never seen the ground before. Mon the Lochee.

I've been to a few grounds in Dundee now to watch games and also had a look at the others. The crumbling Lochee Harp's ground below in the pic (I think there are foxes or badgers living in burrows within the ground either that or very very large bunnies) and Downfield which had in my opinion the best ground, best view and a nice pub nearby. Been over to take a look at East Craigie which like Harps ground could do with some tlc, North End which smelt of urine and rats and then Violet on the way out to Lochee which has car boot sales and who's ground doesn't seem that bad.

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Edited by CityDave
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I've been to a few grounds in Dundee now to watch games and also had a look at the others. The crumbling Lochee Harp's ground below in the pic (I think there are foxes or badgers living in burrows within the ground either that or very very large bunnies) and Downfield which had in my opinion the best ground, best view and a nice pub nearby. Been over to take a look at East Craigie which like Harps ground could do with some tlc, North End which smelt of urine and rats and then Violet on the way out to Lochee which has car boot sales and who's ground doesn't seem that bad.

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Won an under 15 tournament at Downfield, good memories of it ;) other than that I've only been to Whitton Park to watch the Fed. Will try and get to more of them now, a mate at Violet and a few at Tayport so I'll get along to a couple throughout the season hopefully. Lochee Uniteds certainly seems to look the most interesting/unique. Might even be a decent crowd seeing as it's an international break and Dundee not playing.
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8 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

 

 


Won an under 15 tournament at Downfield, good memories of it ;) other than that I've only been to Whitton Park to watch the Fed. Will try and get to more of them now, a mate at Violet and a few at Tayport so I'll get along to a couple throughout the season hopefully. Lochee Uniteds certainly seems to look the most interesting/unique. Might even be a decent crowd seeing as it's an international break and Dundee not playing.

This is what I used to do when Inverness CT weren't playing on the Saturday. Haven't done any new Junior grounds for a while. Last one was over at Montrose Roselea back in 2014 they played one of the top teams in the league Penicuik and wanted to win to be sure and stay up, they drew after being two down, the other results went in their favour and they did.

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Quirks at Station Park has to be when the mert is on.  Coos mooing away and the smell of bovine keich.

I love the Hedge side at Glebe Park.  Is there a more intimidating section for a linesman?  With no segregation and the officials being about two feet lower and in touching distance of both fans, there is no getting away from the abuse of any dubious decision.

Gayfield just for the chance of getting hit by a rogue North Sea wave.

Dens for the bizarre v-shaped main stand.

Special mention to Shielfield....did I miss a feather-pillow fight pre-match last week?  One half of the pitch looked like a flock of gulls had been denuded.

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Semi-related - anyone have a picture of Dundee's original ground, romantically-named Carolina Port?

Apparently squeezed between the harbour and a burning shale heap.

East End, one of the leading Dundee clubs, were based at Carolina Port from 1891. When they merged with local rivals Our Boys to form Dundee F.C. in 1893, it was generally assumed that the new club — which had immediately secured election to the Scottish Football League — would base themselves at Carolina Port, which was the most developed ground in Dundee at that time. They were, however, surprisingly beaten to the punch by a comparatively modest local outfit, Strathmore, who secured the lease for themselves. As a result, Dundee began their campaign in the less imposing surroundings of Our Boys' former home, West Craigie Park. Strathmore's audacious move failed to pay off, and within a year they had merged with Johnstone Wanderers to form Dundee Wanderers, playing at Clepington Park. This left Carolina Port available for Dundee to move in midway through their debut season. Having now become a regular venue for matches in Scotland's top flight, Carolina Port's prestige was further enhanced on 21 March 1896 when it hosted the Home International fixture between Scotland and Wales.[1] Two Dundee players, Alex Keillor and William Thomson, were in the Scottish side. Keillor became the first Dundee player to score a goal for Scotland, as the home side ran out 4–0 winners.[2]

Despite this, it was recognised that Carolina Port's location posed problems. Hemmed in amongst Dundee's harbour and overlooked by a huge pile of shale nicknamed the "burning mountain",[3] future development of the stadium would be difficult. After a major reorganisation of the club in 1898, Dundee F.C. took the decision to relocate to a new site at Dens Park in the less built-up Clepington district.[3] The club moved to their new ground in 1899 (where they are still playing well over 100 years later), and Carolina Port was rapidly consumed by the expansion of the harbour.

This picture and map of Carolina Port are from "Up Wi' The Bonnets!" Apologies for quality. 54d444d56f31cc4a7061db6e90ac5b7c.jpg15145e1d0e380c78ba04b092f8715fa5.jpg

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bs sheg's goal.jpg

I was a bit disappointed on my first visit to Lochburn Park, Maryhill to find that the uncovered seating doesn't seem to be used any more- you get some idea in this photo of the vegetation that is blocking access to it. (City scoring a goal against BSC last season at Lochburn)

Benburb's new ground also has uncovered seating - must be a Glasgow speciality 

benburb.jpg

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