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Favourite quirks of Scottish stadiums.


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I had no idea about those supports at parkhead, that's remarkable.

Echo the chat about blinded by the lights, btw, it's a weirdly compelling read.

34 minutes ago, King Dom's Moustache said:

Fir park has it I'm sure going from right to left looking from the away end.

 

Indeed, I'm not sure if they've leveled it out with the latest round of pitch maintenance, perhaps a Cooper dweller might be able to inform us. I've only ever sat in the main stand since I was a kid, so I was oblivious until I did one of those 'match day experiences' at Fir Park, and spent the second half breathing out my arse trying to run up a hill*.

 

 

*may or may not have been slope related

Edited by thisGRAEME
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On 30/08/2016 at 23:36, HibeeJibee said:

Anyone got pictures of a good old Scottish mudbath ground?

These where taken at an Inverness City Juniors game, kind mind against who as I never filled those details in and they are some of my earliest photo's into my new hobby so the camera/lens and skill levels are pretty low.  This was when Inverness City played at the Northen Meeting Park, shared with the cricket club IIRC.  The only lasted a few seasons there before having to find somewhere else, I think they now have a permanent home at the Bught Park, not the stadium it's self, they have a fenced off area with portacabins for changing rooms.

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5520996118_52d6291b75.jpg

5520981468_cb26b79d44.jpg

The camea and lens may have upgraded since then, but as for the operator's skill level.....:unsure:

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2 hours ago, shootingboots said:

I'm sure Aberdeen bought some toilets from St Mirren when Love Street was getting bulldozed. 

Possibly made that up mind you...

aberdeen bought the urinals.soap dodgers bought 2 floodlights plus the love st end stand,which is rotting away in some yard in greencock.also accrington stanley bought thousands of our old seats.

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2 hours ago, 7-2 said:

Talking of Dens and quirks, how many grounds in Scotland still have slopes? I'd have thought having a level playing pitch would be essential in the top divisions these days. 

Cappielow slopes towards the WDE. Very obvious when seen from the Cowshed.

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17 hours ago, TheCelt67 said:

f13e88806957178fd205f8b895e0adf9.jpg

I've seen this picture being referred to as a photo retouch from the 1937 Scotland vs England game, I haven't been able to verify that but it is still one of my favourite pictures from the old Hampden.

 

17 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Yes, was just about to post that.

It should be possible to narrow down the year further. It's post 1961 (floodlights) and pre 1976? (West Stand roof)... There was a serious fire at Hampden in the autumn of 1968 and it rings a vague bell that the Main Stand was slightly reconfigured afterwards - including an awning installed between the towers - but that might be wrong. Note 'prefabs' housing estate, too.

The row of white houses pointing towards Cathkin (Hampden Park II) are still there and are a handy way point for any ground hoppers. 

Sloping Pitches

Firhill's pitch seems to slope from the JHS downwards towards the excellent main stand facility side. 

I'm not sure if this is for drainage or they didn't bother with a spirit level? :huh:

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7 hours ago, shootingboots said:

I'm sure Aberdeen bought some toilets from St Mirren when Love Street was getting bulldozed. 

Possibly made that up mind you...

When we played St. Mirren in the cup in 2004 and won 1-0 we were housed in the western end of the North Stand and the choice of toilet to use there were between one toilet bowl with a nice open view of the sky, the sink and a bucket left behind by the cleaner. Was this that was sold as a package deal to Aberdeen?

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20 hours ago, TheCelt67 said:

f13e88806957178fd205f8b895e0adf9.jpg

I've seen this picture being referred to as a photo retouch from the 1937 Scotland vs England game, I haven't been able to verify that but it is still one of my favourite pictures from the old Hampden.

 

Think it's later than that? Don't think there would have been floodlights in the 1930s and the prefabs behind the Celtic end also would have been post-WW2 aswell. The cars also look a bit too modern for pre-WW2. Think it's probably from the mid to late 1950s. The enclosure over the Rangers end didn't get put in until the 1960s?

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Tynecastle's Gorgie stand has a small section at the bottom that can be lifted up with some sort of hydraulics gear to allow hospitality punters to view the remainder of the stadium.

It took me about 3 drunken visits to the (superb) hospitality suite in the Gorgie stand to realise that there wasn't simply just a window there.

2312aa2fb46bc27d8eda7fb38f44fd90.jpg

From the inside:

aea19ab2c63ffb61a6587fa4ac00ce01.jpg

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5 minutes ago, ArabGaz said:


Tynecastle's Gorgie stand has a small section at the bottom that can be lifted up with some sort of hydraulics gear to allow hospitality punters to view the remainder of the stadium.

It took me about 3 drunken visits to the (superb) hospitality suite in the Gorgie stand to realise that there wasn't simply just a window there.

2312aa2fb46bc27d8eda7fb38f44fd90.jpg

From the inside:

aea19ab2c63ffb61a6587fa4ac00ce01.jpg

Looks like Tracey Island.

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12 minutes ago, ArabGaz said:


Tynecastle's Gorgie stand has a small section at the bottom that can be lifted up with some sort of hydraulics gear to allow hospitality punters to view the remainder of the stadium.

It took me about 3 drunken visits to the (superb) hospitality suite in the Gorgie stand to realise that there wasn't simply just a window there.

2312aa2fb46bc27d8eda7fb38f44fd90.jpg

From the inside:

aea19ab2c63ffb61a6587fa4ac00ce01.jpg

It's a bugger trying to stay in your seat when it starts lifting.

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5 hours ago, Mackie The Staggie said:

These where taken at an Inverness City Juniors game, kind mind against who as I never filled those details in and they are some of my earliest photo's into my new hobby so the camera/lens and skill levels are pretty low.  This was when Inverness City played at the Northen Meeting Park, shared with the cricket club IIRC.  The only lasted a few seasons there before having to find somewhere else, I think they now have a permanent home at the Bught Park, not the stadium it's self, they have a fenced off area with portacabins for changing rooms.

5520946798_cf499f0227.jpg

5520961344_1781300f4f.jpg

5520996118_52d6291b75.jpg

5520981468_cb26b79d44.jpg

The camea and lens may have upgraded since then, but as for the operator's skill level.....:unsure:

This was City playing Buchanhaven Hearts, an unusual game as the referee asked the City players to change tops at half time as they were too similar to Buchanhaven. I remember this game was played in awful conditions which made an already heavy pitch even worse. The date for that game was the 12th March 2011.

Unfortunately the Bucht Park is not permanent and the club have to find somewhere else to play as from next season, extremely difficult to find a suitable pitch in Inverness. I'll put some photos up from City games at the NMP later.

 

 

DSC00059.JPG

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9 hours ago, jupe1407 said:

I recall Meadowbank's stand being fucking steep. Although I was pretty pished pre game and stupidly went to the back row which may have added to the effect.

It's one of the steepest stands I've ever been in. Huge as well, think it's the biggest single-tier stand after Hampden?
 

41 minutes ago, Zen Archer said:

Looks like Tracey Island.

Tynecastle has a build quality like Tracey Island too. That is, the ones we all built from papier mache when Blue Peter came to the rescue that Christmas, not the engineering genius of Jeff Tracey and Brains.

I'll grant the retractable rows are fairly nifty.

Edited by HibeeJibee
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I knew about that Hearts hospitality thing but I'm still puzzled as to the point of it? Is having an event at Tynecastle going to be that enhanced by having a small view of the empty park? 

Meadowbank had a capacity of around 5,000 doesn't it? I'm not sure if that means it's big or not. I do remember the ends being a but unusual though - doesn't the stand fan out slightly with the rows nearest the pitch being wider than the seats at the very back? And there might have been pillars at the very back unless I'm misremembering?

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8 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:

It's one of the steepest stands I've ever been in. Huge as well, think it's the biggest single-tier stand after Hampden?
 

Tynecastle has a build quality like Tracey Island too. That is, the ones we all built from papier mache when Blue Peter came to the rescue that Christmas, not the engineering genius of Jeff Tracey and Brains.

I'll grant the retractable rows are fairly nifty.

Off topic.

The seating over the tunnel at Old Trafford can be raised hydraulically to allow emergency vehicles access to the pitch.

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59 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

 

Think it's later than that? Don't think there would have been floodlights in the 1930s and the prefabs behind the Celtic end also would have been post-WW2 aswell. The cars also look a bit too modern for pre-WW2. Think it's probably from the mid to late 1950s. The enclosure over the Rangers end didn't get put in until the 1960s?

Aye, another poster has it narrowed down to between 1961 to 1976.  As I was saying to him the cars always had me questioning it but I wasn't aware when the floodlights and enclosure was added.  Good shout too regarding the prefabs.

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