Monday 21 March 2011

stadiumMK

I’ve actually been to stadiumMK many times before, mostly in the executive suites. However, this is because the Exec Suites double up as Hotel Rooms for The Doubletree hotel which makes up one stand of stadiumMK, and as I live in MK through work, I had stayed in this hotel on a number of occasions.

It was through work that we got tickets, as there was a deal on for 4 tickets at a combined price of £20! What a deal, although I was concerned that I might be having to face a 0-0 for the second time in three days!

Stadium MK wide view

And to be fair my fears only increased after an entertaining and high quality first half, which whilst the build-up play, energy and excitement was there, twice the woodwork came to the rescue when the two good goalkeepers hadn’t already made great saves. Peterborough looked particularly dangerous in the first half with newly crowned player of League 1 Craig Mackail-Smith and George Boyd, very energetic and skilful up front, Boyd hit the post for Peterborough. At the other end, Peter Levens (Cult Hero amongst the group I was with – for his resemblance to a fat Charlie Adam), was pulling the strings in midfield, and he hit the post having earlier stung the hands of England U-21 ‘keeper Joe Lewis.

The Home End
 After the break it was the MK Dons who took the initiative though with Luke Chadwick and local lad Sam Bostock playing a much more influential role. Eventually, a mistake from a cross by Joe Lewis allowed MK’s centre half to score and give the MK Dons a one-goal lead. Despite a flurry of activity at both ends, this is how the game ended, how MK Dons didn’t make it more, I will never know. The BBC Match Report is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/9429084.stm.


The guys having fun at HT
On the whole, stadiumMK was great, with the new Arsenal style large and padded seats which made for a comfortable seat. Lines were not too long for anything and the stadium still had a new feeling despite being opened for 4 seasons. Somewhere to go back to again I think.

Saturday 19 March 2011

Cappielow, Greenock Morton

So a visit to Scotland to visit the parents would not be complete without a football ground visit and so it was that my Old Man took me to Cappielow Park in Morton to see the home side Morton take on Raith Rovers who were flying high in the First Division at Kick-Off.

A quick drive up from Weymss Bay saw us arrive in plenty of time for kick-off and a programme and tea were bought before kick-off.

The Cow Shed opposite the Main Stand
We sat in the home part of the Main Stand, with the Cowshed immediately in front of us, a strange structure with seating at the bottom and a standing area at the top. This was pretty much full in the middle during the game. The stand to the right was a small terraced number with a small clock on some advertising hoardings, nothing really to write home about, but quite a few locals sat there. At the other end, the West end was a large stand that was previously terracing, now with benches locked onto them. Irn-Bru hoards only added to the occasion.
The Home 'End'

The game itself, was nothing really to write home about, long balls dominated and quality was low. Morton probably shaded it, and should have won, with a very good chance falling to their substitute in the second half. I think Raith will be happy with a point, but doubt it will be enough to help them win promotion, Dunfermline look a much better bet for that.

However, a lovely day out, for £25 all in!

The old Away end with Famous Crane in the background

Sunday 26 December 2010

Celtic Park

Pre-Match Warm Up

Saints Warm Up

The Sides enter the field

Half-time under floodlights

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Hampden Park

Ahh, the national Stadium on Glasgow’s Southside has seen many famous sites in it’s history, notable games include:

1. Real Madrid hammering Eintract Frankfurt 7-3 in the 1960 European Cup Final
2. 149, 415 watching Scotland entertain England in the 1937 Home Nations Championships
3. Zinedine Zidane’s wonder volley against Leverkusen in the 2002 Champions League final as Real won once again.

For more see here.

Sadly the main achievements list for the National Team is fairly bare, but wins against France in recent years and great performances against Italy twice have seen Hampden host some good games, so it was with a (very small) spring in my step that I joined my brother-in-law at Waverly station in Edinburgh to make our way to Mount Florida for this Euro 2012 qualifying tie.


Walking to the ground

As usual it was a pre-match bevy we were after, but this proved difficult having waited in the pub centrally for a pal Col to arrive, but we eventually made a pint close to the ground before joining the other guys in the stadium before kick-off.


The teams walk out

National Anthem Time

What happened over the next 90 minutes was unbelievable, as Spain showed all the quality they have…and more, eventually building a two-goal lead. Then, unbelievable scenes as first Steven Naismith notched with a header, then Gerard Pique was forced to turn a cross into his own net for the equaliser. Cue deleirum in the stadium…scratch that, pandeomonium! Scotland had pulled two goals back against the World Champions!


Just prior to Kick-off
Sadly, being Scotland they decided to settle for glorious defeat, with McManus mis-judging his header and substitute Fernando Llorente side-footing home. This was the final nail in the coffin, and Steven Whittaker’s Red Card late in the day doing nothing but adding a bit of insult to injury.
In Game shot

As BBC Reported Craig Moffat put it very well: ‘’It's a familiar tale of glorious failure for Scotland as the crowd rise to their feet in applause. They gave it everything. Del Bosque, who hardly cracked a smile when Spain won the World Cup actually looked worried for a while."

As for Hampden, it’s not been a great rebuilding job they have done since it re-opened in 1999, but it does a job and it’s always great to hear the Hampden Roar on International Match Days.

Saturday 28 August 2010

Tuesday 29 June 2010

AT&T Park San Francisco

On my girlfriend and my visit to North America, mainly for a wedding in British Columbia in Canada, we found it was cheaper to fly on a round-ticket including a stop elsewhere on the western seaboard of the USA. As such we found ourselves in San Francisco, which was a lovely city that was a really enjoyable stay. Admittedly, the stay was made even nicer by waking up on the first morning watching England get cordially dumped out of the World Cup 4-1 by Germany, but the visit to this City of Madness was really enjoyable, relaxing as real tourists on Pier 39, Cycling over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and visiting ‘The Rock,’ Alcatraz.

We also managed to add to our itiniery a trip to AT&T park, formerly PacBell Park (see here for more ‘information’), to see a regular season contest between National League Rivals the San Francisco Giants playing host to the Los Angeles Dodgers. I have to say, having been to many ballparks previously, that it really was a lovely wee ballpark, and I can understand why it is rated so highly in a variety of differing ballpark guides.

We managed to walk the 20 or so minutes to the ground from our centrally located hotel without fear or any abuse and we made our way to the top tiered, behind home-plate seats, which cost a reasonable $25 or so. And as the photos show, the views over the ballpark, the bay behind and over to Oakland were absolutely superb. It was, I hasten to say, a touch cold (62°F or 16°C), with a wild wind blowing from behind home plate, but happily we were dressed well for the occasion and the small roof behind us managed to keep the majority of the wind and cold off us.

AT&T Park - Pre game


AT&T - Once the floodlights came on during the game
Some favourite aspects of the ballpark for me included:

1. McCovey Cove - Beyond right field is China Basin, a section of San Francisco Bay, which is dubbed McCovey Cove after famed Giants first baseman and left-handed slugger Willie McCovey, and into which a number of home runs have been hit on the fly. Sadly non occurred on our visit.
2. The Coke Bottle & Glove - Behind the left field bleachers is "The Coca-Cola Fan Lot". The ballpark features an 80-foot (24 m) long Coca-Cola bottle with playground slides that will blow bubbles and light up with every Giants home run. Next to this is another oversized representation of a ballpark stalwart, the "Giant 1927 Old-Time Four-Fingered Baseball Glove" — this particular one is made of steel and fiberglass.

The Coke Bottle & Glove
3. The 404 Advertisement – One possibly unfortunate feature of AT&T Park's field is the Yahoo! ad at the corner of left center field. The distance to that portion of the wall is 404 feet, which is clearly marked right next to the Yahoo! ad. The number 404 is also a notorious error code in Internet parlance.

As for the game, the Dodgers won 4-2, and sadly our glimpse of Manny Ramirez was restricted to one plate appearance as he, in a way only Manny can do, managed to injure his right hamstring base-running (badly), in the first inning. It was in the fifth innings that the damage was done with James Loney hitting a go-ahead, two run single. Later that same inning Blake also singled that drove in Loney to make it 4-1. Pat Burrell hit a homer in the bottom of the ninth to make things interesting and allow us to see all the paraphernalia that accompanies a homer at AT&T, including the loud blasts of a fog-horn, but it wasn’t enough and two outs later the Dodgers had a 4-2 win.

Manny Ramirez for short time he was in the game

Please see the following for a game recap: Link.


Amanda Enjoying a Beer and Sweeties
Overall, a very enjoyable evening, attendance was 35,289 a figure representing 84.9% capacity

Saturday 5 June 2010

The Derby

The first sports venue for my new blog therefore is Epsom Downs, home of the Derby, where I was today for the 2010 Derby.

In truth, it probably wouldn't be counted as an actual proper visit as it was more a social event than the actual racing that was being watched. As you can see from this first photo, I wasn't particularly close to the action and the main grandstands, but it meant there was no top hats and tails required!

Happily though, as you can see from this picture, I was not the only person there with a touch of class, as HRH The Queen also was there, mostly for the Derby, but she also had two horses running in the first race:
I'm not 100% certain what having a bullet-proof car on the racetrack does for going and all that, but it was nice to see her there anyway!
As for the racing, well I was pretty much a good person to follow if the bookies wanted me to win them a lot of money, choosing only one short-priced winner and one longer shot when they were placed.
The action did look good though!


The main event was spectacularly won by little run 'Workforce' who managed to set a new course record for the race, a Shergar-esque performance. It proved to be a great Weekend for trainer Michael Stout and Jockey Ryan Moore, the jockey in particular, winning his first two classics on consecutive days!
I think I'll be there next year too, again enjoying the social scene, it will require a separate visit to enjoy the sport more I'd say!

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