Your Favourite Ground

[deaconred]

The Amateur side Belenenses OS kept the ground and name(right next to my apartment) the pro team got booted out to Estadio Nacional 3 mile up the road and are now Belenenses SAP

Went to Belenenses last year. Nice restaurant/bar built into the ground - we were the only customers. Crowd was VERY poor - I counted around 400 but was given as 1500. Nice ground and enjoyed it more when I realised it was the ground that Dunfermline had played Valencia at in a 1960s thrid game Inter Cities play-off.

Been going down to OT fairly regularly since 1972. Sometimes it can really be great - the Roma 7-1 match for example - but very often it can be dead. The Chinese tourists waving their cameras with their Superstore bags full to the brim and half/half scarves kills it for me. I'd really like to know how many people at each game are "first and only" visitors. Last time, there was a man, wife and 7 year old lad. Kid played on mobile first half and they buggered off at half time laden down with their booty. So, it's no longer my favourite ground.

Got to make the distinction between ground-tourists and ground-hoppers. Hoppers are ok. Sad but ok. Tourists are a waste of space and a by-product of the international appeal of the big clubs.

Dumbarton or Old Trafford? Dumbarton.

[Stupie82]

Palmerston holds a nostalgic place in my heart. Went there quite a few times while growing up in Dumfries and even though the Terregles Street terracing is closed, it still has that old ground feel to it.

Some of these new stadiums can look amazing, but they dont hold the same feeling as the older ones. When you visit an old ground, you get that feeling of it's history and you think about all the amazing things that have happened over the years. I recently read lifted over the turnstyles and while the book is no work of art, it has tonnes of pictures of all of the old grounds in Scotland. Some i hope are never torn down and replaced.

For atmosphere though, I have always like Tynecastle.

The Stadion de Goffert (NEC Nijmegen) was a great experience. Small ground, but cracking atmosphere with a moat around the pitch. Heaters on the top of stands were awesome and certainly kept you warm.

[Mason89]

Palmerston is a great wee ground.

Being a newcomer to Dumfries, one thing the town does exceptionally well is support the local team. Most pubs have strips up on the wall, team photos, signed balls etc. Both Tesco’s have the fixture list at their front door. A lot of other Scottish towns should follow their example

[donsdaft]

It was great just being the age when you were making your first visit to grounds.

Walking around the allotments at Tannadice, marvelling at just how close the two grounds were.

Gagging at the smell from the brewery behind Tynecastle.

Gagging at the smell of pish coming from the toilets at Parkhead, while wondering if those semi humans were going to manage to climb the fence seperating the fans. Getting off the train in Glasgow Queen Street to a welcome of irn bru bottles being dropped on the platform from the bridge above.

[Stupie82]

Palmerston is a great wee ground.

Being a newcomer to Dumfries, one thing the town does exceptionally well is support the local team. Most pubs have strips up on the wall, team photos, signed balls etc. Both Tesco’s have the fixture list at their front door. A lot of other Scottish towns should follow their example

Peterhead is very similar in that way too. The local businesses all support the team and there is often a lot of memorabilia and pictures etc up on walls. Speaking of old grounds, Recreation Park in Peterhead epitomised great old Scottish football grounds. Was a sad day when they ripped it down. Will be the same when they tear down Pittodrie in a few years. Canna wait to ransack some memorabilia though... i'll be there with a spanner and im taking my seat hame !!!

[Pacman1903]

Got to make the distinction between ground-tourists and ground-hoppers. Hoppers are ok. Sad but ok. Tourists are a waste of space and a by-product of the international appeal of the big clubs.
.

I class myself as an avid fitba fan whos social life and holidays are football based. (very rarely the big leagues either)

Where does that put me. Sad?

[donsdaft]

Aye Pacman min, sad.

Nae that sad though, at least you're not standing at the end of a platform in the rain jotting down railway engine numbers.

[Aldo1983]

I class myself as an avid fitba fan whos social life and holidays are football based. (very rarely the big leagues either)

Where does that put me. Sad?

Everyone needs a hobby. At least you aren't a tourist. My mates and I are having a big blow out in 2020 and one of them just wants to go to Europe somewhere and watch football. I can't think of anything worse. Unless it's Aberdeen I can't get excited by it all.

So we are going to Vegas. Probably go watch the Raiders though

[deaconred]

I class myself as an avid fitba fan whos social life and holidays are football based. (very rarely the big leagues either)

Where does that put me. Sad?

Sad - but OK. The only difference between your description of your life and how I would describe my life is that you use the word "social" before "life".

[BogBrush1903]

I class myself as an avid fitba fan whos social life and holidays are football based. (very rarely the big leagues either)

Where does that put me. Sad?

Hoppers very rarely hop round the big grounds unless they're completing something...

I must also hold my hand up as a saddo, as I hop and I also go abroad and devise a journey through football where possible. I also keep my old ticket stubs from gigs and matches that I consider 'specials'

Of course it's sad but hobbies usual are trivial pursuits. It's probably just down to the way our brains are wired though. It's really out of our control, we're slaves to the electrical pulses in our head. Sometimes it creates psychos, artists, scientists...or hoppers

I also have, during the last eight years, taken great pleasure from completely ignoring the Hogmanay celebrations which is why I'm typing this 3.5 hours before 'the bells' and further compounding the sad tag...