Nicest IL stadiums

OK, I opened one about the EL stadiums, just to please our northern counterparts I'll do the same here.

I've been to only one so far.


LINFIELD : Nice, very nice. The stand behind the one goal is ugly, but the other three stands are really nice. Great view with the mountains on the northside on the background of the stadium. Gloomy neighbourhood with that old railway wall, but you don't notice that inside the stadium. 9/10



Within two weeks, after Shels' visit to Ports in the Setanta Cup, I'll give my impression of their facilities.

PS: Derry does not count as Northern Ireland in football terms, so the Brandywell discussion fits in the thread on nicest Eircom League stadiums !

portadown - covered stand 2/3rds 1 side, covered terrace other side, nice stand behind 1 goal (bit far away), open terrace other goal. 7/10 ok, not brilliant

linfield - good stand 1 side, older but ok opposite, good stand behind 1 goal, small old stand other goal. all covered. national stadium, lots of money put in. 9/10 old railway stand lets it down (too big for all but the biggest matches though)

glentoran - good stands both sides, uncovered terrace both ends. (and if you think around windsor looks rough!.......) maybe moving in near future. 7/10 mainly for the 2 stands.

ballymena - newish stand one side, decent stand other, covered. nothing at either end due to stock car racing (pity). floodlit training pitches behind ground. 8/10 beware of wasps in older stand in summer! has a stock car track round it though :(

coleraine - stand 2/3rds 1 side. covered terraces all round the rest. (i think) 7/10 feckin loud PA!

cliftonville - stand 2/3rds 1 side, unused grassy bank the other. good new stand behind 1 goal, covered terrace other goal. 6/10 needs work

crusaders - stand 1 side, covered terrace other side. open terraces both goals. 6/10 needs work

larne - stand 2/3rds 1 side, covered terraces other 1/3rd. covered terrace 1/2 other side. open terraces both ends. 6/10 pitch is sloped though :( needs work

dungannon - stand 1/2 1 side, covered terrace other side, covered terraces either end. 7/10 tidy, nice pitch. not much height though

loughgall - small newish stand 1/2 1 side, small covered terrace opposite. small wall around 1 goal, death by falling other goal. nice scenery. 6/10 very small but whats there is tidy.

limavady - stand 1/2 1 side.......um.....small wall the rest. 5/10 needs more.

omagh - stand 1/2 1 side, nothing other side. covered terrace one goal, covered flat other goal . muddy carpark! bit hard to find. 5/10 needs work

distillery - stand 2/3rds 1 side, stand and covered terrace opposite (but stand not used for football afaik.....doggy people), nothing either end. another thats a bit hard to find. 6/10 has a dog track round it so nothing behind goals. :(

ards - hmm, play at bangor atm, stand 1 side, covered terrace 1/2 other side. covered terrace behind 1 goal. 5/10 bangor have sold their ground and moving (somewhere!) soon, ards have no ground.

institute - small newish stands both sides. flat, open either end. nice scenery.
6/10 for whats there, not much height for viewing though.

newry - stand 2/3rds 1 side, covered terraces opposite and behind 1 goal. 6/10 ok, nothing great.

i suppose i better mention the promotion candidates too.

armagh - not been there

glenavon - nice stadium 8/10

donegal celtic - not been there, don't think there's too much there at the minute in the way of stands etc. apparently a good social club.

Was in Holm Park armagh a couple of years back - small stand a bit of teracing a bit like Limavady but more enclosed as fully fenced in. Hard to find as well.

Haven't been to donegal Celtic since 1990 but then it was just an enclosed field with a very good social club

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Originally Posted by -lamb-

portadown - covered stand 2/3rds 1 side, covered terrace other side, nice stand behind 1 goal (bit far away), open terrace other goal. 7/10 ok, not brilliant.

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Portadown ground is very dreary. Reminded me of Dundalk in some respects. Floodlights were worst i've seen in senior football. New stand behind goal very nice but as you say too far away from pitch. Entrance to new stand side of ground most impressive i've seen in this island - nice chrome plating for club name, nice cream blocks for arch too.

Lamb,

There are two east Antrim grounds I remember from days following Larne in the 1990s - Carrick Rangers (Taylor's Avenue?) and Ballyclare Comrades (Can't remember what the ground was called, remember a midweek match there on a bitterly cold night, thinking there must be more to life than this!).

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Originally Posted by REVIP

Lamb,

There are two east Antrim grounds I remember from days following Larne in the 1990s - Carrick Rangers (Taylor's Avenue?) and Ballyclare Comrades (Can't remember what the ground was called, remember a midweek match there on a bitterly cold night, thinking there must be more to life than this!).

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Ballyclare Comrades - what a name for a football team.

They play at Dixon Park. Was there about 12 years ago. Thought it was fine - nice stand not a lot otherwise I suppose. They are in the first division now as are carrick - haven't been to a game there.

carrick have been struggling badly in div.1 in recent seasons, just keeping themselves out of relegation but nowhere near challenging for promotion.
big upheaval there mid-season, chairman and manager gone and new manager seemingly starting to toughen them up

ballyclare are the proverbial bridesmaids, always just outside the promotion spots. maybe next year.

very dodgy entrance into the oval nice place though both stands very nice and could fit way more people than any el ground

I think the Oval looks great on TV and seems to have a good atmosphere for big games. Whats all this talk about Glentoran's plans for a new stadium, is The Oval a kip, and if so why can't they re-develop the current stadium in to something better rathyer than move. (as you can probably tell I'm not that knowledgable on football up North but hopefully someday there will be 1 league for North and South, then I'll get to check out the Stadia up there for myself- unless we qualify for the Setanta this year :eek: ..... ;) )

as far as i know the oval and part of the surrounding area is earmarked for redevelopement.
i think the ground is already sold with the provision that the glens will still use it until a new ground has been built.

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Originally Posted by REVIP

Lamb,

There are two east Antrim grounds I remember from days following Larne in the 1990s - Carrick Rangers (Taylor's Avenue?) and Ballyclare Comrades (Can't remember what the ground was called, remember a midweek match there on a bitterly cold night, thinking there must be more to life than this!).

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How does a Bray Wanderers fan gets to follow Larne ??


Monday's the trip up North for the Portadown-Shelbourne game. Will be the second Northern Irish League stadium I'll visit. Hope it will be as nice as Linfield's ground (which I find very very nice) but as Ports is a smaller club and doesn't host any national team games I'd better not count on it.

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

Monday's the trip up North for the Portadown-Shelbourne game. Will be the second Northern Irish League stadium I'll visit. Hope it will be as nice as Linfield's ground (which I find very very nice) but as Ports is a smaller club and doesn't host any national team games I'd better not count on it.

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Enjoy your trip. Watch out for "stray" golf balls.

[QUOTE=Gerrit]How does a Bray Wanderers fan gets to follow Larne ??

Lived and worked there for a few years and have always tried to support whatever club was local!

you're always welcome to come up and support the wee inver reds in the irish cup final on the 7th may revip ;) (all ticket £10 available from the club)
i hear theres a few coming from waterford, dundalk, and derry

Well, I went up to Shamrock Park to see how Shels conquered Portadown... Decent ground but not impressive, far from the great stadium Linfield has. Nice stand behind the one goal, nice one on one side of the sidelines, but nothing behind the other goal, a bit too much open space between the stands, and it seems the non-seater stand on the other side of the main stand is no longer used ?? And yes, pretty impressing welcome sign :cool:

Nice trip to Portadown BTW, very nice landscapes on the way between the border and Portadown-village.

What I must say though, the names of the grounds sound so much better up North. In Northern Ireland you've got simply beautiful names such as Solitude and Seaview (wouldn't you just start supporting a club playing in such ground ? :ball: ), Shamrock Park sounds also not bad, The Oval is not bad at all...

While in the Republic you got some more or less ugly names and some very unoriginal names (United Park, Finn Park, ...). Our own Tolka sounds not bad, Belfield's the nicest name I think as "bel" reminds me of belle = beautiful. ;)
But up North it sounds better for sure ! Too bad their national ground is named after the Queen...

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

Too bad their national ground is named after the Queen...

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Shhhhhhhhhhhh! Don't tell anyone, Windsor Park was named before the Royal Family changed their name to the Windsors, during WW1! The stadium sits at the bottom of Windsor Avenue, thats why its called Windsor Park!

i went groundhopping again today and visited The Oval. Seems like a nice ground, it was locked but the main stand is clearly visable from the near bridge and looks very nice.
But it is in a very gloomy neighbourhood, so many delapidated buildings in a row :eek: Even I would not want to be on those streets at night...

I also saw East Belfast FC but that is amateur level and their ground has no stands at all...

that whole area is being/has been bought up by developers gerrit, even the oval, hence its really bad appearance now

Garritt, i agree with you on the names of grounds in the republic. Its not very attractive even though the old name United Park of Drogheda United sounded kind of fancy! Been to your website....pretty cool even though there is a wee mistake on it! To be able to count a ground as "hopped" you have to at least see 45 minutes of an actual match there :cool: