Fratton Park, Portsmouth
 Portsmouth v Reading
Monday, April 21st 2003, 3pm
By Andrew Cook

I was looking forward to going to the ground because at the time Portsmouth were high-flying in the table, literally a couple of wins away from securing the championship. I thought mainly that it would be a good match due to both of our teams being in good form (Not to be as we lost 3-0!!!). As I went by coach the ground seemed to take ages to get to. Mind you this may not of helped due to the good weather and it being a bank holiday. But I must say both getting to and away from the ground the traffic is awful! But as I came by coach, I can say that there is no official parking for away coaches! Just a little curb on a road outside the ground is where you'll be put.

Being of young age there's not much really I could do before the match, but I could see a lot of burger bars and things set up around the grounds perimeter. Due the distance the police park the coaches from the ground, all me and my friend could do was try and find a way to the ground (It was easy to see but there's no signposts or anything directing you to the ground, the best I could was follow the hoards of fans on their way there!) The home fans are very passionate about their team, they'll give you verbal banter but thankfully they didn't seem to be the fight picking bunch.

When I first saw the ground, being a Reading fan (mainly because of our ground) I wasn't that impressed. It didn't seem to bad when walking around the ground, but once inside it is quite a let down. To be fair Portsmouth have done a good job of using what little space they have to build a big ground. The turnstiles do take you back in time as they are that sort of old, very thin type. The away end itself is not that good. First off there is only one refreshment bar whish is very small and seemed to be understaffed so be prepared for a long wait or do what I did and go midway into a half. The toilets are the same too and not well looked after. The seating is very odd and pretty rubbish to grounds I've visited in the past. Finding your seat is not that difficult but getting into it is. It’s a tight squeeze if like me your in the 6ft region, and be prepared to have to move a lot as fans come past you. The stand is one of those old terraces with seats bolted onto it, and no covering whatsoever. So if your lucky like me and come on a nice day your in luck.

 

The other stands are better but not that impressive. The two side stands look very tired, the bottom of one is amusingly below pitch level which is funny to watch as the home fans in the front row creak their necks to try and watch the match. But the Portsmouth fans do generate a fair old amount of noise. The opposite end stand is the best out of all the stands, its quite modern and is the tallest. This too generates a lot of noise (but be prepared as one person in the stand continually rings a bell throughout the whole match which is very annoying!) But what makes your visit worse are the stewards. There's a lot of them in the stand, their not friendly or helpful and are pretty bossy and none tolerant of most things, likewise with the Police. They even picked on a primary school aged boy when I was there who I would like to add was slightly mentally handicapped (So big of them!).

Getting away from the ground isn't that good either. The police very kindly cordon off the way you came into the ground for your escape. So like me if you've never been to this part of Portsmouth before your pretty much lost. My best bet is to do what me and my friend did and just try and go down streets which lead to the direction your coaches were when you came in. Kindly no one actually tells you or shows you where exactly that is on this new route. But it doesn’t take long to find if you don’t get in a panic. But be prepared for one hell of a long journey out of Portsmouth, once again the traffic is really bad. The time it took our coach you could of watched the match again with extra time!

All in all my trip to Fratton Park wasn't all that bad. Due to the time of year and weather it was okay in the open end, but I'd advise considering the weather forecast before you go, it wouldn't be so pleasant on a rainy, cold, day. But with Pompey now in the Premiership I think that they really do need to do a lot to get their service to away support up to scratch, because believe me in the premiership a lot of fans will be shocked by this kind of treatment and the ground. I sincerely hope for their own good and reputation that Pompey try and find a new home, because their ground really will look out of place in the Premiership, especially with the quality of players they have and size of support.

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