Internet Football Ground Guide - Away Days, The Hawthorns West Bromwich Albion

The Hawthorns - West Bromwich Albion
Saturday 5th August 2006
V Hull City, Championship League, 3pm
By Alan Hood

1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be):

The opening game of the season against a team just relegated from the premiership. Under a new manager with new tactics, it had to be a perfect opening game to get the new season under way. Plus another ground to add to the list of visits. Plus as an exile living in South Yorkshire, it's not really a long drive for me.

2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking:

Very straightforward to find. However, users of multimap or other online navigation sites planning a route coming down the M1 from the North may find the directions take you through the areas of Birmingham, and straight past Villa's ground. Since the premier season was not underway yet, this wasn't a problem. I imagine if Villa were also at home, this route might be a nightmare.

Leaving the ground is a couple of miles of queues then straight onto the M5. Possibly the easiest way to get there is via the M5 too as the ground is a stone's throw away from the Motorway.

Car parking is readily available around the ground, average cost a fiver. That said, there seems to be little in the way of parking restrictions around the main roads. And traffic warden's didn't seem bothered by every dual carriageway central reservation being turned into a car park. So plenty of free parking available if you follow the lead of the home fans.

3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?

Can't comment on the pubs. As an exile, I always drive to games so no pre-match boozing for me. Home fans around the ground were sociable and friendly. However - since the stadium is 100% no smoking, I was disappointed to find a complete absence of programme sellers outside the ground. A shame as I would have liked to have had something to read outside before committing myself to entering a smoke-free zone.

4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground.

A good traditional football ground in many ways. Seating and facilities were good, though nothing to write home about. A major improvement would be some attempts at singing from the home fans though! Not a problem confined just to WBA, but it was deathly quiet at some points. The replays on the TV screens in the corners of the ground were okay, except for the fact that anything that needed replaying to see what a decision was for, seemed to be lacking.

View from the away end is good. The stands are very close to the pitch with nothing to obstruct your viewing.

Onto the bad points. A ridiculously long queue from woefully inadequate refreshments kiosks. You could hardly move in the concourse for the lengthy queue - both in numbers and in time waiting. I decided to forgo the pleasure of sampling the catering because of this. And I am glad I did. Allegations of bottled beer being served which was not only warm, but also past it's best before date, have come from more than one source (some letters of complaint were to be sent to the club about this oversight).

5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets etc..

The stewarding is the main reason I felt compelled to write this report. It's not a complaint particularly, they were no more zealous than at many other grounds. However, previous reports have mentioned no hassles from constant standing. This does need correcting as this is definitely no longer the case. Letters were issued with each ticket indicating a strict no standing policy, and this was indeed the case. Right down to the pathetically laughable "If you love football sit down" animated messages repeated over the corner TV screens. Unfortunately, the stewards seemed so concerned with people standing at the back, that it took one of our players to restrain one fan who went onto the pitch in an attempt to donate his glasses to the referee. So..the standing days of visiting the Hawthorns seem, sadly, to be long gone.

Onto the game. The referee could certainly have done with those glasses as one of the clearest penalty claims (agreed upon by the majority of fans from both sides) was met with a yellow card for the player brought down - which led to the glasses incident. West Brom definitely seemed to have stayed in the dressing room for most of the second half. They did show signs of class unfortunately, new signing Hartson scoring 2 against the run of play. The second coming moments after the ignored penalty claim, so we were perhaps unlucky to come away with nothing.

6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:

As mentioned by others, away fans exit away from the ground in the opposite direction from the entrance. It's not a long walk, as the exit leads to the opposite end of the road used for coach parking and the car parks around the ground. Signposts are lacking towards the M5 as you leave (also having to drive in the opposite direction from the way in, but if you have a good nose for direction (or sat-nav) it's about 125 minutes to the motorway, then off.

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out

I've mentioned quite a few negative points but this really isn't a "letter of complaint". More that I'm happy watching decent football whether I'm stood by the side of a field or sat in an exec box, so in many ways for me, grounds are much of a muchness. So to sum up:

Easy to find / park
Mostly very friendly fans
Excellent view close to the pitch
If you want a noisy atmosphere - you'll have to make the noise yourself
No smoking anywhere in the ground (either a plus or a minus depending on your viewpoint)
Cramped concourse & long queues for food
Decent/Adequate seating
Cracking down on standing up during the match

Would I visit again? I don't think I'll get the chance next season as my feeling is that WBA will be back in the premier. But if I'm wrong about that, I'll definitely look forward to visiting again. I'll just get there earlier before all the outside programme sellers haven't sold out.

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