Home of Falkirk FC. Quite an impressive one now all but one of the sides is closed in. These photos are from April this year. The last time I was there some years ago it only had two stands. Still an improvement on the old Brockville though.
Dumbarton are due to play at East End Park, home of Dunfermline Athletic Football Club, on the 23rd, a week today. We last played there on Jan 5th when I took these photos.
The Pars, as they are known, are in financial trouble; so take a good look at these as they may become historical curios.
Yes, there’s a cemetery over the wall from the ground. This is a stitch of two photos to get the whole ground in.
From Halbeath Road.
East Stand. Not used, except for big matches. (Celtic and Rangers, then, or when the Pars play a decider against Raith Rovers. So not often.)
Norrie McCathie Stand (West Stand; at far end.) Named for a former player. Home support.
North Stand. Home support here too. (The cemetery is behind it.)
Main Stand. Away support in foreground, home support in bulk of stand.
This side of the ground houses the old main stand at Stark’s Park with its round-the-corner construction. I don’t think I’ve witnessed anything like this at any other football ground. I assume the line of the road prevented building beyond the halfway line.
This is the adjacent home stand, a clone of the McDermid Stand at the other end.
And here is the disused Railway Stand. Many supporters would like to see this opened up as terracing but the authorities in Scotland don’t go much for all-seated stadia reverting to standing. areas.
Note the state of the pitch last Saturday. It’s amazing football broke out at all.
I’ve not done one of these for a while – and I’ve just realised I haven’t included East End Park, Dunfermline, in this series yet.
Stark’s Park, the home of Raith Rovers FC, is of course the Scottish Football Ground nearest to where I live. Since I started blogging though the Sons have only played there twice (and the last time, Oct 2012, I was between cameras.)
This is from the lower end of Pratt Street. From this angle you can’t see how unusual the older stand is.
This is from the upper end, nearer to my house. The McDermid Stand is nearest in this view. The bit further away, to the left, is the peculiar corner stand.
And this is the away stand, the McDermid Stand, from Pratt Street, showing how close the road is to the ground.
This is the home of Livingston FC. One of those pretty characterless modern stadiums (a group to which the Rock would belong if it didn’t lie directly below Dumbarton Castle.)
This is the main entrance (West Stand.) A stitch of two photos to get the whole length in.
The South Stand:-
The East Stand (again a stitch):-
You can see that unlike most lower Division Scottish football grounds the corners are filled in.
The North Stand:-
It’s tidy and compact inside certainly but I wonder how many times this has been full; except when Livi were playing in the SPL. (And not very often even then.)
A couple more photos of Almondvale are on my flickr.
*I know it’s sponsored as the Braidwood Motors Stadium but who can be bothered?
This is the Excelsior Stadium,* home of Airdrie United FC (or, as some of us like to remember them, Clydebank.)
Main entrance to Airdrie United’s stadium. (Stitch of two photos.)
It’s a tidy ground but a bit soulless. The capacity is way above what Airdrie can attract as a crowd.
This is the view of the ground from the east car park.
Main Stand from East Stand
AFC crest at back of main stand.
The North Stand:-
Its main purpose, like its mirror image to the south (both are rarely, if ever, occupied) is to house an electronic scoreboard.
*So why New Broomfield?
Broomfield was the home of Airdrieonians FC who shortly before their demise moved to New Broomfield or, as it was known then for some sponsorship reason, the Shyberry Excelsior Stadium.
Broomfield was an idiosyncratic ground which had an old pavilion.
The reincarnation of a football team in Airdrie (Airdrieonians went defunct in 2002) was due to the fact that a local businessman, after failing to achieve election to the SFL with his new entity Airdrie United, took over the ailing Clydebank FC and moved it lock, stock and players to Airdrie, thereby effectively killing off the team who had been for 37 years Dumbarton’s local rivals.
The “Wee Rovers” heyday is long gone, being just after the First World War when they reached the Scottish Cup final and had a run in the First Division. They also achieved promotion in 1934 and mostly remained in Division 1 till the Second War. Thereafter they have been mostly in the lower divisions. For a fuller account see link.
Below is a view of the Stand and entrance gates of Cliftonhill from Main Street, Coatbridge (the A 89.)
The stand and its immediate surroundings is the only area where spectators congregate.
The Stadium is unaffectionately called the “Stadio San Giro” by its detractors.
It’s fair to say the ground has seen better days but any disparagement is out of place. It’s very homely and has a friendly atmosphere.
This is the west end. Standing may once have been allowed here but not for a long time, I think.
The east end is similar, only a mound of earth.
The North Terracing (below) is now, I believe, closed to spectators for safety reasons but it was from here that I saw Kenny Jenkins deflect with the neatest of touches with his head a Charlie Gallagher free kick to score in a 1-0 win in 1972, vital to the championship win that year.
It’s fair to say Central Park has seen better days. There is talk of a new stadium being built, though.
Here are the entrance turnstiles.
Just beyond the turnstiles you can turn right towards the main stand or ascend the steps to the terracing. Just by the steps is a memorial stone (see right, below) which I first noticed on Saturday.
At the top of the steps you get a view of the main stand – with stock car in the foreground.
As well as football, Central Park also hosts stock car racing as witnessed by the tyres as barriers and the wide expanse between the stand and the pitch. On a Saturday the racers start to turn up (revving engines and such behind the stand) midway through the football game’s second half.
This is the (uncovered, you’ll note) south terracing, not a good place to stand when it’s raining. Saturday was fine, though.
Here are two photos of the stand side taken from the south terracing:-
The fans are well back from the playing surface – and fenced off from it; but that’s due to the stock cars.
A few months ago someone posted a documentary video about Central Park on You Tube. I’ve not watched it all – it’s 18 minutes long and must have been filmed in summer, or colour enhanced – but at 1 min 35 seconds in you can see an old building up behind the stand. That building has since been demolished but I started my teaching career there in the 1980s.
When The Sun Shines
Documentary on Central Park, Cowdenbeath.
A few photos of Gayfield Park, home of Arbroath FC, from last Saturday.
This is the view of the ground from near Arbroath War Memorial.
The next was taken from an excellent vantage point to see that Mark Gilhaney’s shot last Saturday did cross the line after bouncing down from the bar. It also shows the north covered terracing.
These next two remind me so much of Boghead.
All that’s missing is the pie-stall set into the side of the stand (but that went when they replaced the old pavilion at Boghead.)
And, yes, Gayfield is only five metres from the high-tide line.
