Shielfield is the home of Berwick Rangers FC.

There are two qualifications to this post. The category* I’ve placed it in is actually not quite accurate. Though Berwick Rangers play in the Scottish Leagues the ground is of course situated south of the border so is not technically a Scottish football ground. Shielfield is also south of the River Tweed so I suppose it’s really in Tweedmouth rather than Berwick.

There is a grassed lane leading from the road to the ground. The away terrace can be viewed from it.

A little to the left of the above is the main entrance.

Entering through the turnstiles you can see the main stand.

The nearest goal to the entrance. Wide spaces between it and the spectator area.

The away terrace with covered enclosure.

With the low slung stand and slope the ground has similarities to Recreation Park, Alloa – though the terracing and cover there was removed a couple of years ago and replaced with temporary seating. This is the goal at the lower end of the slope at Shielfield.

The nearer goal and stand.

Looking back up the slope.

*Edited 22/9/14 to be in new category of English Football Grounds.

Home of Alloa Athletic FC. Situated on Clackmannan Road (the A 907.)

Home Support Entrance with main stand in grey:-

Boundary wall on Clackmannan Road:-

Away support entrance:-

View from away support entrance, down slope to Railway end, Ochil Hills in background:-

In all my visits to Recreation Park up till a couple of years ago there was no railway behind the ground: it had been Beechinged. However, my elder brother told me of some Dumbarton player in the long ago putting a penalty onto the railway. The modern line from Stirling to Alloa (and beyond for goods trains) opened three or four years ago.

The next photo is shifted right slightly to show the away support area. Note temporary stand halfway down. There used to be a large mound of terracing on this side, with a covered area well back from the pitch. It was taken away a few years ago and replaced with this flatter viewing area. Again a nice view of the Ochil Hills in the background.

Terracing, Clackmannan Road end:-

Main stand from away entrance. The artificial turf is obvious here:-

The stand replaced one damaged by fire quite a few years ago now. This is it from the Railway end.

The Railway end terracing still has the mound of earth type of terrace with some railway sleepers for stability:-

I’ve read recently that the wonderfully named Scottish junior team Kirkintilloch Rob Roy FC is to be moving from its home at Adamslie Park, Kirkintilloch to pastures new. I gather the team will temporarily be playing its games at the ground of Kilsyth Rangers until the new ground is ready.

Out of the corner of my eye as I was driving through Kirkintilloch I once caught a glimpse of the Pavilion at Adamslie Park and immediately thought it was Deco. I have never been inside the ground to see properly for myself and will likely now never get the chance.

So here are two photos I found on the web.

The second is taken from the club’s website and shows what must be last season’s team posing in front of the Pavilion.

I also found this video on You Tube but but doesn’t show off much of the Pavilion.

Home of Falkirk FC. Quite an impressive one now that 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.

This is the Main Stand.

I took this one from the road just to the east.

This one is from the west side (just.)

The East Stand:-

And the West Stand:

This is the view across from the Main Stand.

Home of Hamilton Academical Football Club, popularly known as the Accies.

These are the entrance gates:-

The Main Stand is the one you can see in the above photo.

Once you get inside you find the seating area is quite high up. See the steps.

The Main Stand from inside:-

View across ground:-

Note no stand to right here and the temporary stand on the opposite side. That’s a Morrison’s supermarket behind it.

The North Stand:-

Apparently Sons fans were in this stand for the Saturday game but it wasn’t used on the Tuesday night.

A few more photos of New Douglas Park are on my Flickr.

Dumbarton are due to play at East End Park, home of Dunfermline Athletic Football Club, on the 23^rd, a week today. We last played there on Jan 5^th 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.

Compare Fulham’s Craven Cottage.

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.