Great game in awesome facilities or great game in bad facilities. I know which is better for the game. So should you.

Agree 100%. The only topic for discussion back then was the game. We didn't continually belittle each others grounds/facilities etc. The only reason you get added/removed from SL now is by ticking/not ticking boxes for things other than on-field performance.

If you have a new stadium and stay solvent you could finish bottom of SL year after year after year and your place would not be at risk.

headingly isnt fantastic but its tidy and getting re done ...

i was hoping the south stand would be re done as two tiers but its an ok ground ...nothing special

even though you didnt mean too youve just emphasisied why franchising works actually

thanks for that

lol

Yes, if all you care about is a nice stadium etc. and what happens on the pitch is totally irrelevant which you regularly confirm as your outlook.

Having only been to the KC for a derby it is clearly had an atmosphere, but nowhere near as intimidating as the Boulevard, the galpharm is so lacking in atmosphere you could train astronauts there and the DW is nowhere near as good a RUGBY experience as the old Central Park. As I said, the ground is way behind in the overal experience of a game for me, but if its the be all and end all for you, then thats your choice.

That maybe for you but I would imagine there are lots of women that would prefer to watch with there kids in a newish comfortable stadium with decent toilets.

Look at Wires increase in support since moving to the HJ as an example of what better facilities bring.

Im heading to Wakey tomorrow just hoping it doesnt rain when Im standing on a crumbling terrace for £18 or whatever it is-Give me a decent seat at the Stoop with a bar underneath the stand, decent sound system, toilets etc any day

may i suggest paying the extra (i think its £1 to sit in the stand), get there early and head into CATS bar, where you can sit down with a £2.50 pint in a glass. whilst watching the teams warm up out on the pitch or watching SKY on the big TVs. you will be made more than welcome in there.

or alternatively stand out on the terraces and enjoy the sunshine.

your day will be what you make of it. hope you enjoy the day (but not too much)

I'm afraid you are wrong again Jonny.

If you're referring to you/Baz/Katies comment that Central Park was 'awful'. I disagree, it's only my opinion Baz, don't take it so personally.
Central Park for me was just getting old and needed a facelift. Still one of the best atmospheres i've ever experienced though. It was noisy and had what the DW hasn't got-charachter.
Hopefully in time these newer stadiums will become more like home. I like the idea the Wigan fans have at the moment with hanging their flags all over the tops of the stands, looked really good when I went to the WCC.

Not sure about Station Road, but the Beeb certainly did it once at a Cup tie at the Boulevard just when Alex Murphy (commenting on crowd sizes) said 'they certainly get big ones here'! Oops.

Doesnt seem to be working does it Jonny

some fantastic memories from the good old days.......something that the modern day drum bangin booing RL fan will never experience, they were crap but a nice crap and added to the occasions

One of the things I do miss is the different food you used to get at different grounds. Now it is all soggy chips and plastic hotdogs. Couldn;t beat a cup of Bovril on a Feb Sunday, or pie and peas properly cooked, not microwaved. I used to buy burning hot gobstoppers form the sweet shop opposite old craven park and when it got so cold I'd lost feeling in my fingers I'd pop in a gobstopper and warm up!
Ah the good old days

i used to love the cups of tomato soup they did from the food van at Fartown - 30p and it was absolutely red hot and obviously burnt your mouth severely - but it was gorgeous when you finally cooled it down enough and was just what was needed in the cold winters of the late 80's !

Thirty pence for a cup of soup.... in the 1980's?

Yes - a polystyrene cup of soup for 30p !!

Ken Davey owned a tomato soup and polystyrene cup factory. Hence, his millions

Bit expensive isn't it?

I had heard you could by a 2 bedroomed terraced house in Ashenhurst for 30p back then.


Actually I think I would have chosen the soup too.

Ok.....strange person

I was as gutted as the next man when fartown went but it was for the best, it's terrace might have had the best view in the game but it was falling down

But now we've been in the Galpharm for over a decade, a generation has come to the Giants not ever having known that great old ground and its our home and now I have some great memories of great great games there.

I'll agree with the sentiment about food in new stadia which is ubiquitously overpriced and rubbish. Mind, it is at Most old ones now too...


Also, Leeds is the worst place in the game to watch RL.

No. The difference is I put it down to the fans.

If the fans wanted that kind of atmosphere then they would make it. They have moved to the new grounds and just don't bother anymore.

Knowsley road was my favourite ground to go to because of the atmosphere we would create there, but it was the fans who created that atmosphere and not the ground. The atmosphere was just as good last year at warrington.

Sounds like the food in the old stadia was grotesquely overpriced too if Huddersfield were charging 30p for a radioactively hot polystyrene cup of tomato soup back in the 1980's.

other than leigh every club that has moved to a new ground has had a massive increase in gates

further im sure corproate revenues have skyrocketed with the many corporates boxes new grounds have

no contest really

if english RL wanted to grow the quicker it got rid of old grounds, the better

and the process is almost complete now with wigan, warrington, hull all having new grounds, craven park and headingly getting upgrades and saints, salford in the process of building new grounds

if you want memories open up a book

the game needs to attract more types than just middle aged men, and many familiies wouldnt go to those old c%%pholes

i read so many good things about those old grounds, and only saw black and white photos which made them look better

those colour photos were terrible