Match: v Gateshead - Blue Square Premier
Date: Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
Result: Gateshead 2 Cambridge United 0
The Journey
Departure Time: 7.45am
Arrival at Ground: A long trip, but a straightforward one in refreshingly light traffic. Unlike the traffic, the weather was typical for a bank holiday with our arrival into Gateshead coinciding with a shower of hail. However, fortune was on our side as it eased off by the time we arrived in the car park at about 12.20pm.
At The Ground
The Ground: I don't know why, but I didn't expect the International Stadium to be so close to the centre of Gateshead. I should have known, I suppose, if I'd realised that the athletics track and football pitch were only part of a large leisure complex.
Decidedly unprepossessing from the outside, walking into the main reception to the ground was just like walking into the reception area of a sports hall, which, effectively, it is. While we waited for a club official to sort out the press passes, there was a constant coming and going of people visiting the other facilities on the site, such as the gym. While, as you might expect, everyone striding up to the till with their gym bags looked as fit as a butchers dog, I don't think I've ever seen so many tattoos … and that was just the women. Perhaps there's a shortage of paper in the area and they had no option by to draw on themselves.
Once the passes were sorted, it was a case of up the stairs, through the concourse and out into the stadium where we were greeted with the rather unusual, if unsurprising sight of an athletics stadium with a football pitch plonked into the middle. As a result, the pitch is surrounded by the track and accompanying athletics paraphernalia such as the tarpaulin-covered sand pits for the long and triple jump and the water jump for the steeplechase. In fact, the stadium is so athletics-orientated, that I half expected to bump into David Vine or Ron Pickering in the press box.
Funnily enough, the surrounding track put me in mind of European Cup ties in days of yore behind the Iron Curtain, with only the massed ranks of the Red Army watching from the stands missing. That feeling is maintained by the Perspex dug outs that had been wheeled out onto the inside two lanes of the track.
The spectator facilities seem much better geared up for a summer athletics meeting than for winter football. Only the main stand was opened for our visit - which was just as well given that it is the only stand to have a roof. A large, impressive stand, filled with red seats, a few blocks at one end had been taped off for United supporters. The stand becomes ever more steep as it climbs so you almost feel as though you need pitons to reach row ZZ at the back. Windows behind this back row look out over the town and beyond, and from here you can see St James Park - no, not the one in Exeter … it's not that good a view!
Curving banks into which uncovered stands have been sunk enclose the remaining sides of the ground. Each of these stands is of a different height and each is separated by a small, grassed area in which floodlights are to be found. A huge scoreboard cuts into the stand to the left of the main stand, a scoreboard that was not used for our visit. Instead, a smaller, mobile one in the style familiar to even irregular viewers of athletics was wheeled into position near the finishing line on the home straight.
Because of that surrounding track, the ball travelled a long, long way once it left the playing surface. However, rather than delay the game while someone was despatched in a taxi to fetch the ball, a coterie of enthusiastic ball boys surrounded the pitch, all of whom seemed to want the ball they were holding to be used next while the old one was being retrieved. As a result, it was a minor miracle the players weren't submerged under a deluge of footballs every time the ball came close to the touchline.
United Fans: A second away game in five days, but it was a good turn out.
View from Away End: Although the distance from the pitch was not ideal, the steep incline of the stand made for good viewing.
Home Fans: Positioning themselves at the other end of the stand to the United fans, they made as much noise as the travellers. As you might expect in the northeast, there were a few cries of 'Howay the Lads'.
Police/Stewards: With police around, the excellent stewards stood facing away from the pitch, as they should. Some of the friendliest we've come across, they had nothing but praise for the U's fans after the match.
Programme: £2.50 for 56 heavyweight pages. With a good balance between adverts and articles - all of which were very well written - it was something of a surprise to find a programme of this quality produced by a club whose gates seem to average around the five or six hundred mark.
Food/Drink: Because we were in a sports and leisure complex, there was a licensed bar in the concourse under the stand. For those in need of a little less fortification tea, which came in a very small cup, was idiosyncratically priced at 95p. The caterers didn't seem to have anticipated the number of travelling U's fans as all but the hot dogs and pasties were sold out before half time.
Afterwards
The Journey Home: Blyth Services, where we broke our return journey for a bite to eat, was a little more lively than usual with the United Away Travel coach being shouted at by some very drunk Crystal Palace fans on their way back from Middlesbrough. It was plainly going to be a long night for the Londoners as when we left, they were heading out on foot across the A1 looking for their coach driver who appeared to have refused to take them any further.
Mileage: 480.9 Miles
Total Distance for Season: 5,298.9 miles
