Saturday, September 16, 2006
Exeter Chiefs' new ground
This afternoon, with City away and not being able to get to Gravesend, I popped along with a friend to watch the Exeter Chiefs play their first game at their new ground out at Sandy Park. Parking was in Sowton car park 30 or Digby Park and Ride (which is where we were, for £2 which went to charity). From the car park its a 5/10 min walk to the ground. Prices for the ground were £16 for the grandstand, £14 terrace, £12 ground.
One thing the rugby club need to work on is ticket sales. No pre-orders had been available so everyone had to pay on the day, causing huge queues.
The picture below shows one of the bars in the grandstand.
There was also an external bar and food place. Not sure how good that'll be when its raining as there was no cover. (You could take beer from here into the ground to watch the game - one of the great things about rugby, plus there was another bar in the ground).
The main grandstand, it must be said, is very nice and seats 2400 (I think).
However, the one terrace, opposite the main stand, is pretty poor and is roofless.
Being able to buy a beer during the game was good - though they ran out of many things and I was left with a choice of guiness or Best.
In the background of this photo is where I was stood for the first half, and took the above photos of the grandstand etc. Clearly, a stand would be needed before we could move there.
A view of the terrace and grandstand from the other end.
The view from the grandstand isn't bad, no better/worse than from the Cowshed.
There are 4 bars inside the grandstand. One for memebers, one for general supporters, one for Gold members or something along those lines and one for the boxes (there are about 10 of these I think). The bars look like this:
All in all, its a nice rugby stadium, but is not ready for a football crowd. It needs more stands and segregation would be a problem. With "rugby specials" running, plus the train station at digby and the parking, I think transport should be ok. Id guess the crowd today was over 3000 and the area seemed to cope ok.
Oh and the score? 13-13. Entertaining game, mistakes on both sides. Exe opted to kick for the corner near the end rather than extend their 13-10 lead and paid for it giving away a late penalty.
One thing the rugby club need to work on is ticket sales. No pre-orders had been available so everyone had to pay on the day, causing huge queues.
The picture below shows one of the bars in the grandstand.
There was also an external bar and food place. Not sure how good that'll be when its raining as there was no cover. (You could take beer from here into the ground to watch the game - one of the great things about rugby, plus there was another bar in the ground).
The main grandstand, it must be said, is very nice and seats 2400 (I think).
However, the one terrace, opposite the main stand, is pretty poor and is roofless.
Being able to buy a beer during the game was good - though they ran out of many things and I was left with a choice of guiness or Best.
In the background of this photo is where I was stood for the first half, and took the above photos of the grandstand etc. Clearly, a stand would be needed before we could move there.
A view of the terrace and grandstand from the other end.
The view from the grandstand isn't bad, no better/worse than from the Cowshed.
There are 4 bars inside the grandstand. One for memebers, one for general supporters, one for Gold members or something along those lines and one for the boxes (there are about 10 of these I think). The bars look like this:
All in all, its a nice rugby stadium, but is not ready for a football crowd. It needs more stands and segregation would be a problem. With "rugby specials" running, plus the train station at digby and the parking, I think transport should be ok. Id guess the crowd today was over 3000 and the area seemed to cope ok.
Oh and the score? 13-13. Entertaining game, mistakes on both sides. Exe opted to kick for the corner near the end rather than extend their 13-10 lead and paid for it giving away a late penalty.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Oxford away, 12/9/06
Chris and I set off for Oxford at about 330pm. 5 minutes later, we'd stopped to get petrol....
After that false start we finally got going for real, with Bloc Party on the stereo and a tiny bit of fear in our hearts as City faced a tough away game against table-topping Oxford, who were unbeaten. We hit the M5 (NORTH)....
You can see the fear I was talking about in Chris's eyes here (unless thats annoyance at me taking the picture? Who can tell?):
We only saw one car-load of city fans making their way to Oxford on motorway, and I only managed to grab this photo of them and my hand:
As the sun came out as we got further north (we seemed to have entered some sort of parellel universe where it didn't get nastier as we went north of Taunton), Chris reached for his driving sunglasses - they seem to work on him:
I'm not sure they suit me though:
(plus, my girlfriend tells me I need a shave and am generally a mess - thanks ;-) )
We stopped at a pub just outside Oxford for a pre-game pint and food. Well, I had a pint or two, Chris stuck to coke. Turned out, this place wasn't a pub, but quite a nice restuarant. Food was very good (as was the service). I had a burger that cost me £12. To be fair it was an Aberdeen Angus burger with "hot cheese and bbq sauce". Not your bog-standard McDonalds crap.
The traffic got heavier as we neared the ground (the attendence was 6000, including 400 City fans which for a reasonably long trip on a tuesday night, wasn't bad).
A few pictures of the ground from outside and in. They're not great pictures, but never mind:
(They're missing a stand, which is a shame as besides that, its a nice ground, though VERY expensive to get in - £18 if you pay on the day (£16 in advance))
We had time for a pre-game beer in the ground (£2.90 - not cheap but hardly surprising). Its a shame City can't sell beer in St Jame's Park. There are strict legal restrictions on doing that - has to be out of sight of the game etc.
As for the game itself, we had some early pressure, before Oxford scored an ugly goal (it was ugly for us to conced it). Gill was robbed of possession in midfield, their player tried to feed the ball behind our back 4, our defender Edwards missed it, leaving their striker one-on-one with Ricey in goal. 1-0. They had a bit of a purple patch then, before being awarded a penalty, of which I have a great picture:
As you can clearly see, Rice pulled off a great save (I may have been a little excited and ruined the photo!). After that, we got on top and started having a huge amount of possession. We had a few crosses in the box, and a few chances, but didn't manage to get back on level terms.
In the second half, after a fairly even first 10 we again got on top and created an absolute hatful of chances, the best being put over from 6 yards out by Stansfield. Despite a load of pressure, and a few desperate scrambles in the Oxford penalty area, we weren't able to get the goal. I still feel that if Stansfield had put that chance away early in the second half, we would have gone on to win. Ho hum.
After that, we were faced with a 45 minute wait to get out of the car park. Im quite glad I don't have to face that every time I go to a home game - a 10 minute walk is clearly preferable - one of the many reasons I hope City stay at St James Park, at the heart of the City the club is meant to represent.
After having such a great time at an away game, Chris and myself are pondering whether to go to Gravesend - its a 3.5 hour drive across the country and around London (and its my turn to drive!). Away games are so much more enjoyable than home ones at the moment as the atmosphere amongst those that travel is much more positive and supportive than the negative rubbish the players have to put up with at home games. If we do go, I'll make sure to take some slightly more exciting photographs ;-)
After that false start we finally got going for real, with Bloc Party on the stereo and a tiny bit of fear in our hearts as City faced a tough away game against table-topping Oxford, who were unbeaten. We hit the M5 (NORTH)....
You can see the fear I was talking about in Chris's eyes here (unless thats annoyance at me taking the picture? Who can tell?):
We only saw one car-load of city fans making their way to Oxford on motorway, and I only managed to grab this photo of them and my hand:
As the sun came out as we got further north (we seemed to have entered some sort of parellel universe where it didn't get nastier as we went north of Taunton), Chris reached for his driving sunglasses - they seem to work on him:
I'm not sure they suit me though:
(plus, my girlfriend tells me I need a shave and am generally a mess - thanks ;-) )
We stopped at a pub just outside Oxford for a pre-game pint and food. Well, I had a pint or two, Chris stuck to coke. Turned out, this place wasn't a pub, but quite a nice restuarant. Food was very good (as was the service). I had a burger that cost me £12. To be fair it was an Aberdeen Angus burger with "hot cheese and bbq sauce". Not your bog-standard McDonalds crap.
The traffic got heavier as we neared the ground (the attendence was 6000, including 400 City fans which for a reasonably long trip on a tuesday night, wasn't bad).
A few pictures of the ground from outside and in. They're not great pictures, but never mind:
(They're missing a stand, which is a shame as besides that, its a nice ground, though VERY expensive to get in - £18 if you pay on the day (£16 in advance))
We had time for a pre-game beer in the ground (£2.90 - not cheap but hardly surprising). Its a shame City can't sell beer in St Jame's Park. There are strict legal restrictions on doing that - has to be out of sight of the game etc.
As for the game itself, we had some early pressure, before Oxford scored an ugly goal (it was ugly for us to conced it). Gill was robbed of possession in midfield, their player tried to feed the ball behind our back 4, our defender Edwards missed it, leaving their striker one-on-one with Ricey in goal. 1-0. They had a bit of a purple patch then, before being awarded a penalty, of which I have a great picture:
As you can clearly see, Rice pulled off a great save (I may have been a little excited and ruined the photo!). After that, we got on top and started having a huge amount of possession. We had a few crosses in the box, and a few chances, but didn't manage to get back on level terms.
In the second half, after a fairly even first 10 we again got on top and created an absolute hatful of chances, the best being put over from 6 yards out by Stansfield. Despite a load of pressure, and a few desperate scrambles in the Oxford penalty area, we weren't able to get the goal. I still feel that if Stansfield had put that chance away early in the second half, we would have gone on to win. Ho hum.
After that, we were faced with a 45 minute wait to get out of the car park. Im quite glad I don't have to face that every time I go to a home game - a 10 minute walk is clearly preferable - one of the many reasons I hope City stay at St James Park, at the heart of the City the club is meant to represent.
After having such a great time at an away game, Chris and myself are pondering whether to go to Gravesend - its a 3.5 hour drive across the country and around London (and its my turn to drive!). Away games are so much more enjoyable than home ones at the moment as the atmosphere amongst those that travel is much more positive and supportive than the negative rubbish the players have to put up with at home games. If we do go, I'll make sure to take some slightly more exciting photographs ;-)
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Time for something new....
Well, I've managed to avoid posting on here despite having little else to do at the moment. I've resorted to selling numerous things on ebay and amazon to keep me busy. Its surprisingly addictive. Anyway, a few pics from Tour 3 at Cardiff (YEAH DEVON 2) where Devon 2 came 18th out of 22, playing decent ultimate in patches. A few photos from the weekend:
Sexy Devon 2.
Devon's crack commando unit kicked into action on Saturday night (after the party) to raise the Devon flag over the tournament. (It was still there when we left Sunday evening too...). These are, sadly, the best pics I have of the aftermath:
Besides that I went to Oxford the other weekend to visit friends and to go to Newbury races. Won some money, and then promtly spent it (and more) on dinner/champagne/cocktails. Oops. Fun night though. Was shattered and asleep by 1am.
At the moment, I'm doing very little. My job doesn't start until next March (well Feb if you include a course Im doing then). I leave for the USA on 8th October. I'll be over there for 3 months, coming home on 4th Jan. Spending New Year in New York should be fantastic - and just a bit better than last new year that I spent in my brother's living room (sorry Charlie). The plan is to visit my girlfriend, then pop to Chicago, then to Florida where I have relatives, and then on up the East Coast to hit New York. The details are a bit vague at the moment, but I'm working on them. Ish.
Anyway, if you want a new (used) phone, the why not bid for this one? Its in good working order :-) Its an LG U8180, with all the kit that comes as standard.
LG U8180
And I've got a few things listed on Amazon too...
My amazon listings
Sexy Devon 2.
Devon's crack commando unit kicked into action on Saturday night (after the party) to raise the Devon flag over the tournament. (It was still there when we left Sunday evening too...). These are, sadly, the best pics I have of the aftermath:
Besides that I went to Oxford the other weekend to visit friends and to go to Newbury races. Won some money, and then promtly spent it (and more) on dinner/champagne/cocktails. Oops. Fun night though. Was shattered and asleep by 1am.
At the moment, I'm doing very little. My job doesn't start until next March (well Feb if you include a course Im doing then). I leave for the USA on 8th October. I'll be over there for 3 months, coming home on 4th Jan. Spending New Year in New York should be fantastic - and just a bit better than last new year that I spent in my brother's living room (sorry Charlie). The plan is to visit my girlfriend, then pop to Chicago, then to Florida where I have relatives, and then on up the East Coast to hit New York. The details are a bit vague at the moment, but I'm working on them. Ish.
Anyway, if you want a new (used) phone, the why not bid for this one? Its in good working order :-) Its an LG U8180, with all the kit that comes as standard.
LG U8180
And I've got a few things listed on Amazon too...
My amazon listings
Monday, July 31, 2006
Britopen/Tour2 - Eastbourne 2006
On Friday Santa, his daughter, Jam and myself set off from Exeter for the combined Britopen/Tour 2 at Eastbourne, and a weekend of frisbee played as only Devon 2 can. We arrived, after a 4 hour drive, at about 9pm to find Chubby and Tiger relaxing with a beer.
After setting up the tent a few of us headed to the nearest pub for food (they'd stopped serving, dinner was 3 packets of crisps) and beer. It was ideal preparation for a weekend of ultimate. Plus, its much easier to sleep in a tent if you're slightly drunk.
When we got back to the tents, a few more people had arrived. Hurrah.
Josh is clearly up for the weekend.
About 60 teams were taking part in the tournament in total (A & B tour, plus Women's Tour) so there were a lot of tents about. This pic doesn't really do the campsite justice.
Devon 2's first game of the weekend was against UCL, the 2nd seeds in our pool. We were expecting a tough game and got one, losing 15-3. Yes we managed to score 3 points, which was 1 more than we scored on the entire first day of Tour 1 - bonus. Our team featured a number of pick-ups from Brighton. The pick-ups were aged between 12 and 15. The 2 15 year olds were voted joint Most Improved Players of the weekend and were excellent on the Sunday, but more about Day 2 later....
(from l to r: Harry, Ryan, Felix, Si, Jam (the captain of our ship), Josh, Santa)
A few pics from that first game:
Our call for the weekend, as always, was Gay Icon Mix and Mingle. I won't explain it too much but here are the pics from the first game:
A canteen was open for most of the weekend (including for a free breakfast on Sunday morning). They had slushy too - mine caused me a serious amount of pain: it was SO cold.
Game 2 of day 1 was against ABH 1 (who would eventually finish 3rd and win promotion to the A tour). They were the top seeds in our pool so we expected to have little chance against them. We came out on D, turned them over and scored the first point. It was the highlight of the Saturday. They were not happy... and scored the next 15 points without reply. We worked hard, but they were just (much) better and more clinical. Pics:
We had bit of a break between the 2nd and 3rd games of the day, (time for a quick trip to Sainsbury's for food and beer). The 3rd game, against the bottom seeds in our pool (they were 27th, we were 22nd) was one we should really have won. We scored 2 early points and then fell apart. It took us ages to realise there wasn't much wind and that I could just pop hammers over the top of their zone D. We lost 15-6. It was very, very annoying. It also meant we had to play another game that day, and risk missing happy hour at the bar (though we didn't bother going in the end anyway!). The game was the 27-18 cross over against Schnell Ja. We lost 15-5 (I think), playing ok.
So we ended day 1 in 27th spot, with our highest possible finishing place now being 25th. The bottom 4 play a round robin on 2nd day. The party Saturday night was a Crazy Hat party (for which I'd for once bothered to come prepared). The drinking started as soon as our last game had finished. Party pics:
The party wasn't that great to be honest. The DJ they had was playing dance music. Plus I was nakered. In bed before midnight.
Sunday started with a game against ABH 2. They had managed to drop to 26th seeds by not realising they had a cross-over game last thing Saturday. Oops. We played ok in patches, but I think we could have beaten them if we'd been more clinical. Result: 15-7 to them. Not too bad a start to day 2 though.
Devon 1 were facing some crucial games on day 2, having finished in the bottom 4 on the saturday. First up they faced Sublime. The loser of that game would be certain of relegation back to the B tour. It was a tough, close game, but having fallen behind early on, Devon 1 pulled it out of the bag to win 14-12.
Their next game was against Bath. It was the 13/14 playoff. The loser again would be relegated to the B tour. Devon 1 lost, to finish 14th. They may however avoid relegation as a team who finished above them may not be able to make Tour 3.
As for Devon 2, our second game of the Sunday was against Flyght Club 2. This was a hard fought, excellent game of ultimate (maybe not in terms of quality, but simply in terms of the amount of effort put in). It certainly seemed to be more than a game between the 25th and 27th seeds. We traded points early on, but managed to take the half 8-6. After a motivational talk from Jam, the captain of our ship, we went out and scored 3 straight points to extend our lead to 11-6. The wind was quite strong up and down the pitch, so to score so many up-wind points was brilliant.
However, we suddenly stopped doing all those things that had worked so well for us, and they picked up their game a bit. They pulled it back to 11-11 and it was getting tense. We scored the next point to get it to 12-11. The hooter had gone, so the 2 point cap went on - it was first to 14. They made it 13-13, but we had the advantage of the wind for the sudden death point, and used it well to covert our O point and win the game. The match had lasted for over 2 hours (games were 90mins + the cap).
It was a great game of ultimate to play, and the best we played all weekend.
Our final match was always going to be an anticlimax after that and indeed it was. It was against MK ultimate. We were all absolutely shattered after the Flyght club game and no one had much left to give. We managed to win 11-6 without playing that well.
Having won 2 games on the Sunday we finished in 26th place (out of 28). A great effort all things considered.
(back, l to r: Rage, Mike, Ryan, Josh, Tickle, Si, Dan, Ed Lee, Santa)
(front l to r: Max, Afro(less)Pete, Felix, Jam (the captain of our ship), Harry).
Most improved players for the weekend were Harry and Ryan who made an excellent contribution on the Sunday.
Most Valuable player was me :-) (as voted by the team!)
After watching the A tour final (Clapham beat Fire 16-14), we packed up and headed home.
And what did Jam, captain of the most successful Devon 2 team ever, think of it all?
Tour 3 is in Cardiff on 12/13 August. Should be excellent (if we can get a team together...!)
After setting up the tent a few of us headed to the nearest pub for food (they'd stopped serving, dinner was 3 packets of crisps) and beer. It was ideal preparation for a weekend of ultimate. Plus, its much easier to sleep in a tent if you're slightly drunk.
When we got back to the tents, a few more people had arrived. Hurrah.
Josh is clearly up for the weekend.
About 60 teams were taking part in the tournament in total (A & B tour, plus Women's Tour) so there were a lot of tents about. This pic doesn't really do the campsite justice.
Devon 2's first game of the weekend was against UCL, the 2nd seeds in our pool. We were expecting a tough game and got one, losing 15-3. Yes we managed to score 3 points, which was 1 more than we scored on the entire first day of Tour 1 - bonus. Our team featured a number of pick-ups from Brighton. The pick-ups were aged between 12 and 15. The 2 15 year olds were voted joint Most Improved Players of the weekend and were excellent on the Sunday, but more about Day 2 later....
(from l to r: Harry, Ryan, Felix, Si, Jam (the captain of our ship), Josh, Santa)
A few pics from that first game:
Our call for the weekend, as always, was Gay Icon Mix and Mingle. I won't explain it too much but here are the pics from the first game:
A canteen was open for most of the weekend (including for a free breakfast on Sunday morning). They had slushy too - mine caused me a serious amount of pain: it was SO cold.
Game 2 of day 1 was against ABH 1 (who would eventually finish 3rd and win promotion to the A tour). They were the top seeds in our pool so we expected to have little chance against them. We came out on D, turned them over and scored the first point. It was the highlight of the Saturday. They were not happy... and scored the next 15 points without reply. We worked hard, but they were just (much) better and more clinical. Pics:
We had bit of a break between the 2nd and 3rd games of the day, (time for a quick trip to Sainsbury's for food and beer). The 3rd game, against the bottom seeds in our pool (they were 27th, we were 22nd) was one we should really have won. We scored 2 early points and then fell apart. It took us ages to realise there wasn't much wind and that I could just pop hammers over the top of their zone D. We lost 15-6. It was very, very annoying. It also meant we had to play another game that day, and risk missing happy hour at the bar (though we didn't bother going in the end anyway!). The game was the 27-18 cross over against Schnell Ja. We lost 15-5 (I think), playing ok.
So we ended day 1 in 27th spot, with our highest possible finishing place now being 25th. The bottom 4 play a round robin on 2nd day. The party Saturday night was a Crazy Hat party (for which I'd for once bothered to come prepared). The drinking started as soon as our last game had finished. Party pics:
The party wasn't that great to be honest. The DJ they had was playing dance music. Plus I was nakered. In bed before midnight.
Sunday started with a game against ABH 2. They had managed to drop to 26th seeds by not realising they had a cross-over game last thing Saturday. Oops. We played ok in patches, but I think we could have beaten them if we'd been more clinical. Result: 15-7 to them. Not too bad a start to day 2 though.
Devon 1 were facing some crucial games on day 2, having finished in the bottom 4 on the saturday. First up they faced Sublime. The loser of that game would be certain of relegation back to the B tour. It was a tough, close game, but having fallen behind early on, Devon 1 pulled it out of the bag to win 14-12.
Their next game was against Bath. It was the 13/14 playoff. The loser again would be relegated to the B tour. Devon 1 lost, to finish 14th. They may however avoid relegation as a team who finished above them may not be able to make Tour 3.
As for Devon 2, our second game of the Sunday was against Flyght Club 2. This was a hard fought, excellent game of ultimate (maybe not in terms of quality, but simply in terms of the amount of effort put in). It certainly seemed to be more than a game between the 25th and 27th seeds. We traded points early on, but managed to take the half 8-6. After a motivational talk from Jam, the captain of our ship, we went out and scored 3 straight points to extend our lead to 11-6. The wind was quite strong up and down the pitch, so to score so many up-wind points was brilliant.
However, we suddenly stopped doing all those things that had worked so well for us, and they picked up their game a bit. They pulled it back to 11-11 and it was getting tense. We scored the next point to get it to 12-11. The hooter had gone, so the 2 point cap went on - it was first to 14. They made it 13-13, but we had the advantage of the wind for the sudden death point, and used it well to covert our O point and win the game. The match had lasted for over 2 hours (games were 90mins + the cap).
It was a great game of ultimate to play, and the best we played all weekend.
Our final match was always going to be an anticlimax after that and indeed it was. It was against MK ultimate. We were all absolutely shattered after the Flyght club game and no one had much left to give. We managed to win 11-6 without playing that well.
Having won 2 games on the Sunday we finished in 26th place (out of 28). A great effort all things considered.
(back, l to r: Rage, Mike, Ryan, Josh, Tickle, Si, Dan, Ed Lee, Santa)
(front l to r: Max, Afro(less)Pete, Felix, Jam (the captain of our ship), Harry).
Most improved players for the weekend were Harry and Ryan who made an excellent contribution on the Sunday.
Most Valuable player was me :-) (as voted by the team!)
After watching the A tour final (Clapham beat Fire 16-14), we packed up and headed home.
And what did Jam, captain of the most successful Devon 2 team ever, think of it all?
Tour 3 is in Cardiff on 12/13 August. Should be excellent (if we can get a team together...!)
