The Road to the Westfalenstadion (Part 27)

The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Boldmere St Michaels on 1st April 2006.

Saturday April 1st. April Fools Day. Today I am forsaking my place at Racing Club’s home fixture against Boldmere St Michaels for a trip to another football match and the chance to see one of my other favourite teams, York City, in their quest for a Conference Play-Off place at the Pirelli Stadium. Where’s that you ask? Well the answer gives another clue as to why I’m not able to see Warwick today – the Pirelli Stadium is the new home of Burton Albion and the chance to visit new ground number 340 is one that this particular ground-hopper cannot resist. Ground-hopper? That’s the term given to those of us who travel up and down the country “collecting” the home games of clubs large and small. Those of you who followed Racing Club to Ashville earlier this season in the FA Vase may have noticed a large number of travelling ground-hoppers ticking off another ground on their lists. I’ve been a member of that holy grail for ground-hoppers, the Ninety-Two Club, since November 1986 when I visited Somerton Park, the home at the time of Newport County, and thereby completed the full set by having seen a home game at each club in the top four divisions of the Football League (things were simpler then pre-Premiership).

Over the years, and particularly since the Hillsborough disaster, football clubs have quite rightly placed much greater emphasis on spectator facilities. This has led to a large number of clubs making the decision to up sticks and move home. For ground hoppers this presents an annual challenge especially for those of us who want to keep their 92 Club qualification up-to-date. This season for example I have had to visit the new homes of both Coventry City and Swansea City. But do you know how many of the current 92 clubs have relocated in the last 20 years? Surprisingly the answer is 26 or just over a quarter. Some have even relocated twice! Take a look at the list of clubs that have had the removal men in and see how many of these old names you remember - you may even have visited a few of them yourself:

Bolton Wanderers                    Burnden Park to the Reebok Stadium

Brighton & Hove Albion           Goldstone Ground to Priestfield Stadium to Withdean Stadium

Bristol Rovers                          Eastville to Twerton Park to the Memorial Ground

Charlton Athletic                      The Valley to Selhurst Park and back again

Chester City                             Sealand Road to Deva Stadium

Coventry City                          Highfield Road to the Ricoh Arena

Darlington                                Feethams to the Reynolds Arena

Derby County                          The Baseball Ground to Pride Park

Fulham                                    Craven Cottage to Loftus Road and back again

Huddersfield Town                   Leeds Road to the McAlpine Stadium

Hull City                                  Boothferry Park to KC Stadium

Leicester City                           Filbert Street to the Walkers Stadium

Manchester City                       Maine Road to the City of Manchester Stadium

Middlesbrough                         Ayresome Park to the Riverside Stadium

Millwall                                     The Den to the New Den

MK Dons                                  Plough Lane to Selhurst Park to the National Hockey Stadium

Northampton Town                  County Ground to Sixfields Stadium

Oxford United                          Manor Ground to the Kassam Stadium

Reading                                   Elm Park to the Madejski Stadium

Scunthorpe United                    The Old Showground to Glanford Park

Southampton                            The Dell to St Mary’s Stadium

Stoke City                                Victoria Ground to Britannia Stadium

Sunderland                               Roker Park to the Stadium of Light

Swansea City                           Vetch Field to Liberty Stadium

Walsall                                     Fellows Park to Bescot Stadium

Wigan Athletic                         Springfield Park to the JJB Stadium

Not content with the current 92 clubs, April 1st will see me achieve a trip to all current Conference grounds for the first time in years. Interestingly, of the 22 Conference clubs only Burton Albion have felt the need to relocate although Forest Green will move in the summer and Scarborough, Tamworth and York City have seriously discussed the possibility of moving recently. So where next for this particular ground-hopper? Well Germany in the summer will provide four new venues and next season I’ll need to visit Arsenal and Doncaster Rovers plus Forest Green and Weymouth. I guess after that I’ll have to make the occasional jaunt into Conference North or South. Ah well, keeps me off the streets I guess! Who mentioned April Fools?

Keep the faith!

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