By Kate Jackson
January 7 2010

I must say that going to Aldershot is one of my favourite away days. Granted it's quite far, but at the other end of the mammoth journey you get a unique ground, an amazing atmosphere and even a small walk through a dark wood. Infact, City's first visit was a night game....and there's no lights guiding fans to the ground.

Aldershot is a ground that I'd wanted to visit a while, mainly because it looked like a very unusual style of ground and I'd heard the atmosphere was immense. So on a Tuesday night in November 2008, me and a few friends made the long journey down to Aldershot, including the fun filled M25, to get to the ground. Although parking was a slight problem, the town centre is right near the ground, meaning that there is plenty to do before the game.

Specifically at the ground there doesn't really seem to be a lot to do unfortunately. The club shop is rather small and doesn't really contain a lot, although on my visits it did contain an absolute plethora of season review videos and DVDs. At the time I was collecting season reviews and have some from numerous clubs, so took the opportunity to add to my collection. Other than that however, there isn't really a lot other than the usual replica shirts and other similar items.

THE EAST BANK - PARTIAL AWAY END 

Anyway, making your way to the away end is easy enough during the day as you can fully see where you're going, but at night is a far different proposition. To get there you have to walk up a small hill and then through a wood that is at the back of a park to get to the away end. Therein is the problem. The path through the woods is about a three or four minute walk in pitch black at night. There are no lights and no directional signs to point you towards the away end, meaning the "follow the floodlights rule" applies very much in this situation. Infact, reaching the away end feels like you're in a horror movie and have just found a creepy cabin in the woods.

Eventually you reach the tiny turnstiles and you enter to a wide open space behind the away terrace, with the walk around to the seated end stretching off to the left. In this area are what you'd normally expect really, although I would seriously recommend the food as it is cooked from a van rather than a stand, meaning that they actually sell decent food and not the same old crap you get at most grounds these days.

You get the choose of either seating or terracing at Aldershot, for two of my visits I chose the terracing and was amazed by how many pillars could be in one stand. It was near impossible to find a spot where there were no posts covering either goal. The relatively shallow terrace offered a good view of the end of the pitch that it was at, but a poor one of the other end. Infact, during the first visits one of the goals was scored down the other end, but very few people within the ground actually realised that they had scored.

SOUTH STAND - PARTIAL AWAY END 

The stand to the left of the away fans was a small seated effort and opposite that was a pitch length seated stand that was very small in terms of height. I have sat in this stand during one of the games and whilst the view wasnt' awful, the lack of height in the stand means that you struggle to really view any action during the match, and even when sat on the half way line, you still struggle to see what's happening at the non-terraced end.

There was no stand behind the other goal. I'm not even sure if it is a walkway, or whether it's just a plain flat surface. The final stand is a pitch length seated stand and although there aren't many rows, it appears to be slightly elevated, meaning that there is probably a half decent view from this stand.

Despite hearing the atmosphere was excellent, I was amazed by the constant and loud singing of the Aldershot fans. I've not heard one team singing for 90 minutes of the match and they're about as far from the "sing when you're winning" theory as you can get from my experience. I've also spoken with some of their fans on various occasions and found them to be very pleasant fans.

NORTH STAND

Then there's not to forget the impressive flag displays that they have set up in their east bank. The entire segregation between the home and away fans is just full of them, absolutely full. For a change as well, it's not a collection of tacky flags either, they are excellent flags.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed going to Aldershot and am looking forward to going again. It is doubtful that I would ever go for a random game, simply because of the distance and time it would take to get down there, but I would definitely recommend it to all those planning on going.

As an away day, this has everything going for it. It's a unique, yet picturesque ground, has a brilliant atmosphere with excellent fans and is one of the more enjoyable trips you're likely to take outside of the Football League.

Aldershot's Recreation Ground

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 01/05/2010 21:48

theimps.ka
01/05/2010 21:48

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