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Swansea Awaydaze
Swansea Awaydaze
Monday, 17th Dec 2007 17:51

It’s a welcome return to 3pm football for our visit to Swansea City, on Saturday 29th. December.

Swansea’s Liberty stadium is about two miles to the north of the city centre, near to the former site of the Morfa Athletics Stadium on the West side of the River Tawe. By car you need to leave the M4 at Junction 45 and take the A4067 towards the City Centre (sign posted A4067 South). Stay on the A4067 for around two and half miles and you will reach the stadium on your left. Car parking at the stadium is for permit holders only and most of the immediate residential areas around the stadium now have 'residents only' parking schemes in place.

 

So away supporters are being encouraged to use the Park & Ride Facility located at Swansea Vale, which is signposted off the A4067, shortly after leaving the M4. The cost of parking there (including the bus to and from the stadium) is £5 per car. Away supporters have their own separate buses to the ground, with the buses waiting outside the away stand at the end of the game to take you back to the car park. Don't be tempted to park on the nearby Retail Park as you may well end up with a ticket!

 

You can just about do the journey from Leeds and back in one day by train, but the very latest you will be able to leave is the 08.16, changing at Sheffield and Bristol Parkway. Swansea is one of those places where you face the frustration of going right past the venue and then having to continue for a couple of miles before you can get off the train, so hopefully one day they will get round to building a special halt where the line passes the stadium. It’s a long walk back but the directions are straightforward. As you come out of the station turn right and go up the High Street, then turn right again at the traffic lights into Neath Road, and if you keep straight along Neath Road you will eventually come to the stadium. If you can’t raise the energy for a stroll, you can get a local bus, as routes 4, 4a, 120, 122, 125, 132 run towards the stadium and there will be at least one of these buses every ten minutes.

 

There are a few pubs within walking distance of the stadium. Around a five minute walk away from the away turnstiles is the ‘Station Inn’ pub in Hamilton Street, in the area across Neath Road, opposite to the stadium. Go up Station Link Road (crossing over the railway line) and then turn left into Hamilton Street, and you’ll find the pub on the right. A little further on is the larger ‘Globe’ pub, which you can find if you continue along Station Link Road past Hamilton Street, and where Station Link Road runs into Mysydd Road and curves round to the left, the pub is on the left hand side. Otherwise you can find some decent establishments in the city centre, such as the real ale ‘No Sign Bar’ in Castle Gardens Castle Gardens and a large Wetherspoons pub on the Kingsway. Food-wise, there is a very decent chippy called ‘Rossi’s’opposite the stadium.

 

At the start of the century the Swans wanted to move from their former Vetch Field ground, as it had fallen into a rather dilapidated state and it’s capacity had been reduced to 11,000, while the town’s rugby ground was similarly decrepit. So the council got a consortium together to build a new stadium and develop the nearby land, and the Liberty opened in July 2005 at a cost of £27m. City share the stadium with Neath-Swansea Ospreys Rugby Union Club, and a month after opening it also staged Wales’ home game against Slovenia.  

 

The Liberty has a capacity of 20,500 and like most of the other new stadia round the country it is a bit indentikit and soulless. But at least the facilities are excellent, with a large concourse, plenty of leg-room and great views from all the stands. Unfortunately government policy (enforced by the Football Liscencing Authority) is that all new stadia should be all-seater, even where the club concerned is outside the top two divisions, so we are denied the opportunity to use terracing. The club’s official site has all sorts of fascinating facts about the Liberty. Apparently it has 250 WCs but only 200 wash basins, which suggests that 20% of Swansea folk don’t wash their hands when they go to the toilet.

 

The away section is in the North Stand at one end of the stadium, where larger clubs get an allocation of up to 3,500. The food is ok by football standards, with the usual sort of pies, pasties, cheeseburgers and hot dogs, while beer is usually available at a most reasonable £2.50 a pint. Swansea don’t sell tickets to away fans on the day, whoever the opposition, which sounds like a good way of encouraging them to end up in the home stands. For this game they sold home tickets via the ‘Leeds link’, as fans were guaranteed tickets for this game provided they also bought tickets for their games with Northampton and Hartlepool at the same time. They did eventually go on general sale, but have now sold out. We’re not famous any more! Away Fans tickets cost £16 for adults, with Over 65's at £10, and Under 16's £7.

 

We can hope for a peaceful afternoon off the pitch, but judging by the way the two mobs confronted each other outside Elland Road earlier in the season (despite our mutual dislike of Cardiff) this might be optimistic.

 

Some of this waffle comes from www.footballgroundguide.co.uk.

 

Photo: Action Images



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