Our visit to Hartlepool United is on Saturday afternoon, with a 3pm kick-off.
Hartlepool’s fine Victoria ground is to the north of the town centre. If you’re driving up from Leeds, you need to leave the A1 at junction 49 and follow the A19 towards Teesside, then the A689 dual carriageway, following the signs for Hartlepool. Continue over the next four roundabouts, following the signs for Town Centre. Go straight over the traffic lights by the Middleton Grange Shopping Centre (...signposted the North, Sunderland, Durham A179, A19). Continue past the Hartlepool Mail (...on your left), and then take the left hand lane into Clarence Road. The ground is about 200 yards along, on the left hand side.
There is a fair sized car park at the ground. Otherwise there is plenty of street parking to be found behind the away end, and you can also park at the ‘Jackson’s Wharf’ pub, which is 5 minutes walk from the ground. Hartlepool’s official website advises you to “keep valuables out of sight”.
The railway station is about 10 minutes walk from the Victoria Ground. Leave the station and go straight up a short approach road. At the end of the approach, turn right and head up Church Street towards the large church. At the end of this road is a bridge and junction with the A689. Go straight across the junction and the ground is in front of you on the left hand side of the road.
There are quite a few decent pubs in the area, but it remains to be seen how many will be open on the day. The ‘Corner Flag’ is just outside the ground, and normally welcomes away fans for an admission fee of 50p. Others worth mentioning are the ‘Tavern’ in Church Street (the main road that passes the railway station) and the ‘Brewer and Firkin’ in Whitby Street. And by the marina (obviously found by heading towards the sea) you can find ‘The Old West Quay’ and ‘Jackson’s Wharf’.
The Victoria Ground was improved in the mid 1990's, with the construction of two new stands at one end and a third down one side of the ground, but unfortunately they decided to make the away end all-seater while still giving home fans the option of standing behind the goal at the opposite end.
The away allocation is a mere 967 seats in the Rink End Stand, out of a total ground capacity of 8,240. If you managed to get one of these tickets it will have been allocated on a 'loyalty' basis to those who went to the most Leeds away games during the season.
In the away end the view is partially blocked by supporting pillars, and the facilities are a little disappointing for a new stand. We have been warned that Hartlepool have a stict no-standing policy, and that anyone persistently standing will be ejected, which might lead to some lively discussions with the stewards. Their official site notes that this end is named after a long-demolished dance hall “where many a Hartlepool couple first met”.
I’m told that the food inside is quite good, especially the absolutely huge meat & potato pies! Oh, and make sure you wrap up warm, because Hartlepool have one of the coldest grounds in the league, thanks to the freezing cold wind coming off the north sea. Prices for away Fans are £20 for Adults with over 65' and Under 16's at £10. They discriminate against away fans by allowing Students to buy tickets at a concessionary price in the home areas of the ground, without extending this privilege to visiting supporters who are still at college.
Their official website says that “tickets are selling quickly for the weekend’s big game” and that it might well sell out before the day. They are only selling home tickets to fans on their customer database, and give the usual warning that any Leeds fans found in the home stands will be ejected. But with such a small away allocation they can't be too surprised when Leeds fans do go in the home end, as they only way they can get to see the game.
As far as the future is concerned, Hartlepool have plans to modernize the Mill House Stand, the one side of the ground left untouched in the 1990s, but they have yet to announce when this will happen.
Some of the info in this piece comes from www.footballgroundguide.co.uk.