Lessons To Be Learned

First impressions: The ground was well sign posted from the motor way, something we have to ensure for White Rock. - Not sure which route into the White Rock area that the council and police will choose. Be it via Fabian Way, through Llansamlet, or the more probable Ynysforgan Roundabout. After travelling through Huddersfield, a town that seems to be in a bit of a time warp (Think Emerdale only bigger!) we witness old mining/mill industry governed buildings, who some may refer to as pretty and displaying character, and other may refer to as depressing, however, we then have a modern/futuristic designed football stadium that stands out like a sore thumb and does not blend into its surroundings at all! Once again, from looking at the pictures of White Rock on this site, you may come to the same conclusion that our stadium may not complement its surroundings. I certainly hope the council have some plans for redevelopment of the area, as the Hafod and Landore area is looking rather depressed also. Then comes the external appearance of the stadium, and innovative design of the roof structure, which is an elegant banana shaped tubular truss. Its is this banana shaped roof that gives instant recognition to all that this is the Mc Alpine Stadium. I'm sure all on this site would recognise the stadium if shown a photograph, whereas if we were showed a picture of any other recently built stadiums, we may struggle if we have never been to the ground. Its nice to have some defining characteristics that sets our ground apart from the rest, and based on what limited artist impressions that we've been shown of White Rock, first impressions are that the stadium will be instantly recognisable with the vertical pillar upstands (possibly a staircase?) and the cylindrical roof support masts. The only other stadiums I can think of that also have these masts are the Millennium Stadium and the Reebok Stadium, although, this could be an attribute that will be incorporated into several futu re designs with the obvious growing popularity of these towers. On entering the ground (14.50 admission), I was disappointed at the interior of the ground, which looks better on TV with the rugby league games than it did yesterday. The budget construction consisted of steel column with the cheap and nasty silver cladding (which we're likely to receive also above brickwork level). The stadium had no corners and so looked disjointed. These "gaps" also would allow for the escape of acoustics within the stadium. Then there's the arching roofs. The problem with the arching roof, is that it's not just the roof that arches but also the stand, making the stand look rather odd, ok for music events etc, but a bit strange looking for a football ground. The stand to our right was almost full, the opposite stand had a decent crowd on the upper tier, none on the lower, and then the stand to our left was nearly empty bar a couple of hundred. All this added for a strange atmosphere. The ground and attendance allowed for plenty of noise to be generated b y the home fans, although it had the awful "echo effect" where the noise doesn't carry very quickly, (i.e. when they scored, it took 3-4 seconds before we heard them cheering, and even then it sounded like they were in an indoor swimming pool). This effect may have been exaggerated by the already mentioned left stand which, was relatively empty. The pitch had an area between the goal and the crowd, possibly a running track area, which usually gets criticism from the fans due to them being too far from the pitch, however this didn't seem a problem yesterday. I gather that White Rock will also have a running track or similar area between the goal and crowd, and hopefully this won't create the distant feeling that we hope to avoid. Of course there were no obstructing columns and so the playing field was visible throughout the ground. Condition of the pitch, although the pitch wasn't awful, sharing football ground with a rugby club means the ground will inevitably be churned up! Based on yesterday's performance, divits in the ground will not suit our style of play or the type of players we have. Should be an interesting challenge to the ground staff at least. Final conclusion's were that the McAlpine Stadium was a good rugby and music events venue, but a bit of an idyllic experiment which isn't really what I would look for in a football ground. On saying that, many people I spoke to were impressed by the ground and that's their opinion. I attended the game full of optimism for the move to White Rock, and was looking forward to seeing the McAlpine Stadium for the first time, to see the effect it might have had on the local population and the respective football club. However, I left the stadium feeling depressed at the Swans performance, but also saddened by the realisation that everything that is soo appealing about Saturday afternoon's down the Vetch was in jeopardy. Being made to sit down at game's sucks, and the choice of bars and cafe's etc we currently have in close proximity to the ground will be replaced with a bag of chips in Rossi's after queuing for over half an hour and pint in the Landore Social or a icy watered down p int in the grounds bar. Regardless of feelings of the inevitable move, we need to make the most of the time we have at the Vetch, and accept change for the progression of the club. Incidentally, for those who didn't know, White Rock stadium has been designed by TTH, who were the same company who designed Sunderland's Stadium Of Light, which I'm sure all will agree, is quite impressive. So there is hope! ATB GAS

Why not check out the latest Vetch Verdict on the BBC site?