Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
Yeovil Awaydaze
Yeovil Awaydaze
Thursday, 24th Apr 2008 13:55

For some reason the police thought it would be safer for us to come to Yeovil on a Friday night. No doubt this will encourage us to stay overnight and mingle with the locals in the town centre.

Huish Park is right on the north-western edge of Yeovil , a good couple of miles from the town centre. The best route is to approach the town on the A303, then leave it at the Cartgate roundabout and take the A3088 towards Yeovil.  Follow this road for around four miles until you reach a roundabout on the outskirts of Yeovil with the Westlands Airfield directly in front of you. Turn left at this roundabout and then continue straight on, crossing a number of roundabouts. As you pass the entrance to an Asda superstore, take the next left for the ground, which can be seen from the road.

There is a fair sized car park at the ground, which costs £2. Otherwise there is plenty of street car parking to be had on the roads leading down to the ground.  As there is only one exit from the official car park it takes ages to clear after the game, so if you want a quick getaway you’ll need to park further afield and walk to Huish Park.

By train the ground is a pain to get to, even when you’ve arrived in Yeovil (which in itself is no mean feat, as the town isn’t exactly at the hub of the national rail network). Yeovil has two railway stations, both of which are some way from the town centre, and neither is in the same directions as Huish Park. Yeovil Junction is on the line from London Waterloo to Exeter, as is 2 miles to the south of the town centre. From here you can catch the ‘Hopper’ minibus to the bus station in the town centre.  Pen Mill station is about a mile to the east of the town centre, and is served by trains from Bristol to Weymouth.

Then once you’ve got to the town centre, you’re still a couple of miles from Huish Park. For Saturday games there is a shuttle bus that runs from the bus station to the ground, but I’m not sure if they bother to provide this on Friday nights.  Otherwise there is the First Traveller Bus Service No:1 that leaves from the town centre (stop outside Lloyds TSB in the High Street) and drops you at the Abbey Manor Housing Estate, which is near to the ground.

As with all out of town grounds there’s a shortage of pubs nearby, but there are three within about 10-15 minutes walk, 'The Bell', 'The Arrow' and 'The Airfield Tavern', which also has a fish and chip shop next door called ‘Palmers’.  To find 'The Arrow' from the ground’s car park, walk back up the road past the ground to the top of it and turn right. At the end of this road, turn left onto the main road and after a short distance take the first right. Go straight down this road through the new looking residential area and after about ten minutes of walking, you will see a clearing on your right and just beyond this there are some shops and the Arrow pub in the middle. You’ll find ‘The Bell’ on Preston Road, by going towards the Town Centre from the A3088 roundabout, rather than turning left towards Huish Park.  These pubs are usually quite relaxed about letting away fans in, but it remains to be seen what door policy they will have for our visit!

For many years Yeovil were famous for their 'giant killing' acts in the FA Cup on their old sloping pitch, but that is now history, as their new ground opened in 1990, with a capacity of 9,400. It consists of two seated stands down the sides and terracing at both ends. Up until 1999 the terraces were both open, and when I first came to the ground for a game in the Conference that year, they were having a bucket collection to help raise funds for a roof over the home end. Amazingly the bucket collectors came onto the away terrace that day, and I couldn’t help thinking that it was bad enough that Yeovil were selfishly putting their own fans first, without expecting fans of other clubs to subsidise a roof they wouldn’t benefit from.

Since then, the home end has duly been covered, and the away terrace is still open to the elements. And yet Yeovil still charge away fans the same price for terracing as they do for the home fans at the opposite end, even though the latter enjoy better facilities.  This end accommodates 1,750 away fans, and although they still have steel work is in place at the back of the terrace which would allow for some expansion, they haven’t yet built any additional rows to expand their capacity. Away fans also get a block of seats in one of the stands down the side.

The food on offer isn’t that good, even by football ground standards, so it would be best to get some scoff before you get to Huish Park. For these excellent facilities we have to pay £16 for adults, with concessions at £11, and Under 16's £6. For some reason the away terrace is the same price as the visitor’s seats, making the price even more of a rip-off.

The latest ticket news from Yeovil’s website is that on Tuesday they only had 20 home end tickets left, so we’re definitely not famous any more! And we can also expect a large number of the local constabulary to turn up, as they usually have an excessive police presence even for low profile games.

Some of this stuff came from www.footballgoundguide.co.uk

Photo: Action Images



Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.


You need to login in order to post your comments

Queens Park Rangers Polls

About Us Contact Us Terms & Conditions Privacy Cookies Advertising
© FansNetwork 2024