To his satisfaction, Groundhoppa began the 2009-10 season as he has the two last: visiting a fresh ground to welcome the new season in under the beat of the August sun.This time, I was without my regular groundhopping partner, Sir Robert, whom you will come to know. Instead, I was dutifully accompanied by Mrs Hoppa, with whom I was passing through the Midlands en route back from a convivial holiday.
Having allocated an effectively random amount of time to the journey up from the West Country, and then been subjected to the similarly random force that is the M5 traffic on a high summer's day, I was surprised and delighted to arrive at the Hawthorns almost exactly on time. Only the effect of Murphy's law - which invariably ensures the ticket collection desk is on the opposite side of the ground from my arrival point, each and every time - prevented me taking part in the minute's applause for another Sir Robert, sadly passed. I refer, of course, to Sir Bobby Robson.
So: first things first - the club and the ground. West Brom are known by all and sundry as the Baggies. But another nickname that prevails locally is the "Throstles", a Black Country word for thrush (the bird not the infection). This charming avian appears on the club's badge and, I fancy, once may have lived in number among the hawthorn bushes which once ran riot on this site. Though the last bit, too, is fancy, as the setting is anything but bucolic today.
Few if any grounds - Newcastle's St. James's Park, perhaps? - can be so firmly placed at the heart of their urban environment as is West Brom's. The Hawthorns is a biggish ground, and it makes no attempt to hide itself away or turn its back on its surroundings. Set directly on the edge of the torrential Birmingham Road, tall, metallic and mostly unadorned, it is plainly borne of the same grit and toil that gave rise to the roaring motorway nearby, the bakery opposite, and a thousand light industrial units all around. Welcome to the Black Country.
More of the silvery-white country these days, actually, reflecting the new-economy industro-sheds that have gradually displaced the menacing factories that once loomed round here. But it's nonetheless good to visit a part of the country that visibly earns its living by making stuff, and to watch its football with it, right in the heart of the action.
Inside, The Hawthorns is a modern ground that feels close and intimate for its 28,000 seats. The end stands are particularly steep. The crowd, at 23,000, was some way short of capacity, but the place felt full. Groundhoppa took his place in the East Stand, a bland modern side enclosure with the usual breeze block concourse below. Football's "Famous" Pies and adverts warning the masses about chlamydia: same old. Opposite, the Halfords Lane stand is much smaller, preusmably penned in by the road hard behind. West Brom, like a number of other clubs, are in the (slightly odd, it seems to me) position of having lots of land around their stadium, but still being restricted in what they can build because the stadium is crammed into one corner of it. To wit, there is a vast car park behind the East Stand, and surely by moving the pitch eastwards by thirty yards or so the club could have built a much bigger stand on Halfords Lane, and enjoyed a greater capacity. This is particularly curious given how recently the stadium has been redeveloped. Perhaps it would have been too expensive though. Perhaps they wouldn't fill it anyway.
The Hawthorns also has the distinction of being the highest English league ground above sea level. I did enjoy the fresh mountain air, although it didn't look like either of the teams were suffering from the effects of playing at altitude. Newcastle dominated open play but West Brom had the better of the chances: their one goal was a sloppy tap-in following a penalty-box melee, but they were denied more by the exploits of Newcastle's debutant keeper Tim Krul. Newcastle equalised with a tidier goal, clipped home by Damien Duff after a crisp move. The visitors did enough to suggest that they will handle the Championship this season, though they could badly use a couple of strikers, given the close resemblance borne by their line-leader Andy Carroll to a particularly static, firmly rooted fir tree.
Miscellany:
- not that I would have had time to enjoy it anyway, with the car and all, but The Hawthorns appears to occupy a near-total pub vaccuum. There doesn't even seem to be anywhere for home fans to drink nearby: I gather the club recently bought and demolished a pub that stood at the north eastern corner of the ground (The Woodman). I didn't see any kind of social club for the Baggies fans, but I may have overlooked something. Anyway, footballgroundguide.co.uk can only reccommend that the visiting fan schlep to West Brom town centre, nearly a mile away across the howling motorway interchange. Thanks lads.
- West Brom's programme is excellent, a glossy, weighty tome that surpasses in professionalism - and sheer bulk - the offerings of many premiership clubs. AND they have a guy come round and sell them at half time! This ought to be compulsory.
- Birmingham is supposed to be a great place for a curry. I didn't try one locally to the ground, but did stop in Sutton Coldfield High Street (just round the M6) for one. If you're a northerner looking for nosh (not *a* nosh - I'm told you need to go to Walsall for that but I really wouldn't know*) on the way home then you could do worse.
Enough from me. Let me know if you would prefer more structure to these missives in future or whether you're happy to wade through my burblings in more or less unfiltered form.
Chiz,
GH
*Saddlers fans - this is just a joke!
No comments:
Post a Comment