Ground 25: Gayfield

Gayfield

Game: Arbroath 3 v 1 Forfar Athletic

Date: Saturday 26^th January

Competition: Scottish Football League Division 2

Attendance: 843

Admission: £12

Programme: £2

I’ll visit more salubrious grounds this season, but I think I’m going to be hard pushed to find a visit I’ll enjoy more.

With snow bombarding great swathes of Scotland I was concerned my visit to Arbroath was going to fall victim to the weather like many a fixture in the Scottish Football League. Fortunately my fears were unconfined as my Dad and I set off up the road to the Angus coastal town of Arbroath.

By the time we arrived in Arbroath and grabbed a bit to eat at the marina the sun was even shining. It wasn’t warm but it was certainly nowhere near as bad as I’d anticipated.

We had a short walk from the harbour, past the Signal Tower Museum (which looks great) and through Inchcape Park to find Gayfield Park, home of Arbroath for the past 93 years. I’ve read much about how close Gayfield is to the North Sea (5m during high tide) and I think the photos show the proximity between ground and water. I’m just thankful that the weather wasn’t too bad, in fact I’d describe the conditions as benign for this time of year.

Arbroath are famous of course for holding the world record for the biggest win in senior football, when they defeated Bon Accord 36-0 in the Scottish Cup in September 1885. Coincidentally, on the same day, Dundee Harp beat Aberdeen Rovers 35-0. Not a good day for teams from Aberdeen that day! Those halcyon days have rarely been repeated with Arbroath being one of a number of yo-yo clubs that flit between the First, Second and Third Divisions.

This season they find themselves in mid-table territory alongside their opponents today, Forfar Athletic. The clubs are only fifteen miles apart and before today’s game were only separated by three points with Arbroath in 5^th and Forfar holding onto the final playoff place in 4^th. By 4.50pm, however, Arbroath had leapfrogged their rivals in a convincing manner.

We had a walk around the ground before settling in the front row of North Sea-side stand. Thankfully the wall at the back of the stand protected us from what little wind there was. At 2.50pm, we thought the ground was sparsely populated but suddenly, just before 3pm it filled up a bit more, clearly the locals timed their arrivals to perfection.

In another first for the season, two sides were led out onto the pitch by a piper. It certainly added to the occasion and it’s the sort of thing that I enjoy seeing, making the match special, a spectacle. There was a few nice touches – a West Country tannoy announcer while the mascots had their photos taken with the captains and their mum came out onto the pitch to take a picture. You don’t get that in the SPL.

Arbroath were in their maroon shirts with Forfar wearing a change strip of neon orange. Quite why they couldn’t play in their traditional sky blue shirts I’m not sure but it hardly detracted from the game. After the coin toss, the sides swapped ends and suddenly we were inundated with Arbroath fans around us who obviously fancied their chances of goals in the first half.

And goals they got. Within seven minutes, Arbroath opened the scoring. Forfar didn’t deal well with a corner which was knocked down in the box for Lee Sibanda to rifle into the roof of the net.

It was shaping up to be a good game, with both sets of fans ‘noising’ up the goalkeepers when they were taking goal kicks. It reminded me of my first games at Easter Road when the entire family stand would try to put the keeper off. Brilliant stuff. Also, standing so close to the pitch we also got to observe Arbroath player manager Paul Sheerin on the left wing. It was fascinating to watch him coach, cajole and shout at his team, whilst playing a part in the win too.

Arbroath made it 2-0 less than ten minutes after their first with a well-worked goal. Arbroath’s crisp passing was too much for the Forfar defence who put in a series of wild lunges that were nowhere near the ball or player, which made it easy for Graham Bayne to slot home.

Despite their sometimes agricultural tackling, Forfar did try to play some passing football on a difficult pitch. The programme had noted their thanks to volunteers who had come down to Gayfield on Tuesday night to cover the pitch, allowing the game to go ahead.

Arbroath 3rd Division Champions flag

 Before half-time we had another little walk around the ground to allow my Dad to get a pie and tea and I took in the scene. Frankly, I’d fallen for Gayfield. There was something wild yet welcoming about it as a place to watch football. And then I saw Forfar fans call Arbroath keeper Tony Bullock a “wanker” which ruined the scene.

The second half was another full of drama – Arbroath put the game beyond doubt with a great team goal started in their own half with a fantastic dummy by Ross Chisholm. They worked the ball up the field before a stramash in the six yard box saw the ball break to Graham Bayne who slammed the ball home for his second of the match. His strike partner Steven Doris may have been on trial recently at Birmingham City but it was Bayne who was grabbing the headlines with a robust performance.

We were surrounded by a passionate home support, who despite being three goals to the good, were hypercritical of the referee, David Somers, who I felt had a good game. I’ve been very impressed with Somers in the few matches I’ve seen him in this season. Admittedly, he got a few decisions wrong, but in a full-blooded derby I felt he handled both sets of players very well, despite the protestations of the Red Lichties’ support.

Somers was forced to award Forfar a penalty twenty minutes from time, which from our end looked justified. Iain Campbell dispatched the ball from the twelve yard spot with aplomb. But any chance of an unlikely Forfar comeback was thwarted when they were reduced to 10 men after a dreadful challenge from Willie Robertson. It was unnecessary challenge and Somers was quite right to give him his marching orders.

The game petered out over the remaining ten minutes with Arbroath fans enjoying the chance to laud their team, greeting each touch with an “ole” and booing each Forfar touch.

After two goalless draws, I was delighted to get back to seeing a game with goals, as well as one that was as competitive and enthralling as this one. Alongside with Tannadice, I’d safely put Gayfield in my top three of the season so far. As ridiculous and cliché as it may sound, it was one of those days that made me realise why I’m doing this adventure and why I love football

Ground 3: Stair Park

Stair Park, Stranraer

Game: Stranraer 1 vs. 1 Arbroath

Date: 11^th August 2012

Competition: Scottish Football League Division 2

Attendance: 290

Admission: £12

Programme: £2

I’ve learnt the hard-way that a 14 hour round trip to Stranraer is not best undertaken with a hangover. When my alarm went off at 8am on Saturday morning I was cursing myself and wishing I’d foregone that last pint at 3am.

So I found myself dozing off on the Citylink on the M8 on the way from Edinburgh to Glasgow and then floating down Buchanan Street in a hungover haze to Central Station. Central Station is a wonderful station but it didn’t feel that way then hundreds of families and young people hogging the concourse as they made their way to west coast beaches to enjoy that rare commodity: Scottish sunshine.

Remaindered carriages took us passengers westward to Paisley and then south down the Ayrshire coast towards our eventual destination. It must be said that once south of Ayr, the views can be spectacular on this line: Carrick looks fantastic, Ailsa Craig looks unworldly and as you enter Galloway the landscape reminds you more of the Highlands than the South of Scotland. Adding to the Highlands flavour was the fact you lose phone reception for much of the journey between Girvan and Barrhill and Barrhill to Stranraer.

Two hours and twenty minutes after our train left Glasgow Central we find ourselves passing Stair Park, home of Stranraer Football Club and into Stranraer harbour. Exiting the train, you can look right and literally see the end of the line, beyond it, Loch Ryan.

Abandoned ferry terminal at Stranraer

As you leave the train station you see what remains of what once was a thriving port. Several times I’ve been in Stranraer briefly to catch the ferry to Northern Ireland, but that is no longer the case. Stena Line closed its operations in Stranraer to move a few miles along to the road to Cairnryan, with a deep water port. It now means that the famous ‘Rail & Sail’ deals from Glasgow to Belfast and vice versa no longer run and Stranraer is entering a critical time as a town. It’s because of the withdrawal of the harbour that I find myself here so early in the season. The Scottish Government has launched a scheme for £15 return rail tickets between Stranraer and Glasgow for the whole of August and September to stimulate economic development and encourage tourism. I question the wisdom of how cutting train fares by 65% will work for just two months, but then perhaps the fact I am here indicates its success.

After a short walk I find myself in Stair Park, which contains Stair Park the football ground. This is a bit of a novelty for a football ground and it looks fantastic, tennis courts, playpark and most magnificently of all, a bandstand. It’s idyllic. As I approach the turnstile, there is a fair bit of excitement coming from the cars parked in the park – it turns out Peterhead have taken a lead over Rangers in the lunchtime game in SFL3. The smiles of those near the cars would suggest that there’s quite a few closet Peterhead fans living in Stranraer...perhaps there’s solidarity for their brothers in blue playing in the very opposite corner of the country?

I pay my £12 at the turnstile and I’m given a teamsheet featuring the line-ups for today’s game as well as advertising for all manner of local businesses. Quite a clever idea and one I’d like to see replicated across the country. I pay for my programme and a couple of tickets for the half-time draw (surely if I play every week I can recoup some of my expenses at some point?). The programme, Beyond the Bandstand (what a title), is a very well put together production which puts Falkirk’s efforts last weekend to shame with features on Arbroath’s squad as well as a profile of the town itself, a historical feature of when Rangers came to play at Stair Park, football book reviews and a profile of other European leagues, an acknowledgement that there is much more to football programmes that anodyne features and adverts for the club shop.

What was also noticeable in the programme was the chairman’s column where he recognised that this season could be a long one for the club – they were only promoted to Division 2 in the last month after the Rangers debacle and the previous weekend were on the receiving end of an 8-0 home tonking from Livingston. There was a heartfelt appeal to support the club as much as each individual fan could as well as asking to bring others along to Stair Park. As I sat on the wooden benches in the far-stand, I couldn’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to come to this smashing wee park – in front of me was an impressive main stand, to the right was a covered three stepped terrace, to my left was a tree lined goal and I was sitting in a proper ‘old-fashioned’ stand that reminded me greatly of my first games at Easter Road sitting in the old North Stand. At that moment, one of my friends tweeted that he was in place at Wembley for the Olympic final, but in all honesty, I wouldn’t have swapped the authentic Stair Park for the corporate dwellings of the FA. But then I’ve always been quite strange.

I even had a reason for not wanting to enjoy this visit. Stranraer FC were responsible for my first falling out of love with football when I was 11 years old. Hibs had just been relegated to the First Division and I went to the first home game of the season, against Stranraer who had just been promoted. Stranraer caused a shock and beat Hibs 2-1 through goals from Jason Young (I can still remember them now) that caused me such heartache that I couldn’t bare to watch Hibs the rest of that record breaking season where they went on to dominate the First Division and swiftly gain promotion back to the SPL. I couldn’t bring myself to go to game in fear that I’d become a bad luck charm and could effectively derail our chances of success. So I deprived myself of the arrival of Russell Latapy and Franck Sauzee and the start of an exciting era at my club because of bloody Stranraer.

Arbroath player-manager Paul Sheerin launches a ball forward

 I digress (and now hold no grudges). The game got underway in the glorious sun with Arbroath looking the better of the two sides as you would expect. Arbroath player manager Paul Sheerin looked lively on the left as his team edged the proceedings early on. Playing alongside Sheerin was Brian Kerr, a former Hibs player who from a very promising start at Motherwell has plummeted down the divisions and still doesn’t look like he has found his level. Much like Barry Ferguson, I cannot understand what Kerr does apart from dominate proceedings in the centre circle and do a lot of pointing.

As their chairman pointed out in his programme notes, it looked like it was going to be a tough season for Stranraer, in this Division 2 season opener. They haven’t had the summer to budget and plan their squad accordingly and they currently have a small squad. Perhaps loan signings might help them but due to their geographic location they are restricted to the number of clubs that would be willing for their young prospects to travel. As Arbroath began to tighten their control of the game, it looked only a matter of time before they put themselves in the lead, a lofted shot from Steven Doris hit the bar to compliment the half volley near miss from Darren Gribben earlier on.

The match was much more of the rough and tumble fare that one would expect of the lower leagues, much more so that the Berwick-Queen’s Park from a fortnight ago. There was a lack of ability to find that neat pass in the final third so the ball tended to be played out to the wings and lumped into box in the hope that something would come off. It was a cross from Stranraer’s impressive Sean Winter that proved the most effective in the first half, met by the hairless Michael Moore who powerfully headed home to give the home side the lead in a match that they had struggled to get a foot in.

A Stranraer attack late in the first half

 The goal brought Arbroath back to life who hit the bar and missed a free header just before half time to go in a goal down in a game they, for the most part, had controlled. Over half time and an average pie, I contemplated titles of songs about Stranraer such as ‘The Ferry Don’t Dock Here No More’ (a country tune obviously) and ‘Sunshine over Stair Park’. Like I said, I was hungover and my even at the best of times my chat isn’t that great.

An Arbroath free-kick

 My decision to watch the second half from behind David Mitchell, Stranraer’s goalkeeper’s goal was vindicated within minutes as Arbroath took advantage of hesitancy in defence and Darren Gribben capitalised with a good finish just inside the box, he had all the time in the world to level the scoreline.

It must be said that the rest of the game couldn’t be described as a classic but it was a back and forth encounter that could of gone either way if one of the sides had taken their chances.

As the final whistle blew and the tannoy encourages fans to come back and bring friends with them, the fans drudged off through Stair Park. I had two hours to kill until the next train (adding to a sense of remoteness that a trip to Stranraer brings) so I walked around the town centre for a bit as the shops closed for the night. Whilst there was a lot of pubs and takeaways there wasn’t anything unique about the town centre that would encourage those from out of town to come and visit I’m afraid. I’m absolutely delighted I took a visit to the charming Stair Park but its remoteness will put off many more and no doubt it’s a contributing factor to Stranraer’s lowly status within Scottish football.