Football stadiums and stands - the good and the bad...

...always find football stadiums interesting, the architecture, the changes in style from Leitch stands to modern designs etc. So have you been to any grounds, or even particular stands or terraces, that stood out? Any particularly attractive or ugly ones? Any ones you'd like to see?

For me, the Shed in Turners Cross was the favourite, an ugly box structure but it could generate great noise, being moved down a few steps by a crowd surge when a packed Shed greeted a goal at that end was memorable.

For grounds I've been to for games, I like Craven Cottage with the old wooden seats. On the other hand, the Emirates was disappointing...albeit undeniably comfortable.

Did tours of the San Siro and Nou Camp and they were pretty cavernous. Also had a peek into the huge Strahov Stadium in Prague from the top of some castle or viewing tower in the nearby park, real Communist vast concrete relic, at one stage could hold 220,000 making it one of the biggest stadiums ever. Walked around Hajduk Split's Poljud but couldn't get in, beautiful looking ground though.

As for grounds I would like to see, has to be Ibrox, the old Leitch Stand must be one of the most attractive, and unlikely to be replicated in this day of functional fire them up type grounds like Bolton's Reebok...or whatever it's called now.

BoJack Horseman

SkyscraperCity is a great resource for stadia images if people want to peruse.

Russia are building some terrific stadiums for the world cup in 2 years, check out St Petersburg.

Anfield's Main stand is almost complete (no one say it looks like Old Trafford!)

The best part of this development is Stan "I'm the Gaffer" Staunton taking pride of place in the concourse

Harry Palmr

I just hate any concrete bowl with a running track - more than I can say to be honest. Soul destroying places.

Ulysses Gaze

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I just hate any concrete bowl with a running track - more than I can say to be honest. Soul destroying places.

It looks better since it has been remodeled

BoJack Horseman

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I just hate any concrete bowl with a running track - more than I can say to be honest. Soul destroying places.

True.

Russia have rebuilt the iconic Luzhniki, thankfully without the track

kksaints

Apart from the seats the San Siro is great. Seats werent very comfortable but its great for the atmosphere. Olympiastadion in Berlin is also fantastic even with the running track. Its such an iconic venue and there was a great atmosphere when I was there.

At home Turners Cross is probably the best as in its a all seater fully covered ground. Richmond Park is also good for atmosphere. Worst in Ireland is the Belfield Bowl Not even a full length stand and there is nothing not even a terrace on three sides of the ground.

Captain Havoc

I use an app called groundhopper, which is really good. Ali Sami Yen is definitely the mentalist. I love stadiums which have four stands or terraces, holds the atmosphere in much better.

Ulysses Gaze

kksaints wrote: »

Apart from the seats the San Siro is great. Seats werent very comfortable but its great for the atmosphere. Olympiastadion in Berlin is also fantastic even with the running track. Its such an iconic venue and there was a great atmosphere when I was there.

At home Turners Cross is probably the best as in its a all seater fully covered ground. Richmond Park is also good for atmosphere. Worst in Ireland is the Belfield Bowl Not even a full length stand and there is nothing not even a terrace on three sides of the ground.

The San Paolo is the same. An absolute bomb site of a ground. A cracking athmosphere though.

They are looking to renovate it. But will still keep the running track......:(



One I have visted a few times when I was younger was the Benito Villamarin in Seville. Amazing athmosphere. Stadium is still not completed and I guess with Betis financial woes probably won't be for a while....

The Backwards Man

I'm out and about but check out Mabatho (sp?) Stadium in South Africa, don't know what the architect was on there.

Ulysses Gaze

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I'm out and about but check out Mabatho (sp?) Stadium in South Africa, don't know what the architect was on there.

Very strong local brew I would imagine...

Ulysses Gaze

Floating stadium in Singapore is...interesting

SEPT 23 1989

Will we ever have a stadium that has a roof all the way around

Dirty Dingus McGee

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

True.

Russia have rebuilt the iconic Luzhniki, thankfully without the track

But it doesn't look so iconic anymore just another characterless bowl.


The Olympic Stadiums in Berlin and Rome look class and they have running tracks around them.

Pretty much every stadium designed in the last 15-20 years is horrific looking.

Ulysses Gaze

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

But it doesn't look so iconic anymore just another characterless bowl.


The Olympic Stadiums in Berlin and Rome look class and they have running tracks around them.

Pretty much every stadium designed in the last 15-20 years is horrific looking.

Agreed. A lot of souless bowls have been built.

One I would really love to have seen built was this stadium planned by Siena

kksaints

kksaints wrote: »

Apart from the seats the San Siro is great. Seats werent very comfortable but its great for the atmosphere. Olympiastadion in Berlin is also fantastic even with the running track. Its such an iconic venue and there was a great atmosphere when I was there.

At home Turners Cross is probably the best as in its a all seater fully covered ground. Richmond Park is also good for atmosphere. Worst in Ireland is the Belfield Bowl Not even a full length stand and there is nothing not even a terrace on three sides of the ground.

Good call on Richmond and UCD. Was living in Dublin in the 90s and went to both, enjoyed atmosphere at Richmond. Also endured one memorable night when, with a few other culchies, went to Tolka and started getting too enthused about Sligo, underdog provincial team v Dublin team and all that...we bumped into Shels fans later that night in a club...who promptly bought us drink...

Ulysses Gaze

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

Agreed. A lot of souless bowls have been built.

One I would really love to have seen built was this stadium planned by Siena

Bizarre...but wonderful.

Paz-CCFC

kksaints wrote: »

At home Turners Cross is probably the best as in its a all seater fully covered ground. Richmond Park is also good for atmosphere. Worst in Ireland is the Belfield Bowl Not even a full length stand and there is nothing not even a terrace on three sides of the ground.

I hate the way that all-seaters have become the desired standard here. All new stands/stadia more or less have to be seated. It's been years since a new terrace was built in an Irish football ground. It's done to emulate England, but it makes no sense. It's law over there, it's not here. The only time clubs will ever need it is in Europe, which happens two or three times a year and may not even fill the ground. Even Finn Harps' new stadium will be all-seated. They've had four home Europe fixtures in their history, the last in 1978. What's the f*cking point in them going all-seater?

The Cross knocked its last terrace in 2006, becoming fully all-seated with the stand that took its place in 2007. Our match against Genk this year was the first time that we've made use of this extra seated capacity in Europe. If we had kept the terrace, we would've had enough seats in the rest of the ground for all the matches in the intervening years. That's a long time to be waiting for the benefit of a major construction project. And we actually lost out on crowds for domestic fixtures, as there were a couple of sell outs in the mean time that could've used the extra standing capacity.

The enforced all-seaters in England have been a disaster for atmosphere in particular (as well as ticket prices). Hopefully it doesn't take off here the way it has there and modern terraces get built in future stadia. It's unlikely, unfortunately.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Braga's stadium built in the middle of a quarry is fabulous.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Braga's stadium built in the middle of a quarry is fabulous.

Ah yes, remember watching a game on tv in Euro 04 hoping to see a ball bounce back off the quarry wall at one end...

Ulysses Gaze

This stadium is on my bucket list to visit

Ulysses Gaze

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

This stadium is on my bucket list to visit

Wonderful. Argentinian?

Ulysses Gaze

Deleted User wrote: »

Wonderful. Argentinian?

La Bombonera in Buenos Aires. Home of Boca Juniors.

Back in the 1970's there was talk of them building a 140,000 capacity stadium that would be ready for the 1978 World Cup. Madness!

http://www.stadiumguide.com/the-boca-juniors-stadium-that-never-was/

Lucky enough to have a copy of Simon Inglis "Football Grounds of Britain". If you see a copy on ebay, pick it up. Written and photographed just before the real craze for demolishing wonderful old grounds kicked in in the years after the Taylor Report. Some interesting stuff- Google image Charlton's "the Valley"...once held 75,000 in a concrete bowl with 2 bizarre stands.

Omackeral

Looks like La Bombenara that Boca play in. It means The Chocolate Box, which is obviously awesome.


Seattle's Qwest Field.

Omackeral

Seattle Sounders FC Qwest Field

Harry Palmr

Looks a bit narrow!

Actually must give a passing reference to Maine Road. Went to a 3 all draw v Newcastle in 96, the Kippax Stand was fairly spectacular...

http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/tianjian.ji/research/projects/kippaxstand.htm

Dirty Dingus McGee

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

This stadium is on my bucket list to visit

By the looks of those umbrellas Tipp were playing Kilkenny in that match.

Skylinehead

Deleted User wrote: »

Actually must give a passing reference to Maine Road. Went to a 3 all draw v Newcastle in 96, the Kippax Stand was fairly spectacular...

http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/tianjian.ji/research/projects/kippaxstand.htm

If we're talking spectacular stands, there's only one winner:



Westfalenstadion, single tier stand, 25000 people. Fairly mad.

Frankie Lee

Providence Park in Portland is a cracking example of a converted baseball ground being made useful for a proper sport.

Frankie Lee

Too nice and polished a ground for me.

NIMAN

That grass berm would be no fun on a real rainy day.

helimachoptor

Omackeral wrote: »

Seattle Sounders FC Qwest Field

Was there for NFL but a very impressive stadium

Fr Tod Umptious

helimachoptor wrote: »

Was there for NFL but a very impressive stadium

In the past two decades there has been a lot of NFL amd MLB grounds built to replace old "cookie cutter" stadiums from the 60s and 70s.

All have their own unique designs and quirky characteristics, unlike many of the English soccer stadiums that were built in the same period.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

In the past two decades there has been a lot of NFL amd MLB grounds built to replace old "cookie cutter" stadiums from the 60s and 70s.

All have their own unique designs and quirky characteristics, unlike many of the English soccer stadiums that were built in the same period.

The retro style baseball stadiums that have been built in recent years look really beautiful.

Can't understand why the people who design soccer stadiums are always so un-imaginative when you see what they've done in American with some of the new stadiums.

inforfun

I ll just leave my sig.

Ongoing talks for years for a new stadium for Feyenoord because it just doesnt have enough business units, only 1 side of the stadium, counting for about 40 of those boxes.

But if you want a quick but painful death, walk into any Feyenoord pub in Rotterdam and say that De Kuip should be demolished for one of those modern soulless crap fests.

The fact that Ajax plays in one of those, with all the problems that came with it *, doesnt help Feyenoord to convince the supporters to give up on De Kuip.


*(triple figures by now i reckon as it comes to replacing the pitch)

I am a sucker for stadiums, can spent a lot of time on worldstadiums.com

Feyenoord played HNK Rijeka 2 years ago in the EL and they had a nice stadium as it comes to location.
It did have an athletics track though that kills any stadium imo.

Mars Bar

The rose bowl in Pasadena



Saw man United play L.A Galaxy there two summers ago. No real seats where I was. Just a bench with numbers on it!

dan1895

River Plate's Monumental in Buenos Aires is the greatest atmosphere I ever experienced. Helped by the fact they were playing Boca at the time.

Cookiemunster

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

The retro style baseball stadiums that have been built in recent years look really beautiful.

Can't understand why the people who design soccer stadiums are always so un-imaginative when you see what they've done in American with some of the new stadiums.

Money was the main issue in England. Most of these grounds were built in the 90s before the money really went crazy in the PL. Teams went for the cheapest option which was the identikit stadiums.

And the Americans pay for their uniqueness. The 49ers Levis stadium for example cost $1.2bn, the Cowboys Stadium cost $1.3bn and the Giants/Jet stadium cost $1.6bn. Even today you won't see Premier Leagus clubs pay those types of prices for stadiums.

Harry Palmr

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Money was the main issue in England. Most of these grounds were built in the 90s before the money really went crazy in the PL. Teams went for the cheapest option which was the identikit stadiums.

And the Americans pay for their uniqueness. The 49ers Levis stadium for example cost $1.2bn, the Cowboys Stadium cost $1.3bn and the Giants/Jet stadium cost $1.6bn. Even today you won't see Premier Leagus clubs pay those types of prices for stadiums.

The USA is littered with expensive abandoned stadiums.











In England sites are too valuable to let lie so are redeveloped or sold for commercial development.

Pedro K

The bad - Oriel Park. Kip.

LiamoSail

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Money was the main issue in England. Most of these grounds were built in the 90s before the money really went crazy in the PL. Teams went for the cheapest option which was the identikit stadiums.

.

The newer English grounds that everyone dislikes are just the modern day equivalent of Old Trafford, Villa Park, Anfield, Ibrox etc. They were all designed by the same guy afaik, and the original stadiums were probably far more similar to one another than the Reebok, Riverside, Stadium of Light etc are to each other

LiamoSail

Personally I love the Stadio Nationale outside Lisbon, despite the running track. From the pitch, there's a great view over the city on account of there being no stand, rather a large square instead

http://m.imgur.com/UluD8dP?r

Billy86

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

But it doesn't look so iconic anymore just another characterless bowl.


The Olympic Stadiums in Berlin and Rome look class and they have running tracks around them.

Pretty much every stadium designed in the last 15-20 years is horrific looking.

Granted it's an NFL stadium but has the best atmosphere of almost any stadium anywhere; apparently the design causes the noise to bounce back-and-forth-and-back-and-forth-and-back-and-forth so much they they regularly record tiny earthquakes near the stadium during games. Looks a little odd granted, but if I'm right it's supposed to look like two halves of an American football... and the view of downtown is f***ing class!

That_Guy

Hasteinsvollur Stadium in Iceland looks like a decent place to watch a bit of football. :pac:

dan1895

That_Guy wrote: »

Hasteinsvollur Stadium in Iceland looks like a decent place to watch a bit of football. :pac:

The cars parked on the hill in the top right of the photo double up as the corporate hospitality suites. Great view.

Darkglasses

I'm mad about stadiums too, spend hours cruising through worldstadiums.com

At home, you can't beat Turner's Cross. Wish there was easier parking but it's the best of the lot. Lovely view in the pressbox for sure



I always had an irrational fondness for Kildare County's ground, Station Road. The stand was cute.



Abroad, I really liked St. James' Park. Seriously large stand, great location and a great city for a visit.

Oat23

Erzgebirge Aue's stadium in the middle of the forest.

pappyodaniel

I'm a big fan of the Velodrome in Marseilles.

Zebra3

kksaints wrote: »

Apart from the seats the San Siro is great. Seats werent very comfortable but its great for the atmosphere. Olympiastadion in Berlin is also fantastic even with the running track. Its such an iconic venue and there was a great atmosphere when I was there.

At home Turners Cross is probably the best as in its a all seater fully covered ground. Richmond Park is also good for atmosphere. Worst in Ireland is the Belfield Bowl Not even a full length stand and there is nothing not even a terrace on three sides of the ground.

The bigger of the two side stands at Turners Cross isn't fully covered. Roof only goes about halfway out over the seats in the stand. Bizarre.::rolleyes:

Agree with you on the Olympic in Berlin. Iconic venue if ever there was one.

A ground to get to before it's gone is Brentford's. Smashing place.

The Backwards Man

The Argentinians are fond of the steep stands alright

San Lorenzo


Colon



Huracan




Rafaela