My team's new stadium
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- UK Skins Fan
- Posts: 4592
- Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:11 pm
- Location: Somewhere, out there.
My team's new stadium
I'm not just a Washington Redskins fan. My first sporting love is Brighton & Hove Albion, my local football team. This season, starting this very Saturday, they will be playing in The Championship. One league down from the much vaunted English Premier League, one good season could see them mixing it with the big boys like Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and all the rest.
But the reason that this season is going to be special (and why I am counting down the hours until 3pm this Saturday afternoon) is that for the first time in 14 years, we will have a home. Imagine if the owners of your local team sold the club's stadium, with no plan to build a new one, but simply to pay off some creditors and pocket the surplus funds for themselves. That is what happened to my beloved Albion. As a result, the last 12 years have been spent playing in a rented athletics "stadium", which you can see here:
http://www.runtrackdir.com/uk/pics/brighton/brighton-wi-c640.jpg
I never saw my team play at this venue - the last game I saw them play was on 26th April 1997, and I vowed that I would not go to another game until the club had a real home. And now, finally, with new owners in place who are true fans of the club, and after a long campaign by the club and it's fans, we have a new home. And it looks like this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/brighton/9544703.stm
And like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Falmerstadium-may2011.JPG
So, please excuse me if I'm not thinking of the Redskins at 3pm on Saturday 6th August. My head will be in the clouds, there'll be a tear in my eye, and I'll be roaring on the boys in blue and white. The anticipation is too much to bear, so I just had to share, lol.
Thank you for listening.
But the reason that this season is going to be special (and why I am counting down the hours until 3pm this Saturday afternoon) is that for the first time in 14 years, we will have a home. Imagine if the owners of your local team sold the club's stadium, with no plan to build a new one, but simply to pay off some creditors and pocket the surplus funds for themselves. That is what happened to my beloved Albion. As a result, the last 12 years have been spent playing in a rented athletics "stadium", which you can see here:
http://www.runtrackdir.com/uk/pics/brighton/brighton-wi-c640.jpg
I never saw my team play at this venue - the last game I saw them play was on 26th April 1997, and I vowed that I would not go to another game until the club had a real home. And now, finally, with new owners in place who are true fans of the club, and after a long campaign by the club and it's fans, we have a new home. And it looks like this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/brighton/9544703.stm
And like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Falmerstadium-may2011.JPG
So, please excuse me if I'm not thinking of the Redskins at 3pm on Saturday 6th August. My head will be in the clouds, there'll be a tear in my eye, and I'll be roaring on the boys in blue and white. The anticipation is too much to bear, so I just had to share, lol.
Thank you for listening.
Also available on Twitter @UKSkinsFan
What a great looking stadium. I wish the concrete bowl the Skins play in had half that much charm.
Hope you enjoy the new home and your team's rise to the top.
Hope you enjoy the new home and your team's rise to the top.
"I’m never under the assumption that you draft for need. You draft the best available football player on the board. ... Because, in the long run, they are the ones who will help you win the most games." - Scot McCloughan
- UK Skins Fan
- Posts: 4592
- Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:11 pm
- Location: Somewhere, out there.
welch wrote:Great story and a beautiful stadium!
Hey welch - am I correct in thinking that you follow Spurs? Or is my memory getting worse?
Also available on Twitter @UKSkinsFan
- langleyparkjoe
- Posts: 6696
- Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:12 am
- Location: Langley Park, MD *Tick Tock*
That stadium looks tough!!!!!!!
Just watching it I feel like a dolphin is gonna jump out from the field. LOL..
Just watching it I feel like a dolphin is gonna jump out from the field. LOL..
Hog Bowl Champions
'09 & '17 langleyparkjoe, '10 Cappster, '11 & '13 DarthMonk,
'12 Deadskins, '14 PickSixerTWSS, '15 APEX PREDATOR, '16 vwoodzpusha
'09 & '17 langleyparkjoe, '10 Cappster, '11 & '13 DarthMonk,
'12 Deadskins, '14 PickSixerTWSS, '15 APEX PREDATOR, '16 vwoodzpusha
- UK Skins Fan
- Posts: 4592
- Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:11 pm
- Location: Somewhere, out there.
And we won
Brighton came from behind to win 2-1, with the winning goal coming in the 7th and last minute of time added on for injuries. Could not have wished for a better script on the pitch.
Off the pitch, well, what can I say? For reasons I mentioned in my opening post, this was an emotional day. To see 20,000 Brighton fans ALL waving flags and singing in full voice before the game was a sight and sound that made my bottom lip tremble, I don't mind admitting. It was one happy crowd. Brighton fans have been through a lot in the lost 15 years, and as we all sang during the second half: "BRIGHTON ARE BACK!"
It had been 14 years, 3 months and 10 days since I last saw my team play, and I don't think I'd realised how much I'd missed it. Any true sports fan will understand me when I say: it's not JUST a game.

Brighton came from behind to win 2-1, with the winning goal coming in the 7th and last minute of time added on for injuries. Could not have wished for a better script on the pitch.
Off the pitch, well, what can I say? For reasons I mentioned in my opening post, this was an emotional day. To see 20,000 Brighton fans ALL waving flags and singing in full voice before the game was a sight and sound that made my bottom lip tremble, I don't mind admitting. It was one happy crowd. Brighton fans have been through a lot in the lost 15 years, and as we all sang during the second half: "BRIGHTON ARE BACK!"
It had been 14 years, 3 months and 10 days since I last saw my team play, and I don't think I'd realised how much I'd missed it. Any true sports fan will understand me when I say: it's not JUST a game.
Also available on Twitter @UKSkinsFan
- UK Skins Fan
- Posts: 4592
- Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:11 pm
- Location: Somewhere, out there.
Plenty of videos on You Tube from fans inside the stadium yesterday. Trying to find one that captures what it FELT like to be there is impossible. Unlike others, this one doesn't include singing from the person holding the camera, lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT9CVQmNT2c&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT9CVQmNT2c&NR=1
Also available on Twitter @UKSkinsFan
- SkinsJock
- Posts: 17989
- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2004 9:23 pm
- Location: IF you're lucky enough to live in Newport RI, you're lucky enough
G'day Trevor - BIG congratulations to you and the SEAGULLS
great stadium and the video was fantastic
great stadium and the video was fantastic
Nobody really expects the Redskins to do well - 8 wins is considered a winning season for Dan Snyder's Redskins
Redskins should fire Bruce Allen & try a different way of managing this franchise
Thankfully, Kirk Cousins is no longer the QB
- langleyparkjoe
- Posts: 6696
- Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:12 am
- Location: Langley Park, MD *Tick Tock*
Congrats on that win UK!!!
Wow, that's awesome how everyone dressed accordingly for each section, you folks really know how to have a good time!!!
NO RIOTS!
Wow, that's awesome how everyone dressed accordingly for each section, you folks really know how to have a good time!!!
NO RIOTS!
Hog Bowl Champions
'09 & '17 langleyparkjoe, '10 Cappster, '11 & '13 DarthMonk,
'12 Deadskins, '14 PickSixerTWSS, '15 APEX PREDATOR, '16 vwoodzpusha
'09 & '17 langleyparkjoe, '10 Cappster, '11 & '13 DarthMonk,
'12 Deadskins, '14 PickSixerTWSS, '15 APEX PREDATOR, '16 vwoodzpusha
35 posts
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