h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Last night, while watching Warrington Town 1-2 Rucorn Linnets at Cantilever Park in the Cheshire Senior Cup, I got thinking about how many competitions and grounds I've seen competitive football in. So over my half-time pint of lager (£1.70, very reasonable), I made a couple of lists- one of the different competitions I've watched games in, and one of the grounds I've been to. And here it is:

competitions:
English:

Premiership
Championship
League 1
League 2
Conference
Conference North
Unibond Northern Premier League 1st Division
North West Counties League
Lancashire League
FA Premier Reserve League (North)
FA Cup
League Cup
FA Trophy
Liverpool Senior Cup
Lancashire Trophy
Cheshire Senior Cup

Scottish:

Premier League
Division 2
Division 3

International:

Euro 2004 Qualifying
European U-21 Qualifying
Women's Euro 2005

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Grounds, in no particular order:

Kingston Park, Newcastle-Upon Tyne
Cantilever Park, Warrington
Goodison Park, Liverpool
Anield Stadium, Liverpool
Giant Axe, Lancaster
Central Park, Cowdenbeath
Stadium of Light, Sunderland
JJB Stadium, Wigan
Reebok Stadium, Bolton
Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington
Halton Stadium, Widnes
Christie Park, Morecambe
Victoria Park, Hartlepool
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh
Lancashire County FA Ground, Leyland
Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
Rossett Park, Crosby
Haig Avenue, Southport
Hilton Park, Leigh
Deva Stadium, Chester

Literally, "deja vu" means "already seen".

B

Interesting Egon.
Competititions I've been to games in
DOMESTIC
Premier League
(Old Division 1)
FA Cup
League Cup
Confernece
Southern Premier League
FA Trophy
SPL
Scottish Division 1
Scottish Cup
Scottish League Cup (including Final)
Scottish Challenge Cup
Scottish U19 League
Scottish U19 League Cup (Final included)
Irish League
Irish Cup
Irish League Cup
Irish Gold Cup
League of Ireland
INTERNATIONALS
World Cup Qualifiers
Euro Qualifiers
British Championship
U21 International
U19 Internationals
U16 Internationals


Almondvale, Livingston
Hampden Park, Queens Park (but always as a neutral venue)
Easter Road, Hibs
Tynecastle, Hearts
East End Park, Dunfermline
Rugby Park, Kilmarnock
Fir Park, Motherwell
Dens Park, Dundee
Forth Park, Stirling
Cappielow, Morton
McDiarmid Park, St Johnstone
Broadwood, Clyde
Firhill, Partick
Palmerstone, Queen of the South
New Broomfield, Airdrie United
New Douglas Park, Hamilton
Creamary Park, Bathgate
Prestonfield, Linlithgow

England

Loftus Road, QPR
Plough Lane (now defunct former Home to Wimbledon)
Selhurst Park, Palace and Wimbledon
Highbury, Arsenal
Wembley, FA Trophy Final Kingstonians + London Monarchs
White Hart Lane, Spurs + London Monarchs
Craven Cottage, Fulham
Stamford Bridge, Chelski (with old shed end and after)
Vicarage Lane, Watford
The Den (old version), Milwall
Upton Park, West Ham
Roker Park, Sunderland
St James Park, Newcastle
Goodison Park, Everton
Kingsmeadow, Kingstonian and AFC Wimbledon's home

Northern Ireland

Windsor Park, Linfield and Northern Ireland
Clandeboye Park, Bangor
The Oval, Glentoran
Castlereagh Park (now housing), Ards
Solitude, Cliftonville
Taylors Avenue, Carrick
Seaview, Crusaders
Mourneview Park, Glenavon
New Grosvenor Stadium, Distillery
Ballymena Showgrounds
Coleraine Showgrounds
Brandywell, Derry

I've forgotten the names of many of the park I've watched the youth team play at normally just public parks at times.

Darn I also forgot the non-league tournaments.

SJFA East Region Super League
Scottish Junior Cup
East of Scotland Junior Cup
John Walker East of Scotland cup
St. Michael's Cup

It's my estimation that I'm fairly safe as the only one who has seen any Lincolnshire Cup matches.

B

I would have thought so.

It does seem a fair bet, B

I'm well down on the list of competitions, but I do travel quite extensively.


Premiership
Championship
FA Cup
League Cup
Euro'96


Beautiful Downtown Bramall Lane
Hillsborough, Sheffield
Withdean, Brighton
Selhurst Park, London
Loftus Road, London
Highbury, London
Upton Park, London
New Den, London
White Hart Lane, London
The Valley, London
Craven Cottage, London
Madejski Stadium, Reading
Vicarage Road, Watford
Priestfield, Gillingham
Fratton Park, Portsmouth
St.Mary's, Southampton
Portman Road, Ipswich
National Hockey Stadium, Milton Keynes
Pride Park, Derby
City Ground, Nottingham
Walkers Stadium, Leicester
The Hawthorns, West Bromwich
Bescot Stadium, Walsall
Molineux, Wolverhampton
Millmoor, Rotherham
Elland Road, Leeds
Ninian Park, Cardiff
Highfield Road, Coventry

I shall dig out my list shortly. I'm sure I've been to a fair few grounds!

I remember making the trek to Carlisle so I had been to every ground in Division 1 - 5 hour trip, boring 0 - 0 draw, and they were relegated anyway at the end of the season.

You see this is the advantage of supporting a team who have a long track record of mediocrity in the Championship: sooner or later every team vists you, and hence you've got the chance to go visit them, support your team, and tick one more ground off the list

In only one of those grounds in my list was Sheffield United not playing. That one was Hillsborough for Denmark v Croatia - and my God did those Croatians, fans and players alike, look as hard as nails.

Glanford Park isn't unfamiliar to the occasional international, mind. I've watched England Ladies there a number of times, and we were the first ever stadium to host a game for the Palestine national team.

B

Sory I should have made it clear that I went to Carlisle to see Coventry play.

games I've been to this season:

Everton v Werder Bremen (pre-season)
Warrington Town v Everton Reserves (pre-season)
Everton v Middlesbrough (Premier League)
Warrington Town v Runcorn Linnets (Cheshire Senior Cup)
Lancaster city v Harrogate Railway Athletic (Unibond Division one North)
Everton Reserves v Man city Reserves (FA Premier Reserve League North)
Everton v AE Larissa (UEFA Cup)
Warrington Town v Alsager Town (Unibond Division One South)
Everton Reserves v Newcastle Reserves (FA Premier Reserve League North)

And four matches on my upcoming agenda before the end of 2007:

Lancaster City v Curzon Ashton
Everton v Sunderland
Liverpool Reserves v Everton reserves
Everton v Zenit Petersburg*
Hearts v St Mirren*

*=as long as I can get a ticket.

So far, I've been to Goodison Park, Halton Stadium, Giant Axe and Cantilever Park, with visits to Halliwell jones Stadium and Tynecastel due.

Found my list!

ENGLISH GROUNDS (41 grounds)
Wembley (London)
Elland Road (Leeds )
Old Trafford (Manchester)
Stadium of Light (Sunderland)
McAlpine (Galpharm) Stadium (Huddersfield)
Villa Park (Birmingham)
Pride Park (Derby)
Anfield (Liverpool)
White Hart Lane (London- Tottenham)
St James Park (Newcastle)
Britannia Stadium (Stoke)
The Hawthorns (West Brom)
Ewood Park (Blackburn)
St Mary’s (Southampton)
Reebok Stadium (Bolton)
Glanford Park (Scunthorpe)
Selhurst Park (London - Crystal Palace)
Bramall Lane (Sheffield)
Riverside (Middlesborough)
Turf Moor (Burnley)
Kingston Communications (Hull)
Walkers Stadium (Leicester)
Goodison Park (Everton)
Fratton Park (Portsmouth)
City of Manchester Stadium (Manchester)
Molineux (Wolverhampton)
Stamford Bridge (London - Chelsea)
Reynolds Stadium (Darlington)
Boundary Park (Oldham)
Gresty Road (Crewe)
Millmoor (Rotherham)
Deepdale (Preston)
Carrow Road (Norwich)
Highfield Road (Coventry)
St Andrews (Birmingham)
Hillsborough (Sheffield Wed)
JJB Stadium (Wigan)
Oakwell (Barnsley)
Wembley Stadium [Mk. II] (London)
Kit Kat Crescent (York City)
Prenton Park (Tranmere)
FOREIGN GROUNDS (11 grounds - 7 countries)
Charleroi (Belgium)
Phillips Stadium (Eindhoven - Holland)
Hampden Park (Glasgow - Scotland)
Stade de France (Paris - France)
Olympic Stadium (Munich - Germany)
Amsterdam Arena (Amsterdam - Holland)
Ibrox (Glasgow - Scotland)
Celtic Park (Glasgow - Scotland)
Easter Road (Hibs, Edinburgh, Scotland)
Millennium Stadium (Cardiff, Wales)
Luzhniki Stadium (Moscow, Russia)

I'm presuming Hampden was a bit fuller when you went than when I did- I was part of a crowd of 550

You're presuming correctly there...

A new ground for my list.

Robin Park Arena, Wigan

It's a leisure centre with a football pitch, running track and about 500 seats out back, in the shadow of the JJB Stadium. And it was the venue for Everton Reserves beating Wigan Reserves 5-1 last night. I've certainly got my money out of Everton this week, having been to the Sunderland game at the weekend as well.

I've just decided to go to the FA TESCO Women's Premier League title decider this weekend, thought "That'll be a new tournament for the list" and decided to update this.

competitions:
English:

Premiership
Championship
League 1
League 2
Conference
Conference North
Unibond Northern Premier League 1st Division
North West Counties League
Lancashire League
FA Premier Reserve League (North)
FA Cup
League Cup
FA Trophy
Liverpool Senior Cup
Lancashire Trophy
Cheshire Senior Cup
Women's Lancashire County League Division 2

And, this Sunday I'll be going to a game in the FA TESCO Women's Premier League

Scottish:

Premier League
Division 2
Division 3

International:

Euro 2004 Qualifying
European U-21 Qualifying
Women's Euro 2005

-------------------------------------------

Grounds, in no particular order:

Kingston Park, Newcastle-Upon Tyne
Cantilever Park, Warrington
Goodison Park, Liverpool
Anield Stadium, Liverpool
Giant Axe, Lancaster
Central Park, Cowdenbeath
Stadium of Light, Sunderland
JJB Stadium, Wigan
Reebok Stadium, Bolton
Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington
Halton Stadium, Widnes
Christie Park, Morecambe
Victoria Park, Hartlepool
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh
Lancashire County FA Ground, Leyland
Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
Rossett Park, Crosby
Haig Avenue, Southport
Hilton Park, Leigh
Deva Stadium, Chester
Seel Park, Mossley
Lambeth Grove, Woodley
Maidstone Road, Chatham
Gigg Lane, Bury

I've also been to Old Trafford, but not for football- I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band there.