Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough

By Nathan Jackson
July 3 2010

Sheffield Wednesday is arguably the best ground in the lower leagues. The ground still looks pretty much the same as it did when the club was in the Premiership and it's the biggest ground in terms of capacity below the Championship by quite some way. It's amazing to think this is in the same division as grounds such as Dagenham, Bristol Rovers and Rochdale.

DATES VISITED GROUND
DATE	OPPONENT	SCORE
28/8/2007	Hartlepool	SW 2 HU 1

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL PICTURES IN THIS GROUND REVIEW WERE TAKING IN NOVEMBER 2009 WHEN NOT ATTENDING A GAME, HENCE WHY THERE ARE NO GOALS SET UP.

Much like it's city rival, Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough is an excellent ground and is far too good to be playing in League One, especially given that it is considerably bigger than any other ground at that level by quite some way. Also, much like it's rival, it is easy to get to.

You can get to Sheffield Wednesday directly via the train but unlike United, there are seemingly no Wednesday fans who live in places like Gainsborough, Retford and Worksop. When United are playing and I've gotten the train that goes through Sheffield on matchdays, the train suddenly become full of United fans in the aforementioned towns, whereas I've virtually never seen any Wednesday fans getting on......then again, maybe Wednesday fans can afford cars.

The ground itself is set in a far more picturesque setting than it's City rival, with rivers, trees and a nice area around it. Infact, one of the stands is partly in the water. There is also a small shopping area not too far from the ground, and if you're willing to sit on a tram for around 30/40 minutes, you can easily get to Meadowhall and back without having to change trams.

THE AWAY END - THE LEPPINGS LANE STAND

Away fans will enter through the Leppings Lane End (pictured above) and the view from that stand, despite being a bit stricted due to a few pillars, is excellent. It's also one of the biggest away ends in the entire country. Some clubs have been able to bring enough fans to warrant having that little corner bit you can see in the picture, and have 7,500 of their fans at the game.

The the away fans left is the charasmatically named "North Stand". This stand is of a reasonably large size I'd imagine it offers an excellent view of the action.

Behind the far goal is yet another stand in the UK (and the second in the City) to be called "The Kop"...however, this stand is huge and it seems to have several different layers and levels to it, making it one of the more unique stands in the entire Football League.

THE NORTH STAND

SheffWednesday2

The final stand is the also charasmatically named "South Stand", a stand that is of a similar size to it's opposite number, although obviously older and not quite as good as the North Stand. However, as you can see from all the pictures in this review, the view from the stand is quite reasonable.

To be honest, I found the atmosphere a little bit disappointing at Hillsborough. Much like Nottingham Forest, a club with their sort of history would, you'd think, make the fans produce an excellent atmosphere, but it strangely doesn't. Having said that, my only visit was for a cup game, so it's probable that the atmosphere is far better in League games.

THE KOP STAND

Unlike their city rivals, I didn't find the Sheffield Wednesday staff overly friendly. It was more of a case of "Don't do this, don't do that, do not pass go, do not collect £200!" You ask them a simple question such as "How do I get to this turnstile?" and you're met with grunts, disgruntled looks and a lack of eye contact. Nice to see all the staff at Wednesday have passed their customer services courses.

Overall though, I can't really complain about the day out. Sheffield is reasonable easily to get to, the ground itself is reasonable and there's plenty to do before kick off. I'd recommend it to families as it is very safe from my experiences.

SCORES
Overall Ground Quality	8
Ease of Getting There	7
Atmosphere	3
Programme	6
View of the Action	7
Leg Space	6
The Football Feeling	7
Friendliness of Home Fans	4
Quality of the Game	3
Chances of a random visit	6
Overall	58

Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough

Posted by: theimps.ka (IP Logged)

Date: 03/07/2010 19:18

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