Walking down the Grimsby Road.... (Blundell Park (Grimsby Town FC))

Member Name: x-cupcake-x

Product:	Blundell Park (Grimsby Town FC)
Date:	05/09/09 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great atmosphere

Disadvantages: It was getting outdated 15 years ago.

My Mum & Dad first took me to Blundell Park on April 19th 1997. It was a late 14th birthday present for me, and the Mighty Mariners were playing Reading (we won 2-1 and so began my obsession).
We had chosen to sit in the biggest stand of the ground which was then called the John Smiths Stand after the sponsor.
This stand is split into two tiers, the smallest being the lower stand and called Lower Smiths (or it was in 97 and I still call it this) and the bigger is the Upper Smiths Stand. This Stand is now called the Carlsberg stand but depending on your age it will be called something else - most people I know still call it the Findus Stand.

This trip to Blundell Park was to be my first ever live football match, and I really didn't know what to expect. Places like BP don't really feature heavily in televised football and while I wasn't expecting Old Trafford or Anfield (I had been past BP on many occasion) I was in awe as I walked through the stand to take my seat, the feeling you get is very difficult to describe and one I suspect that only someone who has been to watch their beloved team no matter what the sport could understand.
If you can be in love with a location such as this then I was. It may have been mostly shabby looking place but this was the home to my beloved football team.

Blundell Park was built in 1898 and although the home of Grimsby Town Football Club is actually in the neighbouring town of Cleethorpes, albeit only a few hundred yards from Grimsby. It is the lowest ground/stadium at only 2feet above sea level.

The capacity of Blundell Park since the all-seater regulations were brought in is just over 9500.

The ground consists of four stands, The Pontoon, The Main Stand, The Osmond End and The Carlsberg Stand.

The Pontoon is where the atmosphere due to the noisiest and some might say the more dedicated fans sit and is situated to the left of the Carlsberg stand behind one of the goals. This stand was built in 1961 with money raised by fans of the Mariners. The colours of the seats are black and white to match the club's kit. The Pontoon or Ponny is my favoured stand and offers quite a good view of goal mouth action even if nowadays it's more likely to be the opposition.

The Carlsberg stand as mentioned above is the biggest stand at the club and was opened in 1981. The lower stand is great for seeing more action throughout the whole match, this stand isn't fully covered so you may find yourself getting wet if it is raining.
The Upper stand offers fantastic views of the whole ground and beyond - on a clear day you can see over the North Sea to Spurn Point, which is also invaluable if at a particularly boring game you can count how many trains or ships pass by during the 90 minutes (urm I've never done that honestly Dad). The executive boxes are in between the two tiers, there is also an executive pass holder area here, where match sponsors etc... sit and get access into the executive bar before the match, at half time and afterwards.
Be warned though this stand is high up and you have no protection from that North Sea wind, even in summer you need to wrap up.

The Osmond end built in 1939, seats around 2000 people and is the away end of the ground, this is to the right of the Carlsberg stand and attached to the Main Stand. If the club are expecting a particularly high attendance of home fans and not many visitors they can open the away end to the home fans as it is easy to section it off safely to segregate the rival fans. I have to admit after being in the Osmond a few times you can get a great atmosphere in there, the roof slopes downwards rather than the Ponny's which goes upwards, and this means that any signing from the fans gets better acoustics in here.

Finally the Main Stand opened in 1901 and quite possibly one of the oldest stands in English football. This stand is made of wood and is situated opposite the Carlsberg stand - with it's back to the North Sea making it one of the warmer stands to sit in (I'm a girl, I take things like this into consideration!!) Before it was a legal requirement for stadiums to be non smoking, the Main Stand has always (while I've been going to BP) been a non smoking area of the ground. Quite sensible too if you ask me. The Main Stand is also the family area of the ground, and one junior can get a free ticket with a paying adult. Because of this it is often considered the least atmospheric areas of the ground - other stands can often be heard asking "Main stand, main stand give us a song".
The players dug outs, are just in front of the Main Stand and the tunnel runs out of it as it also houses the changing rooms, making this stand a young autograph hunters dream.

Each stand has food areas where you can get a variety of grub, burgers, hot dogs, chocolate bars or a drink.

Don't get me wrong Blundell Park is not without fault, parking around the ground is atrocious but I'm guessing in 1891 they didn't really envisage thousands of people turning up and wanting to park their cars nearby.
Most parking has to be done on the neighbouring streets much to the resident's annoyance on match day - though some people like to remind them Blundell Park was already there when they moved in.
The Imperial Pub does offer some parking for £3 (I believe).
Some of the toilets (only being able to comment on the ladies) leave a little to be desired, but most people don't go to the footy to check out the "facilities".

Blundell Park also has a function suite called McMenemy's which can be hired from £150 and has a capacity of 250-300 people, with parking directly outside for up to 80 cars.

Directly outside is a McDonalds and of course being in Grimsby/Cleethorpes you are never far from a Fish 'n' Chip Shop and who can come here and not sample some fish n chips?

There are bus stops just outside on the main road which offers a regular service into Cleethorpes or Grimsby town centres where there are train stations.


The club are hoping to relocate to a new build stadium in the very near future although nothing ever seems to have a definite date. My last visit to Blundell Park will be a very emotional one.

Ticket prices are:
Upper Carlsberg Stand £18.00
Lower Carlsberg Stand £16.00
Main Stand £18.00
Pontoon Stand £16.00
Concessions
Young Adults (15-18) (All Areas) £12.00
Senior Citizens (65+) £12.00
Juniors (1-14) (All Areas) £8.00
Unemployed (Pontoon Only) £12.00

Summary: A good old fashioned football ground.