Trains, Football and Genitals (Millennium Stadium (Cardiff))

Member Name: utero

Product:	Millennium Stadium (Cardiff)
Date:	14/05/02 (883 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Closed off roof, Easy to get to from train, Great Atmosphere

Disadvantages: Inflated drink's prices, Long way to travel

Imagine the scenario, your football team have been through seven years of playing in the first division, gone through as many managers in those years and not even had a sniff of the success that was experienced in the first season of the Premier League.

Yes I am talking about Norwich City, this time our luck had changed, things had got back on track and thanks to a team that actually played football and had spirit, we found ourselves in the 2002 Division One Play-off final against Birmingham City. Now a couple of years ago, we would have made the journey of a few hours to Wembley without the need for a lot of planning. But Wembley is closed and in need of a lot of attention. It was my understanding the stadium was being re-built as we speak but apparantly tht isn't the case.

Maybe the people involved should take a look at what 2 years and £60 million can get you. We started out on Saturday morning and took a near five hour drive down to Newport. That's going from one side of the UK another. After staying the night in a nice B&B, going into Newport town centre and braving bars where hen nights were occuring and drunk middle age men were waving their genetalia about in full view, believe nothing was looking more sweeter than a trip to Cardiff the next day.

Should you ever find yourself having the chance to attend a big sporting event at the Millenium Stadium then I reccomend you try your best to attend. No matter what the cost as it's a great experience no matter what the outcome of your team may be. As with Wembley, the stadium doesn't actually look that big in real life. You know they say that TV adds pounds to someone, well I guess the same could be said for buildings.

Before you attend it's probably best to decide how you're going to get there. If you're thinking about driving into Cardiff on the day of the big event then I'd think again. You're much better staying in somewhere like Newport an
d then stumping up the £3.20 return train fare for the short journey in. The beauty of this is that the chances are if you time your journey right and beat the crowds then your route home should be a lot quicker. The stadium is located in short walking distance of the train station so the chances of getting lost are pretty slim.

Of course if you should lose your way then the towering white struts of the stadium can easily be recognised on the skyline. Once you get inside then you'll see a building that possibly will disappoint you with it's interior. But this is after all a building designed to house mainly sporting events. What you get is your usual concrete corridors where the thousands of fans make their way to their seats. But once you mak the journey down the steps to your seat then you're presented with what the stadium really offers.

Another word of advice on the drinks side, if you want to get some pre-match lubricatin in a bar then you bst get to somewhere in Cardiff early. Otherwise you can forget abot it. The bars are packed, the streets packed and it's like trying to get into a club when your name simply isn't on the list. However if manage to get into the stadium shortly after the gates open then the bars inside are pretty vacant and you should have no problem.

One of the things the stadium has is the facility to close the roof should there be a downpour. It also has another use, those that saw this years FA Cup final on TV would no doubt have found the match hard to watch with one side of the pitch in extreme sunlight while the other was in harsh shade. Closing the roof takes this way and actually makes the atmosphere inside far better. Just imagine the sound coming from the 71,000+ crowd cheering their team on. The sound is contained and it just raises the stakes and the occasion so much more. Sunday was a hot say in Cardiff but the roof's closure didn't actually make the stadium feel like an ove
n-which was nice!

At each end of the pitch you have a large video screen that relays pics of the action on the pitch as well as providing some great pre-match entertainment. These serve as great assistants when the guy with the huge sill jesters hat is in front of you blocking your view. It also helps when you can't face watching the nail-biting penalty shoot out happening at the other end of the pitch.

As is policy with most stadiums, you can't take any cans or bottles inside. Some might say this is purely for security but to be honest it seems an ploy by the stadium to make some more money. Inside you'll be charged £1.60 for a bottle of coke that will cost you 60-70 pence on the street. Add to that the usual inflated prices on food and you have another prime example of ripping the people off and not giving them any choice in the matter.

But this is only a slight niggle in what was a very enjoyable day out despite the fact that Norwich lost the match and a chance at the Premiership in the worst way possible. Damn you Birmingham and damn the person who did away with the golden goal rule. Otherwise we'd be the one's who'd be on our way. Now if only the stadium had some 'wembley' style steps for that glorious climb up to collect a trophy then it could soon be a case of forgetting that Wembley ever existed.

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