Who needs Wembley? (Millennium Stadium (Cardiff))

Member Name: pk!!

Product:	Millennium Stadium (Cardiff)
Date:	30/05/02 (631 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: roof, great views, superb atmosphere

Disadvantages: congestion

I, like many people, was initially sceptical about moving the FA Cup final to Cardiff. However after visting the Millenium Stadium I have changed my opinion completely. Whereas Wembley Stadium was becoming somewhat of a dump the Millenium Stadium is a fantastic state of the art arena. People have suggested that the FA Cup Final should be played at Old Trafford but with such a great neutral venue available this would be nonsensical.

I visited the stadium for the Heineken European Rugby Cup Final. The roof was closed for the event, this created a surreal atmosphere as after coming in from the wet streets of Cardiff you stepped into a humid cauldron of noise. The roof being closed caused the noise to echo around the ground, although it did spoil the flypast by the Red Arrows!

Views from inside are fantastic with a great view of the pitch from even the most far away seats.

There are refreshment stores available with theme park style queing systems (the queue snakes around barriers). I foun beer was quite reasonably priced (for a sporting event) at £2.50 a pint.

The pitch seemed fanyastic & it looks like they have overcome the initial teething problems they had with it. The grass is in fact removable to allow other events such as conferences & concerts to take place in the arena.

Huge screens show close up views of the action which is especially useful for thos at the bak.

Around the stadium there are a massive number of bars where supporters can mix (for rugby anyway).

There is ample space near the stadium for coaches so I would recommend this as the best mode of transport.

The one gripe I would have with the stadium is access, as the surrounding streets become very crowded which can lead to massive congestion at the train station. I suppose that this is an inevitable consequence of 74,000 people descending on one particular place.

The new Wembley (if it's ever built) has a hard
task to beat the Millenium Stadium.

Summary: