12/42 - Gayfield Park, Arbroath

11th August 2018
Ground Number: 12
Ground: Gayfield Park, Arbroath
Home of: Arbroath FC
Match: Arbroath V Stranraer
Score: 3-1
Attendance: 582

It's a short journey along the coast to Arbroath for us today. Home of the smokie, home of Kerr's Miniature Railway, home of Pleasureland (mind out of the gutter please!) and most importantly home to Gayfield Park, ground number 12 on the tour! Special thanks to Ladbrokes who supplied us free tickets for the match today.

We arrive in plenty of time and find plenty free parking (yup) close to the ground. This is the closest football ground to the sea in Europe. It's easy to see why. Any closer and it would be in the sea. That would be silly. Games would be called off every week! The fixture congestion would be a nightmare.

We're advised to report to the Players and Officials entrance so that's what we do and we're in no problem. First things first, the club shop. We find it straight away and it's stocked full of merchandise and, if you didn't already know, Arbroath have the world record victory in football. 36-0. And they are rather proud of that fact too! Want to buy a t-shirt with that on it? Done. Pen? Yup. Mug? You got it. We just wanted a pin badge and thankfully they had them. Only £2.50 as well. Bargain. Take that East Fife!

We take in our surroundings and it's a quaint old school football venue. One covered stand (where we'll be sitting) and three covered terraces around the rest of the pitch. We really should've stood in the Pleasureland end just to say we had.

We're not hungry enough for food yet so off we go to our seats in the stand. They're just behind the away dug out and I sense that some "banter" may be directed in that direction during the match. What do you know I was right! The stand is really close to the pitch here so it felt like we were right on top of the action. Arbroath are favourites for the league and stamp their authority on the match early on. They take the lead but Stranraer haven't read the script and equalise. It's 1-1 at half time.

Off we go to the food kiosk and controversy follows. They have a steak and black pudding pie. Yes, you read that right! So obviously the Scotch Pie had to be ditched today in order to try out that baby! It was a thing of beauty. A gastronomical delight if you will. Can we come back here every week? 9/10 on the pie front. David stuck to the Scotch Pie and that ranked highly too. David was allowed to smoke anywhere outside the stand so we went for a wander at half time to get some different perspectives of Gayfield.

It was fairly warm today but I can imagine it's hell on earth standing here on a Tuesday night in February. Thermals are supplied at the turnstiles.* (*probably not). Anyway the second half is underway so we return to our seats and Arbroath take command. Two quick fire goals late on knock the stuffing out of the away team and the 3 points are staying here.

At the end of game we were able to quickly nip into the main entrance for a selfie with the big Arbroath badge. Hey, the opportunity was there! And with that our visit to Gayfield was complete. Really friendly staff, great views, fabulous food and good banter around us in the stand. Did you know they are world record holders too? They never mention it....

Back home we go then having really enjoyed our day. Will Stark's Park in Kirkcaldy live up to this? Let's find out together next time shall we?