Name: Stuart Fuller
Age:
31
Team Supported:
West Ham United
First League Ground Visited & When:
Upton
Park, West Ham v Burnley April 1976
Last Ground Visited to complete
the 92:
Anfield, Liverpool v West Ham
(lost 5-0)
Date Completed:
May 1998
How Long Has It Taken You
To Visit All 92?
22 years in theory, although I
managed to complete 80 of the 92 in a 2 year spell. I have seen West Ham
play at 50 of the 92 grounds.
Best Ground visited (& why).
Having been to
numerous grounds in Europe I would say my favourite so far is Stadio Communale
in Florence - but only as long as the sunshines as it is very open to the
elements....Best for atmosphere in Britain is easily the Stadium of Light in
Sunderland. Best for atmosphere in Europe has been Nou Camp - although the
view from the top of the stadium takes some getting used to!
Poorest Ground Visited:
Doncaster Rovers Belle Vue takes some beating, especially as I was removed from my seat by a steward as I was sitting in a Premium Seat and had only paid for a standard seat - the difference being one was plastic, the other wooden....Worst ground currently in the league has to be Saltergate with its interesting toilets(!) and the very poor views from the stands.
Best experience on your travels:
Being completely biased it has to be seeing West Ham play Arsenal in the FA Cup Quarter Final at Upton Park in 1998 when we lost on penalties - the atmosphere was fantastic....Other than that, Seeing Lother Matthaus's last game for Bayern Munich in Munich was a great experience, as too was the Euro 2000 Semi-Final in Brussels between France and Portugal.
Worst experience on your travels:
Not counting West Ham's defeats to the likes of Wrexham, Northampton, Torquay, etc then I would say standing in a queue to get into Vicarage Road to watch Watford play Swindon in a Cup match in January 1996 in what can only be described as a Monsoon wasn't pleasant!
Funniest experience on your travels:
West Ham losing
4-0 at Half-time to Liverpool in May 1998 and the fans start singing "Lets
pretend we've scored a goal" accompanied by cheers until the fans make the
score 6-4 to West Ham...Throughout the 2nd half we kept the chant going to the
bemusement of the home fans...When Ince made it 5-0 the chant changed to
"You thought you had won, you were
wrong!
Most Goals Seen In One Match:
West Ham 8 Newcastle 1 in April 1986 - fantastic match and an unreal result...
Best Goal Seen:
Tony Cottee for West Ham v Notts
Forest in the mid-eighties...A volley from the by-line similar to Van Basten's v
Russia in Euro 88...Di Canio's v Wimbledon last season also took some beating.
Best Match Attended:
West
Ham v Ipswich Town in May 1986 when we had to win to still stand a chance of
winning the league - we scored with a late late Ray Stewart penalyy...recently
Barcelona v Chelsea in April 2000 in Nou Camp took some beating.
Any
tips for those attending to visit the 92?
Sky TV Live games are a blessing as they often give you the opportunity to do 2 in one day....Don't rely on Public transport and always try and get tickets in advance - some grounds will even help out with parking and illusive tickets if you say you are trying to do all 92.
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