Internet Football Ground Guide - Fans Ground Reviews: Don Valley Stadium, Rotherham United FC

Don Valley, Rotherham United
League Two v Lincoln City
Saturday, August 9th 2008, 3pm
Joe Plewes

I was very excited about going to the game because of the wave of optimism that had surrounded City in the weeks proceeding the big kick off. I wasn't particularly excited about visiting the Don Valley itself, looking at the style of the stadium with the athletics track running around the pitch. However I was prepared to give the venue a chance, especially as I fancied a Lincoln win!

I decided to travel on the supporters bus with it being a relatively short and cheap journey across to South Yorkshire. The stadium seemed to be very easy to find with it simply being off the Meadowhall junction off the M1, into Sheffield with the Arena on your left and then the distinctive canopy of the main stand of the stadium appearing further on, 500 yards later.

I had intended to go to a chippy or a pub and get a bit of food before the game, with the bus usually arriving in very good time. Unfortunately, the police insisted on escorting us to the away end (which we were already parked outside), around a succession of paths that made the journey a lot longer. This was not the clubs fault I assume, however it led on to calamity after calamity unfortunately.

When we finally arrived to the turnstiles after our scenic journey around Don Valley, it was 10 to 3. To compound matters, the ground was very very poorly equipped for the number of travelling fans. 400/500 of us were stood outside queuing, and the stewards were very unhelpful as to what was going on. Probably because they didn't really know. It came to our attention that the turnstile operators were not only very slow, but hadn't got any change for the travelling hoardes of City fans. We then had to wait and finally got into the ground at 3 o' clock, with the two sides kicking off. Not very impressive.

This was made worse by the fact that many City fans didn't get in until about 20/25 past 3, and therefore everyone was forced to stand about while people moved for seats. The Upper Tier was already sold out too, so a lot of us were left in the uncovered seating at the lower part of the stand, with most of us expecting rain.

The stadium itself is fairly impressive, but not really as a football ground. Only the main stand was open, with three other uncovered single tier stands going around the rest of the pitch. This gave the game a very empty and quiet feel, despite there being a healthy away following. This was very disappointing having visited Millmoor last season.

The game itself was equally poor, with Rotherham winning 1-0 after a defensive error. This was not the same Lincoln side that had beaten Aston Villa 3-1 just weeks previously, and looked very impressive in doing so. Having been rather exposed to the elements, the prospect of a half time pie and a coffee was very appealing, so I made my way to the Bar at the top of the stand at 3.45. The Bar was very busy and unable to cope with the volume of City fans wanting to purchase food or drink. After waiting 10 minutes or so I got to the bar, only to find they had no hot food left & no hot water to make coffee or tea. The alcohol & chocolate issued instead was quite expensive but an acceptable price for a football ground. It was just frustrating that they had none of the "Pukka Pies" advertised around the ground or hot drinks. There were many more city fans behind me after Pies and warm beverages, so they'd fallen well short in their preparations for the away supporters.

Getting away from the ground was OK, with the exit straight out to our bus instead of the roundabout way we had entered. However we still had to wait for two Policemen on motorbikes to escort us back to the M1, so we had a long stationary wait.

The day was overall disappointing one, but an away trip I am glad to have got out the way. The stadium was disappointing and is not ready to host football league matches. The match was a poor one, and the view wasn't very good. It's a good job it is a relatively short away trip, else I'd be rather more frustrated.