Stadium of Light

Sunday, 19 February 2012

Sunderland 2-0 Arsenal

Aerial shot of the Stadium of Light (Bing Maps)

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 9/10

Ease of getting there : 9/10

Atmosphere : 10/10

Programme : 9/10
View of Action : 8/10
Quality of the game : 9/10
The "football" feeling : 9/10
Chances of coming here for a random game : 2/10
Legroom : 10/10
Surrounding area : 5/10

Overall : 80/100

Programme - £2.00 (normally £3.00)

Roker Beach and Lighthouse

The Wear Bridge

In Despair, Contact Samaritans

Not the sort of sign you expect to see on a bridge!

The Spirt of '73 around the Stadium of Light - The Bob Stokoe Statue

The North Stand

The South Stand

The West Stand and Reception

Colliery Wheel and the West Stand

Modern art outside the SoL represent the mining heritage

The North Stand

The East Stand

Davy Lamp outside the SoL again represents the areas mining heritage

The East Stand

The South Stand

The West Stand

The South Stand

The West Stand

The East Stand

Sunderland 2-0
Arsenal

Our journey up to the North East started at 9am travelling
up towards York where we visited York City's Bootham Crescent. Upon our arrival
in York we were refused entry by some ‘jobs worth’ who told us if we waited an
hour and a half for the safety manager, we may be allowed entry. Therefore we
were left disappointed with only exterior pictures. We then continued our
journey eventually reaching Teeside Retail Park where we went for lunch at
Morrisons. Following our lunch, we travelled to Roker Pier and Harbour which is
not far from Sunderland’s previous home, Roker Park, where we enjoyed the
February sunshine whilst enduring the bracing winds from the North Sea. When we
finished on the seafront, we parked the car on Whickham Street and walked into
the city centre where we had a hot coffee in a cafe called Biz-R on High Street
West. We walked back across the Wear Bridge towards the ground.

Wikipedia suggests “Following the release of the Taylor Report in January 1990, Sunderland was forced
to make plans to turn their Roker Park home into an all-seater stadium. Roker
Park was a ground that mainly consisted of standing terraces, and if converted
into all-seater it would have held far fewer spectators than before. Enclosed
by residential streets on all sides, expansion was practically impossible. So,
by 1991, Sunderland chairman Bob Murray began investigating the possibility of
relocation to a new stadium. In 1995, Sunderland put forward a plan to build a
stadium on the former site of Wearmouth Colliery following denied plans to build
opposite the Nissan Car Plant, North of the city. The area, on the north bank
of the River Wear in the Sheepfolds district of Sunderland, was only a few
hundred yards from Roker Park, and close to the centre of the city. On 13
November 1995, the Sunderland Chairman Bob Murray announced that the Tyne and
Wear Development Corporation had approved plans for Sunderland to build a
34,000-seater stadium on the site. Ballast Wiltshier plc, a contracting company
that had built the Amsterdam ArenA, was contracted to build the stadium at an
initial cost of £15 million. In June 1996, as the planned capacity rose to
40,000, construction work began. The capacity was revised again in early 1997,
and the stadium was completed on time, with a capacity of 42,000. The stadium's
design allows possible expansion of a further tier; completed expansion of the
whole upper tier would produce a capacity of 63,000. The name was eventually
revealed as the Stadium of Light, a reference to a miner's lamp (the stadium is
built on the site of the old Wearmouth Colliery, and many Sunderland fans have
worked in the region's mines). The North Stand was extended in 2000 to bring
the capacity to 49,000, costing the club a further £7 million, making the final
cost of the stadium £23 million.”

The game saw an
inform Sunderland team win 2-0 against a low in confidence Arsenal team. Goals
scored by Sunderland left back Kieran Richardson and an unfortunate bundled
over the line own goal scored by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Following the game we
quickly ran back to the car on Whickham Street and followed the one way system
out Sunderland and onto the A19. We eventually got back at 9:40 only taking us
2 hours to get back. Overall, Adrian and I really enjoyed our day in the North
East. As a visitor, the North East can offer you a great atmosphere and a real
football passion. We’d recommend both Sunderland and Newcastle United (Sorry
Sunderland) for a great away day experience.