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Rotherham
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Rotherham
United
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| Contents | |
| What's The
Don Valley Stadium Like? Future Developments Stadium Sign (photo) What Is It Like For Visiting Supporters? Don Valley Stadium (photo) Where To Drink? View From The Away Section (photo) How To Get There By Car & Where To Park By Train/Tram A Closer Look At The Main Stand (photo) Admission Prices Local Rivals Programme Price Ground Layout Disabled Facilities Fixtures 2011-2012 Record & Average Attendance Fans Ground Reviews Hotel Accommodation Don Valley Stadium Location Map |
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| What's The Don Valley Stadium Like? | |
| After 101 years after playing at their Millmoor
ground, the club have moved to the neighbouring
city of Sheffield. The club who were tenants at
Millmoor, were unable to agree acceptable future
rental terms from their landlords and so have moved to
the Don Valley Stadium. It is a brave move, but
obviously one that had to be done to keep the club in
existence in the Football League. The club have agreed
to play at the Don Valley for the next four years. In
fact the Football League have stipulated that they
must return to Rotherham, at the end of that period,
if not before. Hopefully by then, the Club will have
made progress to making the dream happen of building a
new stadium for the football team in Rotherham.
The
Don Valley stadium, is primarily an athletics
stadium that was built to host the World Student
Games 1991. It is mostly an open bowl type
stadium, with a large covered Main Stand on one
side. This Main Stand has a capacity of 10,000 and
it is unusual in two respects; firstly it has
a unique looking roof, that resembles more
of a material canopy that than a hard standing
roof. Secondly, the Main Stand has a separate block
of covered seating on each side of the main section,
which almost look as a bit of an afterthought
(although I am sure not) by the stadium designers.
The rest of the stadium is comprised of open blocks
of seating on all sides, with large access aisles
(apparently these were incorporated for large
concert crowds as the stadium is also used from time
to time as a music venue). The playing area is
surrounded by an athletics track and becomes only
the second stadium in the Football League, after
Brighton to feature one. The team dugouts are
located on the opposite side of the pitch to the
Main Stand, which results in quite a procession at
half and full time. At one end there is a huge
electric scoreboard but alas it was not in operation
for the game. The stadium which is shared with
Sheffield Eagles Rugby League Club, also features an
unusual set of very tall, large floodlights. Please note that the
Club are leaving the Don Valley Stadium and for
the beginning of the 2012/2013 the Club will be
playing at their 'New York' Stadium in
Rotherham. The Guide will be fully updated before
the start of the season. In the meantime if anyone
can help me out with photos and/or info about the
new stadium (directions, pubs etc..) then please
e-mail me at duncan@footballgrounds.net. |
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| Future Developments | |
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The Club have commenced
with the building of a new stadium. Pleasingly
and unlike many new stadiums that have already
been built in this country, it is located closed
to the centre of town (on the site of the old
Guest and Chrimes foundry) rather than on some
out of site way out in the middle of nowhere.
The stadium which is being built by GMI
construction, is progressing well (as can be
seen in the photo above) and should be ready for
the start of the 2012/13 season. It will have a
capacity of 12,000 and will be called the New
York Stadium. Artists impressions of how the new
stadium will look when finished, can be viewed
on the official
Rotherham United website. Progress of the
building of the stadium can be
monitored via the New
Stadium
Webcam or a photo taken in February can be
see in the Football
Grounds Developments Section. A pictorial
record of the construction can be found on the Building
Of Rotherhams New York Stadium website. |
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| What Is It Like For Visiting Supporters? | |
|
Away
fans are housed in a separate block of
seating to one side the Main Stand. Away
fans on arriving at the stadium main entrance, are
directed to a walkway that goes along the back of
the Main Stand car park, to the other end of the
Main Stand, where there is a block of turnstiles.
After the game away fans do not exit by the same
route, but are directed around the inside of the
stadium and leave via an exit gate across the
end from where the away fans are located,
bringing you back down onto the main Attercliffe
Road. |
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|
Thanks to Colin Peel for providing the photo above. |
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| Where To Drink? | |
| Mick
Hubbard informs me; 'Just outside the main stadium
entrance are two pubs more or less opposite other,
one called the Cocked Hat and the other called
Faras'. However the Cocked Hat is for home
supporters only, whilst Faras does allow in away
fans. David Barraclough informs me; 'Also close to the stadium is
the Britannia on Worksop Road, which runs up to the
back of the Stadium’s Main Stand. Its
a fairly average pub. If fans
travelling on the tram from the city centre, stay
on the tram for one more
stop past the stadium, or for
those driving in from Meadowhall and the M1, then
there are few more family orientated pubs,
including one with a Wacky Warehouse'.
The
area along Attercliffe Road towards the city
centre, has a number of pubs and eating
establishments, but is quite run down and isn't that
welcoming. There are also, how shall I say; a number
of 'establishments' dotted along this road, which
probably sums up the mood of the area. One exception
though is the Carlton at 563 Attercliffe
Road, which is listed in the CAMRA Good Beer
Guide, and is located not that far away from
the Attercliffe tram stop, or around a 15 minute
walk away from the stadium. The pub is a small two
roomed pub, that has six hand pulled real ales on
offer, that were in good condition and reasonably
priced too. I noticed that outside the pub there
were signs advertising it as an 'Away fans only'
pub, however on my visit there seemed a fair
mix of both sets of fans and locals and it was
all very relaxed, even so the local
constabulary visited just to make sure! To get
to this pub, then on the main Attercliffe Road with
the stadium behind you, turn left along this road
(passing the handy 'Don Valley' chippy) and
eventually near some shops you will reach the pub on
your right. A lot closer to the stadium at 882
Attercliffe Road is the Greyhound which also
has been recommended to me. |
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| How To Get There By Car & Where To Park | |
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Leave the M1 at Junction
34 and take the A6178
towards Sheffield City Centre.
Keep straight on the A6178 (Attercliffe Road) and
you will reach the stadium (you can see the
floodlights in the distance) on your left. After
passing the stadium turn left at the next traffic
lights into Worksop Road and then left again for the
stadium entrance. There
is matchday car parking available at Pic Toys, which is on Worksop Road. The car park
which costs £3 per car is sign posted.
Otherwise there is plenty of street parking to be
had on the right hand side of the Attercliffe
Road, opposite the stadium. |
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| By Train/Tram | |
| The
nearest railway station is Meadowhall
which is slightly closer than Sheffield Station which
is around two and a half miles away. It is then
four stops on the Supertram to Don Valley from
Meadowhall. However most fans are likely to end up at Sheffield Station. Again it is probably easiest to take the 15 minute journey on the Supertram from the station to the stadium. For adults the cost is £3.70 return and you can pay the conductor on board. The Supertram line runs parallel to the railway line and the stop is situated just beyond Platform 8. From the nearby platform stop take a tram towards Cathedral or Main Bridge and at the first stop Fitzalan Square get off and cross over to the other side to take a tram towards Meadowhall. Don Valley is then six stops away. Miles Davis a visiting Bristol Rovers supporter adds; 'If you are arriving in Sheffield by train you can catch the number 69 bus which stops only a couple of minutes walk away from the stadium (the stop is at the top of the steps outside the station main entrance). The bus journey time is around 7-8 minutes'. Other bus routes that run along Attercliffe Road by the stadium include numbers: 2, 8, 9, 59, 130 & 287. The Bus Station is located just across the road from the Railway Station. |
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| Admission Prices | |
| All areas: Adults £18, Senior Citizens/Students £10, Under 16's £6, Under 12's £5, Under 8's Free |
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| Local Rivals | |
| Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United & Doncaster Rovers. | |
| Programme | |
| Official Programme: £2.50. | |
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| Fixtures 2011-2012 | |
| Rotherham United FC fixture list (takes you to the BBC Sports Website). | |
| Disabled Facilities | |
| For details of disabled facilities and club contact at the ground please visit the relevant page on the Level Playing Field website. | |
| Record & Average Attendance | |
| At Don Valley: 7,082 v Aldershot Town League Two Play Off Semi Final, May 19th 2010. At Millmoor: 25,170 v Sheffield United, Division 2, December 13th 1952. Modern All Seated Attendance Record: 9,050 v Wigan Athletic Championship League, January 15th, 2005. Average Attendance: 2010-2011: 3,667 (League Two) 2009-2010: 3,817 (League Two) 2008-2009: 3,583 (League Two) |
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| Fans Reviews Of The Don Valley | |
| Tyler
Jason (Northampton Town) 13/4/10 John Hubble (Doing the 92) 3/4/10 Nick Brooks (Aldershot Town) 31/10/09 Martyn Smith (Derby County) 11/08/09 James Prentice (Lincoln City) 9/08/08 Colin Peel (Stadiums Enthusiast) 9/08/08 Joe Plewes (Lincoln City) 9/08/08 |
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| Hotel Accommodation | |
| If you require hotel
accommodation in the area then first try a hotel booking
service provided by Late Rooms. They offer all types of
accommodation to suit all tastes and pockets from;
Budget Hotels, Traditional Bed & Breakfast
establishments to Five Star Hotels and Serviced
Apartments. Plus their booking system is straightforward
and easy to use. Yes this site will earn a small
commission if you book through them, but it will go to
help with the running costs of keeping the Guide going.
The Hotels listing also includes details of how far away
the accommodation is located from the football ground. Access their Sheffield Hotels and Guest Houses page. Remember that you can use the above link or panel below to book any other hotels that you may need for business or leisure, either in the UK or abroad. |
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| Map showing the location of the Don Valley stadium, railway station and listed pubs | |
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Instructions for using
the map:
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| Feedback | |
| If
anything is incorrect or you have something to add,
please e-mail me duncan@footballgrounds.net
and I'll update the guide. |
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