| Contents |
What's The County
Ground Like?
Future Ground
Developments
Don
Rogers Stand (photo)
What Is
It Like For Visiting Supporters?
Arkells Stand (photo)
Where To Drink?
Looking
Towards The Town End (photo)
Other Places
Of Interest
How To Get
There By Car & Where To Park
By
Train
A Closer Look At The
Town End (photo)
Admission
Prices
Local Rivals
Programme &
Fanzine
Disabled Facilities
Fixtures 2011-2012
Ground Layout
Record & Average Attendance
Fans Ground Reviews
Hotel
Accommodation
County
Ground Location Map
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| What's The County
Ground Like? |
At
one end is the Stratton Bank Stand, a former terrace
with rows of seats bolted on to it. This area is
uncovered and has a clock above it as well as a small
electric scoreboard. Opposite is the small, covered
Town End, with several supporting pillars across the
front. An unusual feature is that the supporting legs
of one of the floodlight pylons are actually in one
side of the stand, there are even some seats situated
behind them! The sides are larger, two tiered covered
stands towering above the two ends. The newest of
these is the attractive Don Rogers Stand, while on the
other side is the older Arkells Stand. The latter has
windshields on either side and a few supporting
pillars.
The ground also benefits by a striking set of four
floodlight pylons. Once a feature across the
country, floodlights are slowly but surely
disappearing from the landscape, being replaced by
rows of lights across the stand roofs. It's a
shame really, if only because the floodlight
pylons made it a lot easier to locate a ground in
a town or city and were always synonymous with a
football ground.
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| Future
Ground Developments |
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The Club have announced
plans to almost completely re-develop the County
Ground, into a new modern stadium. Plans are for a
19,000 capacity venue, with a roof design similar
looking to the Reebok Stadium in Bolton. The only
stand that would remain is the Don Rogers Stand,
although Executive Boxes may be added to the rear of
it. The other three stands, starting with the Town
End, would be re-developed. This includes the
Stratton Bank, which will be roofed and used to
house away supporters. However, no firm time scales
have been announced as to when this might happen.
Thanks to Gary Stanley for providing me with this
information.
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Don Rogers Stand
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| What Is
It Like For Visiting Supporters? |
Away fans are located in the Arkells
Stand at one side of the pitch,
where up to 1,200 fans can be housed. This is an
older stand with facilities to match, but at least
you are under cover. If you are at the back
of this stand there is one supporting
pillar which may impair your view of the goal otherwise it is fine.
You even get a view of some of the rolling Marlborough
Hills beyond one corner of the ground! There is a
small kiosk at the back of stand serving amongst other things a range of
Shires Pies (but alas no chicken balti pie),
but be careful when taking them back to your seat. The
entrances to the seating areas are through large solid doors, and to compound
matters they open out towards you!
Teams with a larger away following
can also be allocated the Stratton Bank End if
required. A further 2,100 fans can be accommodated
in this area, but the end has no cover and is open
to the elements. Fine on a nice sunny day,
but on a cold wet, winters day, it can be grim. I
found Swindon to be a relaxed and fairly friendly day
out, although the size of police presence on my last
visit seemed excessive. On a previous visit I managed
talk my way into the players lounge & bar after
the game, quite an experience!
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Arkells Stand
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| Where To Drink? |
| Away
fans are treated to their own bar, called Bar 71,
which is located by the away turnstiles. The County
Hotel right by the ground, did not allow entrance to
away supporters on my last visit. Best to continue
down County Road and seek out the Cricket Club that
sits behind the Arkells Stand. As Mark Osborne from
Swindon adds; 'On match days home and away fans can park on the
cricket ground (for a small fee) and then have access
to a drink in the cricket club. This is a very
friendly (as well as cheap) club that always welcomes
away fans'. I would echo these comments but also add
that you can still get into the cricket club (there is
no charge) even if you have not parked there. Please note though that the Cricket
Club facilities are not available when the Cricket
Club is playing a match. This doesn't happen often
but can do towards the beginning and end of the
football season, when fixtures overlap.
Audrey MacDonald a visiting Hartlepool United
fan, recommends 'The Merlin' on
Drove Road, near to the magic roundabout. 'Away
fans are welcome and
they have Sky Sports showing on 12 television screens and even in the gents (according to my husband)'. Alcohol
is available within the ground to
away fans in the Arkells Stand (but not in the open Stratton Bank
End), otherwise if you
arrive early Swindon town centre is a 15 minute walk away.
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Looking Towards The Town End
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| Other Places Of Interest |
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Located
near one corner of the ground is the 'Magic
Roundabout'. Whoever designed this must have been on
something. It is a large island surrounded by five
mini roundabouts, which effectively means that
traffic can go round the main roundabout the wrong
way! Confused? I was!
Thanks to
Chris King for providing the image of the Magic
Roundabout above and the directions below. Chris
suggests that visiting supporters, with the aide of
the diagram, can perhaps practice in their back
garden prior to visiting Swindon!
If you want further information then visit the
Magic Roundabout page of the Swindon Web.
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| How To Get
There By Car & Where To Park |
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ground is well signposted in and around Swindon town
centre. Just follow signs for 'The County
Ground'.
From M4 Junc.15:
Follow A345 (Queens
Drive) to Drake's roundabout. Turn left towards the
Magic Roundabout, The County Ground is on the corner
of this roundabout.
From the North A419
from Cricklade/Cirencester/M5:
Continue on the
A419 until reaching the top of the new 3
lane stretch of dual-carriageway, which
runs uphill. (I would advise to
stay in the inside lane on this climb as
the exit approaches quickly). Take the exit
at the top of the hill (Lady Lane
Junction). At the lights go right, then
almost immediately at the next set of lights go
left. Follow this road through the next set of
traffic lights (passing the Motorola building to
the right), then branch left onto the A4311.
From here follow this road, following signs for
Town Centre. At
Transfer Bridges roundabouts turn left at the
first and then straight over the second. The
County Ground is on the left after the
mini-roundabout. The County Ground is
one of the few remaining football stadiums you
can notice from a fair distance, due to the
striking floodlights. Thanks to Robin Sharpe
for supplying the directions.
If you survive the
Magic Roundabout then there is some street parking.
Otherwise park at the cricket club (take County Road
off the Magic Roundabout, go past the County Hotel
on your right, you will see a small sign further
down on your right for football parking, just before
the mini roundabout). There is
some parking available at the ground itself for a
cost of £10.
Map
showing the location of the County
Ground (at the bottom of this page).
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| By
Train |
| The ground is walkable from
Swindon train station and will take you around 10-15
minutes. Leave the station, cross the road and proceed
up the road between the two pubs (Great Western and
Queen's Tap), continue to end of road. Turn
left, proceed along Manchester Road, through traffic
lights as far as you can go. At the junction
turn right. The County Ground is about 300 yards up
this road on the left. Thanks to John Bishop for
providing me with the directions.
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A Closer Look At
The Town End
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| Admission
Prices |
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Home
Fans*:
Arkells Stand & Don Rogers
Stands:
Adults £25, Over
60's/Students £19, Under 18's £17, Under
16's £12, Family Packages from £40
Town End: Adults £19, Over 60's/Under 20's/
Young Adults £15, Under 16's £12**
Away Fans:
Arkells
Stand:
Adults £25, Over 60's/Students £19,
Under 18's £17 (Proof of age required), Under
16's £12
* Club members can get a
£2 discount on these match ticket prices.
** Under 16's must be accompanied by an adult in
the Town End. Under 10's can be admitted free if
they are a member of the Club and are accompanied
by a paying adult.
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| Local Rivals |
| Oxford
United, Bristol Rovers &
Bristol City.
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| Programme |
| Official
Programme: £3
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| Disabled
Facilities |
| For
details of disabled facilities and club contact at the
ground please visit the relevant page on the Level
Playing Field website.
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| Fixtures 2011-2012 |
| Swindon Town FC fixture list (takes
you to the BBC Sports
Website)
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Ground
Layout
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| Record & Average
Attendance |
32,000
v Arsenal
FA Cup 3rd Round, January 15th, 1972.
Modern All Seated Attendance
Record:
14,731 v Walsall
League Two, May 5th 2007
Average Attendance:
2010-2011: 8,458 (League One)
2009-2010: 8,389 (League One)
2008-2009: 7,499 (League One)
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| Fans Reviews Of The County Ground |
Paul Willott (Doing The
92) 25/2/12
Diana Bowden
(Crewe Alexandra) 6/8/11
James Spring (Notts
County) 2/4/11
Tino Hernandez
(Bournemouth) 1/1/11
Damian Purser (Leyton
Orient) 17/4/09
Matthew Day (Luton
Town) 18/8/07
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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 Swindon
Guest Houses and Hotels 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 County Ground, railway
station and listed pubs |
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Instructions for using
the map:
- Use the bar on the left of the map to zoom in /
out using the + / - keys.
- Click and drag an area of the map to move around
or use the up/down, left/right arrows
- Click the Satellite button to see aerial view
photograph.
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| Feedback |
If
anything is incorrect or you have something to add,
please e-mail duncan@footballgrounds.net
and I'll update the guide.
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