FC Dieppe; Dieppe, France

I had the pleasure of visiting FC Dieppe in May 2007. The opposition were my favourite French team Red Star, & this was, & still is, the only time I've seen them at an away game. This was a CFA (level four) match, but Dieppe were already relegated down to CFA2.

This is a modern stadium, the Stade des Vertus opening in 2006. It is situated on the edge of town, about a half hour walk from the centre, an uphill incline on the way there, but not too steep. there is a local bus that goes past it too.

This is the main stand from outside.



Like many French stadiums it is supported/owned by the local authority.



I stayed at the very basic hotel chain Formula1. Unbeknown to me, when booking it, the stadium was just behind it!



It's also only ten minutes walk from the Canadian War Cemetery, from where we spotted the floodlights for the first time.



The ticket booths were outside.



With various ground rules on display.



Just inside was a small club shop.



We're behind the main stand, on the left hand side. That's the gates we entered through, & you can see the area behind the stand.



Just past the souvenirs was this delicious food stall.



We're going to head round the ground, clockwise. It's open on three sides. Here is the the hard standing behind the goal. Presumably the shrubs will grow as they bed in & become more established.



From the far corner we look across to the impressive stand.



Along the far side is some open steps of terracing.



With more open hard standing behind the other goal.



We're now back round to the main stand.



This is named after Maurice Thoumyre, which was the name of their previous stadium, nearer to the town centre.



This is my friend Mark, a fellow Dulwich Hamlet fan, who was on the trip with me.



Here we look across the pitch, from the back of the stand.



Mark makes himself at home, well he's not getting any younger, he needs the rest! ;-)



The teams line up before kick off. Our hotel was just beyond that water tower in the background.



Some of the visiting Red Star contingent, who made the fairly long journey from Paris.



Allez Red Star!



Plenty of Red Star banners!



Including our own!



The main Red Star fan call themselves the 'Gang Green'.



I've yet to find out why Red Star has a Welsh flag at games. To be honest, being English, I don't really want to know!



I do like snaps of banners!



Here are some of the Red Star fans.



One solitary home flag!



Good top!



A bit of goalmouth action.



Cheering the team on!



Loyal supporters!



Some of the players appreciate the fans.



As the flares come out.



Which makes for a good photo!



Smile please! I think we're going to end up on the website!



Post match, we look across the pitch, from the back of the stand.



With one more glance across the seats, from the press area.