Braehead Clan

I saw a game at Braehead Clan on Friday 11th February 2011, when they comprehesively defeated Cardiff Devils in an Elite League match. It was a strange hockey venue in the sense that you have to walk through a shopping centre to get to the rink, which is situated on the edge of Glasgow.



The rink is called Braehead Arena.



The ice hockey is well advertised throught the shopping centre, like on the side of the escalators.



And underneath them!



Here is another hoarding.



Map of the rink.



Once inside the arena, but not in the seated area, there is a club shop table.



That area is out behind this end of the ice. My seat is toward the far end, on the left. Note the benches at the front of that side.



Here is a close up of them.



In the corner, heading round to my pew, we see over the ice, to the two tiered bank of seats opposite. Only the lower sections were open.



Here are the blocks of seats behind the goal, where we came in.



A similar shot, but slightly higher up.



From here we also look across the ice to the other side.



Down the near side now, the closed upper sections.



And the lower part, with lots of fans in the seats.



Same area, from the front, after the match.



Toward the middle, across the ice.



Moving on, looking toward the away end, on the left.



Here we see back down this side, from my seat.



The other way is the small pocket of away fans behind the goal, with more in the first bay, in the corner opposite.



Sit down! ;-)



Another view of the other side of the arena.



Cheerleaders on the closed top tier, on the other side.



In between one of the periods w've now headed round the other side, and here we see along it, from the 'entrance' end.



The Zamboni is out over the ice.



I don't know why, but hockey fans often take pictures of these ice re-surfacing machines.



Moving along we head toward the far corner of this side, & see over the ice from here.



These are the upper seats on this side, which concludes all our angles of Braehead Arena. not time to leave though.



Back on my side here is a close up of some daffodilled Cardiff fans opposite.



The visitors' flags hanging behind the goal.



One Cardiff follower takes his top off!



And others get ticked off by a steward.



And another, the man standing, takes umbrage with Breahead fans laughing & waving at him as he leaves early near the end.



I wasn't the only neutral there.



During the interval I asked this embarrassed looking home fans if i could take a snap of their shirts.



And did the same with these two Devils!



Now we turn our attention to on the ice, to finish.





There's more to hockey than fighting!



Game over.



Post-match handshakes.



Man of the match presentations.



And off the ice they come.



While Braehead celebrate their victory.



Thanking their fans.



And here is the final score. Time to go.

SC Comet Kiel; Germany

SC Comet Kiel compete in the Verbandsliga Schleswig-Holstein-Nord-Ost, which is part of the sixth rung of the German footballing pyramid. I took a look at their ground in November 2010. The weather was windy, cold & it was snowing! So it's a bit hard to see the place under a blanket of the white stuff, but we'll give it a go!



A sign points the way to the ground.



This is the clubhouse & changing rooms building.



A large sign lists the club sponsors on the wall.



There is also a club noticeboard attached to it.



By the clubhouse we look out to the pitch. I told you it was snowing!



Presumably this gap in the pitch perimeter is where the players come onto the pitch. The ground is completely open, we can see the dugouts on the far side.



Out on the main side we turn back to the clubhouse.



Moving to the front we see there are a few steps of terracing along this side.



The terracing extends to the corner. Note the blue on the left...



It seems to be the PA box.



Almost at the corner we look toward the tree lined open end behind the goal.



Snow is snow..I'm sure it would look better in the summer!



It's completely flat behind the goal. It is grass underneath.



From this end we look over to the main terraced side.



Behind the goal we turn left, to the dugouts side.



And directly up the pitch.



At the next corner we glance back behind the goal.



Now along the next side, here appears to be a few steps of terracing at the front, it is grass banking behind.



We are now almost opposite the club building.



Behind one of the dugouts.



It was so cold I couldn't summon up the enthusiasm to hop over the fence to snap the dugout properly, so I just leaned over for this shot.



Moving on we can see the outline of the steps under the snow.



Stretching over the pitch surround once more, for the second dugout.



Almost at the end, the terracing is a little clearer.



A corner shot, over the pitch.



At the top of the grass bank behind this corner is the club war memorial.



Now we are behind the goal at this end.



Stepping back, carefully going up the grass bank, we get a snow covered panoramic picture of the ground.



A behind the net snap from this end now, toward the dugouts.



From here we zoom in on one of them.



Heading toward the next corner we see this ticket shed. To the left of it is a path, leading down to the road.



At the bottom of it is this marvellous club sign.



Back up in the ground, from the corner, there are steps leading up to the main terraced side.



The open terrace is clearer here, & I brush away some of the snowe covering, to reveal it is brick paved terracing along this side.



We continue along.



Until we are back at the main club building, to complete out tour.