There is a club board out on the main road, but the ground is set a fair way behind it.
Down a long driveway. Note the sign on the side of that building...
I'm sure it's not as dangerous as it sounds!
Home of this organisation:
At the end of the drive we finally get to the car park in front of the ground.
Parked in it is the Club minibus.
The clubhouse is straight ahead, with the turnstiles to the right.
Well not so much turnstiles, as a club table.
Old sign, old name.
New sign, new name! The GAC brand is everywhere, the major club sponsor.
The entrance is in the corner of the stadium. From inside we look back at it.
Team line-ups are helpfully displayed.
From this corner we see over the pitch.
The side to our right is on a slope. Small covered terrace initially, then main stand past it.
Moving down toward the pitch railings we get a better view of this side, everything smartly painted in the club colurs, but also plastered with the sponsors name & logo.
We're going to head their last. Our walk round will take us behind the goal to the left of the entrance initially. First up is the club house.
Small but smart.
Lots of club memorabilia on the walls.
I love it when clubs are proud of their heritage.
This trophy had an interesting pedigree, but I can't find my old notes where I took details of the inscription & some of the previous winners. Sorry folks!
There was also this cabinet selling an extremely good range of club souvenirs for this level.
Back outside, in front of the clubhouse, pitchside, you can see what I mean about a 'sloped side'.
Behind the goal where we are it's a simple hard standing walkway, the grass behind sloping down to the clubhouse & changing rooms beyond, the railed steps leading down to them.
Here are the changing rooms.
Past the 'open tunnel' is more hard standing to the corner.
Past the goal you can see it is very open down the far side.
The downard banking disappears here, & it become quite narrow in the corner.
A glance back at this end, before we move on round.
Behind the corner flag we look over to the main stand side.
Slightly to the left of the flag a shot of the end with the buildings, from the other side of the fence.
Down this side it's open hard standing all the way.
The fencing moves back, if ever this club were in a position to progress up the pyramid there is plenty of scope to develop the ground here.
The stands opposite.
The path goes round the pylons.
Directly across the halfway line.
Moving onward, along the hardstanding to the third corner of the ground.
Once again it narrows at the bend.
Last glimpse along the open side.
Also open at this end, wider falt grassed area behind.
An old roller dumped further behind.
From this end we turn right, for aa full length shot of the open side.
Then leftwards, to the stands one.
Directly down the pitch through the net, typical end of season dry & dusty goalmouth.
Strolling on the path goes on to the last corner, before the built up side.
That's where we're heading.
Wer'e getting there!
You can tell this is quite a posh area. There's not much demand for swimming pools on the inner city South London council estates, where I grew up! But having just linked to their website they have gone into liquidation, so there wasn't much demand in deepest Sussex anymore, either! ;-)
Along the final side of the ground now, the hard standing goes along to the stand, which is atop the grass banking behind it.
Steps lead up to it, with dugouts below it, at the front.
From the steps we look back down to the open end.
A side view of the dugouts.
Now in the stand, above them, looking across the pitch.
Here they are, after the match.
The stand itself is quite narrow, only two rows, but a decent one for this Conuty League, where some clubs in the top division still do not have any at all.
No standing at the front of it, which is fair enough.
Moving along it, there a tea bar at the end of it.
Before we get to the refreshments we see the stand from down on the pitch.
Directly at the centre section.
Close up of the sponsors board in the middle.
Another 'side angle' from further along.
Here we see the brick tea bar, then the start of the covered terrace.
Back up on the stand side of the fence, we are now at the tea bar, terracing past it. There is a dedicated disabled area at the end of the stand here.
From up here we see the bar & changing rooms, where we started our circuit.
A last look up at the stand, from the front.
Here is the covered terrace, club nickname & crest proudly on the front of it.
The hard stand path continuing down in front of it.
The terrace from the front.
That completes are walk round the place. A lone action shot from the game to finish.
