Stadium of Light
Our intrepid away day reporter Groundhopper made the long trip up to Sunderland and even tackled the never-ending stairs at the Stadium of Light just for our benefit, checkout the review.
After 20 away games in League & Cup, Shrewsbury Town still sit top of the D & M League Table with AFC Bournemouth still propping up the rest.
Checkout the current standings – Here.
| Sunderland | ||
| Category | Score | Comments |
| First Impressions of the stadium, parking, ease of entry. | 9 | The Stadium of Light has a capacity of 49,000 and certainly isn’t an average League One ground. Storm Eunice had made the long trip difficult for some, but our journey was uneventful. Coaches parked in a side road close to the ground whilst those driving were parked further away. We were in the upper 3rd tier of the Carling Stand and it’s a long old climb up numerous flights of stairs to get there. Stewards made a point of offering the use of the lift to supporters who may have found the stairs challenging. |
| Food & Drink, range, quality, price. | 7 | The kiosk served the standard pies, sausage rolls, hot dogs, hot & cold drinks & alcohol which was reasonably priced. The alcohol was served from bottle or cans into plastic cups. Some reported that their lager was stale. |
| View from your seat, any poles in the way, obstructed view, seat broken? | 7 | Tier 3 is in the roof of the stand with two tiers below occupied by home supporters. The stairs are steep making it a juggle to carry soft drinks in the plastic cups which didn’t have lids. The view of the pitch was unobstructed but somewhat distant. |
| Home team support, was it a library, good banter between the fans? | 6 | The attendance for this fixture was 30,451. Home fans were mainly heard to whinge and only made some noise when they equalised. |
| What were the stewards like, helpful and friendly or jobsworths? | 8 | The stewards were friendly and helpful. As previously mentioned, they directed fans to the lift. |
| Toilet facilities, clean and well equipped with hot water, disgusting. | 8 | The toilet blocks were clean and well maintained. There was hot water. |
| Ticket pricing, did the price reflect the facilities of the ground? | 6 | It was £26 for an adult which is higher than the average League 1 ticket. |
| Ground facilities, half time service, did they let fans outside at halftime? | 7 | The concourse area is located on level 3 with TVs to view the early kick-off, but the picture was very poor and hardly watchable. Unsurprisingly fans weren’t allowed downstairs to smoke |
| Match atmosphere, did the Dons fans give good support? | 8 | I’ve been unable to establish how many Dons fans were in attendance but our allocation of 600 tickets didn’t sell out. However, they made plenty of noise without the drum. I don’t recall any banter coming from the home fans. |
| Ease of exit, did the carpark clear quickly, traffic around the stadium? | 6 | Home fans had virtually all dispersed whilst Dons supporters were still applauding the win. Traffic was very slow leaving the area. |
| Any other observations or comments that may have affected your scoring? | ||
| Name – Groundhopper | Total Score out of 100 | 72/100 |
