VENUE #88 ARBROATH Gayfield Park

GAYFIELD PARK

Nearest Railway Station  Arbroath

     Arbroath Railway Station is around 15 minutes walk away from Gayfield Park. From the railway station come out of the main entrance and turn left. Walk down to the bottom of this road and turn right into Millgate Loan. The ground is approximately half a mile along this road - you can't really miss it.  The stadium is situated on the sea front, to the west of Arbroath harbour, on the southern edge of the town. There is no other football stadium in Europe which is as close to the sea

Gayfield Park

Gayfield is predominantly made up of terracing which extends around three corners of the ground. However, this gives the stadium lot of character, especially as terracing is slowly but surely disappearing generally from football stadia. On one side is the Gayfield Main Stand which was opened in 2002 and extended in 2010. This is a covered single tiered, all seated stand, which has a large floodlight pylon protruding from the centre of its roof. The other sides of the ground are all terraces that are of a similar size. Each side has a small covered area, that covers the centre part of the terraces to the rear. There are also a number of small floodlight pylons that run down the East side of the pitch, the bases of which are situated within the East Terrace.  At the back of the Seaforth End there is an amusement arcade called Pleasureland and directly across the A92 from the arcade is Totties Neuk pub and restaurant which is well recommended.

     

Ground Layout

Main Stand

East Terrace

Harbour (Town) End

Seaforth End (Away)

Record Holders

Arboath record breaking team

     I think most people who are into football know that Arbroath are the record holders for the biggest win in a competitive game and have held this record for over a 100 years.  12th September 1885 was the date that Arbroath were drawn in the first round of the Scottish cup against Bon Accord of Aberdeen and went on to win the game 36-0.  The papers say that a further five goals were dis-aloud but in the referees report Mr. Dave Stormont said that he actually dis-aloud seven goals for offside but the Arbroath side were so quick in the manner they moved the ball that he may have been a little harsh on the team from Angus which would have meant that the score would have ended up 43-0 if he had aloud them, linesmen weren't around in them days being introduced some years later.

Arbroath 1885 kit

    Bon Accord were a new team just being formed and thrown into the mix of the Scottish cup draw, so new was the side that they didn't even have a proper kit.  Rumours about them being a cricket team that got invited to play in the Scottish cup by mistake are false even if the result turned out to be a cricket score.  A friend of mine quipped that several Bon Accord players were booked for taking the game too seriously but as in the case of linesmen booking players was a little premature to the game.

Arbroath harbour at night

        I always thought that the Arbroath nickname the Red Lichties was to do with their record win being the team in maroon who licked the non-league side but a friend also said, (maybe in jest), that they were called the Red Lichties because Arbroath was a red light district.  To put the matter straight he was right about the red light but it was men painting the harbour lights bulbs red so as ship/boats out at sea knew that they were approaching Arbroath harbour by the colour of the lights, a sort of a homing signal. 



Today's opponents  CLYDE were formed in 1877 and played their home matches at Barrowfield park but out-grew the ground after 21 years and moved across the river to Shawfield Stadium which was purposely built for the club but became a financial burden and so it was finally agreed in the 1930's that Shawfield could be used for greyhound racing as well to bring much needed revenue.  Clyde ended up selling the stadium to their tenants the greyhound association as money difficulties got more serious and spent the next fifty years as tenants themselves.  In 1986 the GRA announced redevelopment plans for the stadium and gave Clyde notice to quit.
     Clyde spent 8 years unhappily sharing grounds with both Partick Thistle and Hamilton Accies before moving to their new home in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.  Broadwood is an 8,000 all seated stadium which they share with Cumbernauld Colts and is a place I visited last season when Clyde beat Elgin City 4-2 on the 14th November 2015.  Clyde's defender Chris Mitchell was sent off that day in the 81st minute for a second bookable offence the unfortunate player was tragically killed 6 months later in a train accident.


     The Bully Wee before this game are in eighth place in the table 8 points clear of the the relegation play off spot with ten games to go to the end of their season and so have it all to play for in today's game.  
     
     

                                                ARBROATH ...  1    CLYDE ... 0

    

     Well the score line was a long way from Arbroath's record of 36-0 but in this day and age you'd expect that.  In the game I saw the night before there was too much passion and it turned into a really bad tempered affair but in the match at Gayfield between Arbroath and Clyde it was the total opposite with neither side showing any real desire to win the game.

     Arbroath did win it grabbing all three points from a dire and dreary game against their Glaswegian opposition with a goal from their captain Mark Whatley in the 41st minute with the assist coming from Ryan McCord.  The Red Lichties now move just three points behind leaders Forfar who lost 2-1 at home to lowly Edinburgh City.

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