The Amex Stadium

Monday 22 August 2011

Brighton and Hove Albion 2-2 Blackpool

Programme - £3.00

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 8/10 (More impressive on the outside rather than the inside and could be a 9/10 if the corner were filled in)

Ease of getting there : 7/10

Atmosphere : 9/10 (Incredible noise generated by the Albion fans)

Programme : 9/10

View of Action : 7/10

Quality of the game : 7/10

The "football" feeling : 7/10 (The railway journey added to the experience)

Chances of coming here for a random game : 1/10

Legroom : 10/10 (And even padded seats)

Surrounding area : 8/10

Overall : 73/100

The Amex Stadium from Falmer Railway Station

North stand

East stand

South stand

Well known Seagull Heroes

Brighton and Hove Albion

Tell the story of the first 60 minutes of the game, the Seagulls dominated Blackpool

West stand

North stand

East stand

South stand

West stand

South stand

East stand

Brighton and Hove Albion supporters 'united and will never be defeated'

A seagull exploring the Amex

North stand

Brighton's West Pier following the fire

Brighton and Hove Albion 2-2 Blackpool

I (Ross) met up with Adrian in Brighton while he was staying
in Sussex. We walked from the seafront to Brighton Railway Station and bought
our train tickets to Falmer Railway Station, where we instantly overheard a
Blackpool supporter saying we get free train travel to Falmer Railway Station
with our match day tickets and we demanded an instant refund which we got.
After a wait in Brighton Railway Station to get on one of the many trains set
up for football supporters, we got on our train and arrived at Falmer about 10
minutes after leaving Brighton. The view of the Amex from the station is very
impressive and looks very similar to Manchester City's Eastlands. Brighton and
Hove Albion moved away from their previous home, the Goldstone Ground in 1997
and for two seasons played 75 miles away in Gillingham. Following their brief
time in Kent, they moved back to Brighton, but this time to the Withdean
Stadium which is a purpose built athletics stadium. They were not to know that they
would be tenants at the Withdean Stadium for a staggering 12 years due to
planning permission and disagreement with the Falmer residents with the
construction until now when they moved into their well deserved Amex Stadium.
The Amex Stadium is built three storeys into the ground extracting a
significant amount of chalk for the purpose of the stadiums existence. The West Stand is the largest three-tiered
stand hold's 11,833 fans, the East Stand hold's 5,404 fans with 10% reserved
for away fans during cup games, the North Stand is for the true die-hard vocal
supporters hold's 2,688 fans and finally the South Stand is for visiting away
supporters which contains 2,575 seats. Wikipedia states that ‘The stadium capacity may be increased at a
later date, with room for a further tier being installed above the East Stand,
which would increase the stadium attendance to a possible 30,000 seats. This
building work would require no changes to the stadium frame and layout, as the
space where the tier would be added will be free above the East Stand’. One
thing Adrian and I both disagree on is the empty corners in more specifically
the North West and North East sides of the ground which makes the ground seem
very open and quite bare. The game saw Brighton and Hove Albion dominate the
first hour and scoring two goals until Ian Holloway made 3 substitutions all at
once and proved to be an inspiring decision with veteran Kevin Phillips
grabbing his double ending the game in a 2-2 draw. We quickly ran out the
stadium to avoid any inevitable queues back at the station and we made it on
the first train back into Brighton and getting back at about 5:15pm. This now
means Adrian has completed this season’s (2011-2012) 92 grounds which he is
delighted about. Overall Adrian and I really enjoyed our visit Brighton’s new
home and is highly recommended and is probably one of the best stadiums in the Football
League.