Inside White Rock Stadium

JackArmy.net Inside White Rock Stadium

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Let’s forget, just for a minute, talks of potential shortfalls in the stadium budget, whether we are being given a full story or indeed any politics that may or may not be associated with the stadium. This was my first trip to White Rock and although it remains very much a stadium under construction, I couldn’t help but look out from the West Stand and picture the Swans running out in their first game at the start of the 2005/2006 season.

It’s frightening to think how many games us fans will witness at the new stadium and although I will miss the Vetch I am also excited about this move. White Rock will herald a new era for the Swans and with some luck we may have a different level of football to enjoy it with.

The first thing that struck me standing on what will in twelve months time be the playing area of the stadium was the sheer size of everything around me. Maybe it was an optical illusion – same as an unfurnished room always looks bigger – but the stadium from side to side and end to end looked longer and wider than the Vetch. Sure it will encompass a dead ball line and a track around the pitch side but you did imagine watching football on the pitch and feeling not so much further away from the action but able to appreciate all that was going on on the pitch, if that makes any sense at all.

Standing at the back of what will be the South Stand (picture above) you wondered if your eyes would be good enough to see the action at the end of the pitch but marvelled at what for many is a rarity – a clear unobstructed view of the pitch.

As they constructed the camera stands at the back of the South Stand you also imagined a big FA Cup tie at the Vetch and the atmosphere that could be generated inside the stadium. Looking across at the stand from the South West corner it was difficult to imagine it populated with a couple of thousand seats but at the same time it was also hard to comprehend that just six months ago there was nothing where this stadium was taking place. It was bare area and now a future for the Swans is growing in front of our very eyes.

My initial plan is to take a season ticket for White Rock inside the West Stand and as I looked along it from the South I found myself trying to work out where I would like the seat to be and then it was a case of wondering what it would be like walking into the stand on matchdays with several thousand Swans fans already in the ground. I did offer to place an ‘X’ where I would like my seat but for some reason they refused point blank to let me put on there. Someone mumbled something about dugout but at that moment I wasn’t really listening!!!

Another thing that strikes you about the stadium itself is how clean it is. I know it sounds crazy but here we have a 20,000 seater stadium being erected in front of our eyes and yet it is remarkably clean. Don’t ask me how with all the construction traffic going around but there wasn’t much of a speck of dirt lying around. Couple that with brand new concrete and the finishes on the stadium and you have something that I have to say will look very impressive for the opening game – and so it should too.

Moving on around the stadium the South West and North West corners of the roof have started to be erected and as you can see in the photo below, you have the device which is used to actually put together the roof sections. As I looked up you could see the workmen putting the coverings on the roof and you tried in desperation to picture that travelling all the way around the stadium. I failed.

The seating area that will house the away fans is coming along slowly on the North side of the ground and you just knew that this would be a ground that away fans will want to come too. I think one of the benefits we will see is increased away attendances – the Vetch can be intimidating and I have spoken to many fans of other clubs who won’t travel there – I think they will come to White Rock.

Behind the South Stand I was told there is planning for two fast food outlets (gold mines?) and the main access road into the stadium was being constructed together with one of the biggest holes (and I don’t mean Ninian Park!) I have ever seen – this was for the drainage "Can you imagine the waste from 20,000 people having a pee?" was how it was explained to me. The mind boggles!

It is hard to imagine that in just over twelve months time the Swans will play their first game at White Rock and you honestly do believe that it cannot possibly be ready in time. But you then think back and remember what it looked like three and six months ago and you just know that it has to be.

Tomorrow we will bring you some pictures from behind the scenes in the West Stand which will incorporate the conferencing facilities as well as all the hospitality areas as well as the offices for both the football and rugby clubs.

I was like a kid in a sweetshop today looking at a place that I will visit so many times in the future and, I have to be honest, I liked what I saw. Very much.

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