Brandon’s Welfare Ground is a basic affair, but I love it. The car park is several steps below the pitch and the ‘turnstile’ is a sentry box. Once the steps are climbed, the only stand lies opposite. In appearance a cowshed, the sides taper inwards. The views are superb though – Durham Cathedral and the surrounding County Durham countryside. To the right, behind the goal, allotments. From West Allotment FC on Monday to actual allotments today, as chickens roam around making a clucking racket. Nevermind West Ham’s Boleyn Ground – this is the original chicken run.
A fence encloses the other goal, while the changing rooms are housed in that far corner, more cricket pavilion than association football clubhouse. On this side, the dugouts lie exposed. More exposed than usual too, as the roofs have been removed from their breezeblock bases. Good job it’s mid-April. (Being County Durham, it is very cold.) I saw the roofs laid out nearby. I think rot had set in.
Further degradation appeared with the performance of one of the floodlight pylons, second half. 5 times (five!) it went off, and 5 times a bloke gave it a shake and it came back on again. I bet his nickname is ‘The Fonz’. While the away bench asked if it’d ever be fixed they got given sharp shrift; ‘we can’t even afford roofs on the dugouts!’. The 5th time, I was too busy watching said bloke rattle a pylon to see how Redcar’s equaliser happened. Last time I looked, it was a Brandon goalkick. Next I knew, the centre forward was rounding the goalkeeper. The hands on head look of the custodian suggested he’d messed up bigtime. And that was it, for me. I can’t let the other half down. Not if I want to be allowed out.
The Damage:
£5 ent
£1 programme
£1 tea
= £7
The Tunes:
BBC 5Live
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