Friday 9 December 2011

FK Usti nad Labem; Czech Republic

FK Usti nad Labem play in the in the second divison,in the Czech Republic, & I stopped off in the town to look at their ground on the way to a game at FK Teplice, on 24th October 2011. It was a strange mix of old & new, & despite not being a big fan of football stadiums with running tracks I liked this place, & hope to see a match here on a future trip to the country.


It's a good half walk from the town centre, uphill, but a gentle incline, so not too steep, this is the trolleybus stop outside the ground, if you are in a rush, or it's raining.


The back of the main stand, from the road outside.


Note that gantry up to the falgpole on the roof!


An entrance on the main road, some of restaurant roofed area above it.


Forthcoming fixture hoarding.


Past that another way in.


Map of the stadium.


Carrying on I was still to find a way in. turning right past the far end there was a secondary all-weather pitch.


And beyond this pitch you can see my 'bonus set' of pictures at the town ice hockey stadium.


Moving behind the goal of the main stadium now, I am still searching for a way in.


At the next corner..'Bingo!' Inside, through this open gate.


To our right is an open end, with no spectator area in this corner.


Looking over the pitch we see the old stand, on the far side.


To our left, the direction we shall go, clockwise, is a smaller modern covered stand, with open seating either side.


Over the pitch from right on the corner flag spot.


Zooming in on the delighful old wooden stand.


This is the modern side.


The covered central part.


Back on the spectator side this is the first set of open seating.


Along this side from the back of the first section.


Almost at the roofed middle bit.


The covered new stand, from the bottom.


Sitting in the centre of it, above the halfway line.


To our right is the area we have already covered.


Left is where we shall go.


There is another section of open seating past the one under cover.


From the front.


Not that the view will be that good from the first row!


There is some open hard standing to the corner. Dwon behind, lower down is another turnstile entrance, which gives you access behind the far goal.


Over in the far corner is a section of old, disused terrace.


Now in the area behind the goal we look back along the new side.


This is the section that leads up to the terrace behind the goal.


The steps lead up to the back of the open terracin g.


Here we see up the pitch, old and new stands on left & right.


Behind the goal now, the new terrace, with closed old section beyond.


The new terrace only goes about half way along, there is no access past it.


The 'view' from behind the goal.


Time to retrace our steps and get bck pitchside, onto the track, at this end. Here we are back at the corner.


The old main stand, behind the goal.


With the new side through the posts.


Looking back behind the goal, the 'break' between old & new terraces.


Here is the old closed section. Clearly they have refurbished the whole stadium, but simply didn't think it was worthwhile doing this section.


Judging by the remains of these tree stumps this part was once heavily overgrown.


Here we are standing on the 'closed' part.


Stepping back a bit more, we see the size of this section.


On the track again, we see toward the main old stand.


There is terracing in front of it.


The main stand, from on the track.


Across the halfway line, from this side.


Zooming in on the new stand.


The dugouts are in front of the old stand. This is the home one, to the left.


And the away one, on the right.


Now it's time to 'back track' along the track, & return to the old corner, here si some old terracing along the side, I'm not sure what this flat new section is for.


From behind it we peer through the fencing at the 'mix & match' end.


Now we're on the main side terrace, toward the stand.


Getting there. The built up section to the left is a mix of toilets, Restaurant & so on.


The terrace from the bottom. Not the roofed balcony between the stand & the restaurant, some sort of covered outdoor area.


The terrace in front of the stand.


The steps up to the stand, here we go!


A separate partitioned off area of wooden benches right at the front.


Plastic seats behind.


Looking over the side at this end, we see the balconeyed area next to it.


The view up into the seats.


The new seats have clearly been put on top of old wooden benches. Maybe they ran out at the back?


From the back row.


Turning toward the pitch.


And along the rest of the stand.


Tannoy box at the rear.


Straight ahead.


At the back are some steps & hatch..presumably up to the flagpole of the roof that we saw outside at the start.


Leftwards, to the last bit of the stand.


Looking over the side we see down onto the last part of the stadium.


Before we get down there a last glimpse along the stand we are in.


Down at the front we see the 'posh' benches from this side.


And down the steps we go.


The hard standing above the terrace, in front of the stand.


And looking up to the wooden frontage of this magnificent structure.


Back past it, we are the other side of the board advertising matches, that we saw from out on the street.


A set back, stand alone section of terrace now.


With more terracing in front of it.


A hoarding for a sponsor on the pitch/track perimer fencing.


From here we see behind the goal, a penned in open terraced section, which seems to be the bit for away fans.


It is inaccessible, the fence on this side stops you getting there,on the left of this picture.


So it's back onto the track for a better view.


Here is a close up of this area, camera squeezed through the metal fence.


A nice scoreboard at the back.


This is football porn. No really..


Look at the name on the clock!


Past the away section now, we are back on the track, at the corner where we started.


Just time for one more look at the old stand...genuine football porn!


And the away terrace from the other side, again through the fence.


Outside the ground, at this end, are these shelters. They are like a 'wheelchair enclosure', but not in the stadium.


If that is the case then te view is awful!


From up here another 'camera through the fence' away end pic.


Our final picture is a beer stand hut, just outside the away turnstiles.