I’d been wanting to get to a football game for a little while now, but in between working most weekends and travelling for other reasons I just never made time to prioritise getting to a game. However, that was about to change as I had a week off from work and had already planned to spend the week in Nottingham. I had no real plans for visiting the city again apart from taking a look at the Winter Wonderland set up in the city centre, there was also no ice hockey games on the days that I was staying there.
So I took some time to investigate possible football matches being played on Wednesday 30th or Thursday 1st December. I downloaded an app called Futbology which is very useful for finding games in your local area. Fortunately for me there was Carlton Town vs Dunkirk in the Notts Senior Cup Quarter Final at 7:45pm on the Wednesday, which was originally postponed on an earlier date because of a waterlogged pitch, and rearranged to be played on a day that I was in the area.
I arrived in the city on Wednesday afternoon, spent some time exploring the city and the Winter Wonderland before I was able to check in to the hotel from 3pm onwards. After an hour of reading and resting in my room, I debated on going to the football. Until this day I hadn’t been to a football match since 2002, and I’ve never been to one on my own before. To be honest, I was a bit anxious about going, but as the clock moved closer to 7pm I decided to just go for it, washed and ready to go and catch a bus to the nearest stop from the ground.
I timed my exit from the hotel just right, so I could get on the 1900 Nottingham City Transport bus (Route 26) from King Street which would take me to Florence Road, the nearest stop to the Bill Stokeld Stadium. The journey took roughly 25 minutes, with plenty of traffic slowing us down along the way. I didn’t mind the delay too much as the match didn’t start until 1945. I got off the bus and checked the map on my phone to ensure I was walking in the right direction – I’d never been in this area before and it was dark. After a 10-15 minute walk along a quiet dark road and across the railway crossing, I finally arrived at the ground.
There was a chill in the air, but it didn’t feel like it would rain. I spotted a large yellow sign “Welcome to the Bill Stokeld Stadium, home of Carlton Town Football Club”. My first challenge upon arrival was to find the entrance, I glanced around the car park in the dark and spotted what appeared to be a narrow doorway to my left, which had a small metal turnstile in the middle so you couldn’t access the ground without the staff letting you in. I paid the entry fee of £6 (although games were advertised as £9 on the sign) and also bought a programme for another £2. I would say that’s a decent price compared to the big leagues.
Looking around the ground, there was a seated stand behind one end of the pitch, and also a bar and some picnic benches along the side near to where spectators enter the ground. To the left (as you enter) there is a brick building with two open windows and a door in the middle. The left window was the Club Shop, where you could purchase Carlton Town hats or scarves and there was also some shirts hanging on the wall too. The window on the right of the door was the Snack Bar, serving fresh cooked food and hot drinks. I assume the door lead to where the players and team management would be inside. I didn’t venture inside to look around.
There wasn’t a lot of people at the game, the match report suggests there was 71 spectators on the night. After a brief look around, the players came out onto the field and the match began. There was a pleasant atmosphere at the ground and I quite enjoyed being there, and it wasn’t really as cold as I expected either. Most of the crowd stood along the side to watch the match while some wandered off to the opposite side or behind the goals. It was 0-0 at the end of the first half so I decided to try out the food, I bought a cheeseburger which added another £4 to my total cost for the match. Good enough for the price, not the microwave stuff you might get elsewhere.
The second half seemed a bit more lively, and on a few occasions I might’ve flinched when the ball came flying towards where I was standing. I won’t go into any detail of how the match went, you can find out more by visiting Carlton Towns Match Report here: https://www.carltontownfc.co.uk/news/carlton-town-in-the-semi-final-after-hard-fought-win-in-the-senior-cup-at-stoke-lane/
The game eventually ended 1-0 to Carlton, and it was time to head back to Nottingham via a quick sprint to catch a delayed bus (or wait a whole hour for the next one).
Overall I enjoyed going to my first game in a long time, it was a good evening for a total price of £12 including food. The people were nice enough, although I didn’t socialise much. I may have to look into going to a few more matches in the future.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.