Tuesday, 24 January 2012

The Neil Rourke Stadium - Woodley Sports - ground info


Woodley Sports play at the Neil Rourke Stadium, which has a capacity of 2000, including 186 seats. The seated bit is covered, as is the stand behind one of the goals - the rest is open space.

The ground is within easy walking distance of both Woodley and Bredbury rail stations, and locally can be easily got to via buses from Hyde, Ashton and others, which go along Hyde Road / Stockport Road. Via car there are plenty of nearby side streets next to the ground which usually have lots of spaces free.

The ground is mainly well known in the division as being one with a "plastic pitch", making it an ideal options for non league spectators to fall back on when other local games are postponed due to snow/ice. Recently the only time I remember a Woodley home match being called off was due to the safety of players and fans getting to the ground rather than the pitch itself being deemed unfit.

The "3g" turf they use looks surprisingly similar to real grass, as can be seen in the picture below. It does appear to have differences when played on however, you only have to look at how significantly better Woodley do at home compared to away in recent seasons to know it must make a difference, however much clubs with these types of pitches can try to deny it. It's obvious from the way Woodley try to concentrate on low passing moves in their home games that they've adapted to the added kick/bounce off the plastic turf that teams struggle with when attempting high long balls.


Woodley rarely get crowds over a hundred in recent seasons, and unfortunately this combined with current building works happening at the ground leaves it looking soulless, and, to be honest - pretty ugly. See building vehicles and supplies in the top picture, and the bizarre looking metal thing below that'll eventually become a car park. The fenced off area behind the side I was stood at looked even worse.


There was a crowd of 85 at the match I was at, so with so few there I attempted getting some food or drink at half time. Despite the small crowd, I joined a long queue that pretty much didn't move for 10 minutes. I think 3 people were served in that time? I gave up as the teams came out for the second half with a big queue still in front of me. I've seen other blogs saying similar. I don't know how Woodley coped when teams with larger away followings played at their ground in recent seasons!

Admission is £7 adults, the norm for the Evo Stik Division One North, and I believe programmes are £2 which includes some form of raffle ticket.

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