Best place to visit in UK & Ireland for rugby nomination thread.

[Prestwick]

I was thinking of writing something about the best places to visit in the UK for rugby and thought what better way to find some research material than ask the good old British (and Irish) rugby public themselves!

Essentially, nominations can include a ground or place in any part of the UK & Ireland, so long as they're in some form of Union sanctioned competition and not just some field in the middle of Birmingham

So, primarily I'm looking beyond the obvious answers in the Guinness Premiership and the Magners League and looking for hidden gems on these sceptered isles. I keep thinking of Cornish Pirate's ground in Cornwall but thats about it so obviously I need some help!

Please put your nominations below and please:

- Give me the name and location of the place
- One paragraph of at least two full lines about why it is so awesome

If there are enough nominations, a poll may well be in order with a thread for those proposers to argue their case!

 

[Sir Speedy]

Bah, you did this a week too late. The best ground is/was clearly Stradey Park! :angry:

The only other grounds I've been to are Liberty Stadium (which is toss), the Walker Stadium (which is naturally a football stadium) and Cardiff Arms Park (which I don't really know much about to write two lines about. D: ) I'm sure some Irish folk will want to nominate Thomond Park. That's looking to be a fabulous stadium.

 

[Bullitt]

If you believe everything you hear they managed to get 8.6 million people into Thomond in 1978.

Or at least that's how many people have so far claimed to be there for the All Blacks fixture.

 

[cyRil]

The Gnoll. Naturally.

 

[gingergenius]

The Athletic Ground, Richmond.

Home to Richmond and London Scottish (big rivals), a stop on the way to Twickenham, and it had a good atmosphere back pre-administration when we used to get 5,000+ in there on the temporary stands.

 

[Prestwick]

Surprisingly, its GG with the first decent answer.

Again, I'm not looking for the obvious headline grounds that are or were a regular feature of the GP or ML. So that rules out Thomund Park, Stradley, etc.

I'm thinking more about some of the really scenic grounds in the Yorkshire Dales or the rugby ground at Pontiprydd somehow clinging to the hillside for example..

 

[SaintsFan_Schweinsteiger_Webby]

Dry Leas, home to Henley Hawks, is an excellent ground and well worth a visit. As you would expect at the ground of a small club, there is only one small stand, so the fun comes in watching the action just metres from the pitch behind the railing which runs around the edge.

The beautiful leafy surroundings are complimented by a welcoming old clubhouse and the village of Henley itself, full of excellent drinking spots and opportunities to stroll along the Thames.

 

[gingergenius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gingergenius @ Oct 30 2008, 05:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

The Athletic Ground, Richmond.

Home to Richmond and London Scottish (big rivals), a stop on the way to Twickenham, and it had a good atmosphere back pre-administration when we used to get 5,000+ in there on the temporary stands.[/b]

and i forgot to add, you can sit and watch the trees on the golf course change from green -> russet - > skeletal and back again over the course of the season. And you can see the new office buildings along the M4 at Brentford glinting in the sunset...

And you can see Richmond's two cheerleaders, who aren't really cheerleaders, just barmaids who strip down to their panties and sell raffle tickets to dirty men. One's banging though.

 

[sporty]

Hi

I have read with interest the posting on here for the best place to visit in the UK for Rugby and the subsequent replies.


Having recently been involved in the creation of www.stoodthere.com, we have a list already started for:


‘The Greatest Sporting Venues on the Planet’


You can vote for your favourite on this list or leave a comment if you think a venue is missing from the list.


Alternatively, you could start your own list specifically for the:


‘The best places to visit in the UK for rugby’

and let others do the voting on it, or add the places they think should be included.


So please have a look, vote on the list, create a new list, add pics or just absorb the info and tell us what you think.

Many Thanks
The StoodThere team

www.stoodthere.com

 

[cyRil]

:huh:

 

[Prestwick]

:huh:

 

[QLD]

:huh:

 

[Sir Speedy]

 

[shtove]

Check out Connemara All Blacks in Clifden, west coast of Ireland.

Piccy of ground:

TBH, you don't want to turn up there during a New Year's hurricane. But if you catch a balmy summer's day it's like the med, and the **** up afterward is both savage and sophisticated.

http://www.connemararfc.ie/teams/seniors/monastery-field/