(23rd – 26th March 2018)
Between 2017 and 2018, I was determined to explore more of the United Kingdom, following on from a string of successful foreign jaunts in the preceding years. I had recently completed my university degree, so with having money coming in, and the flexibility to book time off work, it made for the ideal combination to start going away for a couple of long-weekend trips. In this instance, I set my sights on travelling to Northern Ireland and Scotland, two countries that I really hadn’t considered researching beforehand.
In October 2017, I visited Northern Ireland for the first time, spending four days in the capital Belfast, with the first day being especially memorable. Landing at Belfast International airport early on Saturday morning, I headed into the city for a look-around and to get lunch, before watching Glentoran vs Cliftonville at the historic ‘Oval’ ground, spending the evening at the SSE Arena, for Belfast Giants vs Dundee Stars in the Elite Ice Hockey League. This proved to be a fantastic double-header of sporting action, and after doing all of the usual tourist sightseeing and shopping in the coming days, I’d say it was very much a worthwhile trip. Only a couple of weeks after, myself and my dad headed north from the midlands by car, and spent a Friday night in Dundee (stopping off in Stirling en-route). This lead to another packed Saturday which was first spent exploring the city, along with a visit to the RSS Discovery, ahead of watching Dundee FC vs Hamilton Academical at the historic ‘Dens Park’, before the long journey home in the same evening.
Fast forward to five months later and I was heading back to Scotland, this time for my first visit to the country’s second city of Glasgow, by train from Liverpool (via Wigan). The schedule for Belfast worked very well, so I’d once again be looking to combine watching football and ice hockey as part of the trip. This actually turned out to be quite straightforward, as we arrived into Glasgow Central train station around midday on Friday, spending the afternoon and evening inside the INTU Braehead shopping centre. After looking around the shops, and getting some food, it was finally time to take-in our first taste of the weekend’s sports in the form of Ice Hockey, seeing the Braehead (now Glasgow) Clan host the Nottingham Panthers, with their 4,000-capacity arena being attached to the shopping centre. This proved to be an entertaining match in a very decent stadium, which I believe was my seventh Ice Hockey ground visited (at the time).
Saturday was predominantly focussed on watching a football match, which isn’t usually a problem, since there’s a plethora of clubs within the vicinity of Glasgow. Unfortunately for us though, we’d chosen to visit on an international weekend, meaning that the Scottish Premiership teams wouldn’t be playing. I had instead eyed up a game in the Championship, with the intention of visiting St. Mirren, whilst also having a meal and walk around their home town of Paisley. My hopes were dashed when their game was also postponed due to international call-ups, so I needed an alternative.
That came in the form of a club further west from Glasgow, but still easily reachable by public transport. Having already researched the train times, and the route to walk after arriving at our afternoon’s destination, we spent the morning to early afternoon around Glasgow’s ‘Harbour City’ area, which included having a wonderful full vegan Scottish breakfast (don’t judge), and getting to view the cathedral. In truth, we indulged in the food and sight-seeing a little too much, leaving a rush to head back to Glasgow Central Station, in order to catch our intended train. Once we arrived at the station, the busy Saturday crowds meant that we were unable to get the tickets then head to the platform in time for our train, leaving a half an hour wait until the next one. Thankfully, the train station’s proximity to the football ground meant that we should’ve still reached the game in time for kick-off.
After passing the thirty-minute delay with an extra drink, we finally boarded on the train bound for Gourock, where it’d be roughly a thirty minute journey to our destination of Cartsdyke, ironically passing St. Mirren’s ground en-route and also spotting the rock of Dumbarton. Soon enough we spotted another set of floodlights, although these belonged to the ground that we’d be visiting for the afternoon, then we immediately alighted the train and rushing round to the main entrance of Cappielow, home to Greenock Morton FC.
With the train running on time and a quick walk (jog) to the ground, we were able to buy our tickets (along with my customary programme and pin badge) from the cabin located just outside the ground, on Sinclair Street beside the turnstiles. After dashing in and taking a seat in the main stand, the referee blew his whistle to signal the start of the game… I could finally sit back and relax.
All the rushing around beforehand meant that I couldn’t fully “take in the ground” until I was inside, but, even the brief view from the train made it look fantastic. On the whole though, this is a spectacular ground to watch a game of football, even though my legs were getting cramp from the tightly packed seats… In some ways, it would’ve been nice to stand in the large terracing on the other side to the seats for the opposite view, although, I’m glad that I got to sit in the historic Archibald-Leich creation, especially on this decisively miserable spring afternoon. Cappielow is very much considered ‘old-skool’, and a football ground that is hard to come by nowadays, so perhaps I had struck lucky when my original plan to visit St. Mirren was postponed.
We had a great vantage point from the main stand, even if the match in front of us wasn’t a spectacle. This particular view is notable for the docks in the distance, featuring a large crane, visible when looking towards the left corner of the ground. During the match, we also had a couple of different and somewhat interesting backdrops as well, with numerous ships sailing through the docks, and a large rainbow forming in the second-half. Even though the game was dull, the ground and its views certainly weren’t.
Greenock Morton hosted Brechin City, who were going through a very tough time and won’t need reminding about their dismal 2017-18 campaign, in which they didn’t register a league win. With the hosts challenging for the play-offs, this seemed like it’d be a one-sided affair on paper.
It wasn’t as it turned out, and to everyone’s surprise, the first-half finished goalless, which was probably more of a reflection of how poorly Greenock were playing than how good Brechin looked. The second-half proved to be more eventful, but not by much, as a well-earned brace from striker John Baird (50th and 72nd minutes) gave the hosts a comfortable 2-0 win, which confirmed the visitor’s relegation to the third tier. The most memorable moment of the game came curtesy of an elderly gentleman sitting close to me, who was enraged by the fact that Morton weren’t winning the game by a larger margin, and continuously berated the players and staff for it, even though they didn’t look threatened to concede at any point of the game.
The standard of Scottish football isn’t known for being highly rated, and by no means was this a classic, but it was probably the best of three professional games I’ve now watched in Scotland. That may give you an indication of how good the previous two were though…
As the final whistle blew, and the ground emptied, I had a wander around in the quiet and took some final photos, before heading back to the train station and arriving into central Glasgow for 6pm. We went for an evening meal, treated ourselves to a couple of drinks out, and capped off a very enjoyable day.
During the remainder of our trip we were able to explore more of the historical and notable parts of the city, combined with having fantastic food, and an all-round wonderful experience. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to do a variety of activities on this trip, and hopefully I’ll be able to complete more football and ice hockey double-headers again, now that travel is finally opening back up.
Glasgow is a fantastic city that has got something for everyone to enjoy, and I certainly hope to return in the near future.
Chris Sharp
The Travelling Therapist 