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The Riverside

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Speaking as an exile I'm absolutely full of pride with the way this cricket test and an ashes test at that, seems to have gone. The ground and sussoundings looked nothing less than spectacliar some of the shots from the blimp were simply awesome, the Durham countryside and Lumley in the background were gorgeous. Nothing but good reviews for the ground, the pitch and most of all the supporters from everyone in the media they all loved it. What a great advert for the north east u cant buy publicity like that.. After only a couple of tests it has immediately become one of the most iconic grounds in test cricket and the management and supporters of DCCC should be proud of themselves. For the first time in a very long time indeed this exile feels homesick. I can pay no greater compliment than that.
 

Kent_Mackem said:
Yeah, we had a few squares in our stand too complaining about the 4 vicars. I thought they did a great job in keeping people entertained. I was proud of DCC, CLS and the North-East in general. The atmosphere for the last session was absolutely superb. The Honey Monster kept popping up and was piss funny eating his sugar puffs much to the stewards' distaste. I think the stewards did a grand job in keeping the peace and letting those that wanted to have fun, have their fun. When people complained they were quick to move in and stop the offender or kick them out.

At the end of the day, if jacket wearing spectators want cheese and port with a quiet atmosphere then they shouldn't get the cheaper tickets in the lively stand. It is made clear on point of purchase.
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I was sat just next to these! They where absoult quality entertainment all day, especially the fat Harry Potter wannba who never made it back from the tea break :D[DOUBLEPOST=1376446847][/DOUBLEPOST]
Ashlar1077 said:
Went on Sunday to first ever test match. Excellent organisation and worth the money. Tried to get in cheap after tea yesterday as I live locally but ECB still wanted £80 for the last few hours.
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The pricing was abit of a joke like, me and my mate got tickets for the barmy army stand about a year and a half ago when it was first announced and paid £55 each but there was people sitting next to us who had paid £80 each and another group who had bought tickets inside the ground on day 3 for day 4 who had only paid £25!!
 
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chiz said:
The pricing was abit of a joke like, me and my mate got tickets for the barmy army stand about a year and a half ago when it was first announced and paid £55 each but there was people sitting next to us who had paid £80 each and another group who had bought tickets inside the ground on day 3 for day 4 who had only paid £25!!
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that's crazy.... but 25 quid for day four, what a f***ing bargain!
 
chiz said:
I was sat just next to these! They where absoult quality entertainment all day, especially the fat Harry Potter wannba who never made it back from the tea break :D[DOUBLEPOST=1376446847][/DOUBLEPOST]

The pricing was abit of a joke like, me and my mate got tickets for the barmy army stand about a year and a half ago when it was first announced and paid £55 each but there was people sitting next to us who had paid £80 each and another group who had bought tickets inside the ground on day 3 for day 4 who had only paid £25!!
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You must have been right behind us then. We were feeding them with the wine. My mate kept standing up and shouting "Now less it the noise! We won't have any fun in this stand!" after that jackie complained to the stewards. We paid 55 sheets 18 months ago for those tickets.

The Harry Potter vicar was Father Tindall. He drank more (and downed the lot) than I drank in the whole weekend. He went down mid-afternoon and was turfed out. Hope he made it home. My mate left him a voice message asking if he would bless his wedding so long as he ensured there was no rose wine around.
 
Went on the Friday, paid £50 for the £80 tickets in temp stand. Having been to tests/ODIs/T20s/1st Class games/County ODs Ive been to a fair few grounds in this country. I thought the atmoshere was poor bar the last 30-45 mins on the 1st day (maybe due to the negative play by England). Headingley, Edgbaston and Trent Bridge p*ss all over the Riverside for atmosphere. Thought the stewarding was much more laid back than previous tests/ODIs/T20s, must be a different security firm. They usually have all the pint glasses at the first sign of a snake and then hoy you out. Had 3 jackets in front of us not happy with behaviour of others, but as others have mentioned, sit in the family stand if you want peace and quiet.

The usual downsides were beer prices (although less than i was expecting) and queues, and bog queues (although most just p*ssed in the bushes). Spoke to a bunch of Aussies who were definately not happy with the bottleneck behind the temp stand which led to twists that no way should the ground be staging an Ashes test, far too small. Really dont see us getting another Ashes test again, maybe if they build larger permanent facilities (I know there were plans to do so).

Seemed like some good shots/PR/feedback/etc on the telly mind.
 
Kent_Mackem said:
You must have been right behind us then. We were feeding them with the wine. My mate kept standing up and shouting "Now less it the noise! We won't have any fun in this stand!" after that jackie complained to the stewards. We paid 55 sheets 18 months ago for those tickets.

The Harry Potter vicar was Father Tindall. He drank more (and downed the lot) than I drank in the whole weekend. He went down mid-afternoon and was turfed out. Hope he made it home. My mate left him a voice message asking if he would bless his wedding so long as he ensured there was no rose wine around.
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I'll have been just to your right, I was in the end seat of the next block (right on the stairway), I have to say tho I've never seen a worse attempt at downing a pint! Lol! "Tiddle can'it do it!"
 
chiz said:
I'll have been just to your right, I was in the end seat of the next block (right on the stairway), I have to say tho I've never seen a worse attempt at downing a pint! Lol! "Tiddle can'it do it!"
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Hahah - thanks for your patience as we continually had to go to get more beer and get rid from the other end in the gents.

That fit lass from Huddersfield was getting some attention like. "Yorkshire, Yorkshire, Yorkshire" everytime she walks past. At the end the 4 vicars were just mauling her and grabbing her arse while she walked past with pints in her hand. She didn't seem overly bothered and she left with a lad she met in the row in front.
 
There's a few people mentioned the toilet queues and overcrowding near the temp stand.

I never experienced any of that.

I was pissing all day and never queued at the toilets once. Straight in straight out, fantastic.

The only 'over crowding' I saw was when people were leaving at the end of play. But it wasn't really over crowding, you were stood for 2 minutes before exiting the gate.

Even the queues for the beer tent which was busy all day, seemed to go down within a couple of minutes.

Great organisation all round.
 
I think we did a great job of hosting it.

There were bound to be some teething troubles but these were minor.

Take note ECB.
 
I went on Sunday, superb day.

Couple of pints and breakfast in spoons, then across to the ground for 10.30.

Only time I really queued all day was for a burger, went down at 12.45 but was back in my seat before the players went off for lunch with a burger and 2 pints.

The queues in the beer tent were pretty much non-existent, think the longest I stood for was about a minute. Pissers were also empty every time I went down.

Atmosphere got better and better as day went on (we were in the back corner of temp stand) and Bertie Bassett kept us entertained for the majority of the afternoon.

Fantastic day
 
Kent_Mackem said:
Hahah - thanks for your patience as we continually had to go to get more beer and get rid from the other end in the gents.

That fit lass from Huddersfield was getting some attention like. "Yorkshire, Yorkshire, Yorkshire" everytime she walks past. At the end the 4 vicars were just mauling her and grabbing her arse while she walked past with pints in her hand. She didn't seem overly bothered and she left with a lad she met in the row in front.
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Hahaha, she was canny fit like but so was her friend who everyone was calling Bella!! Did you see the guy in the front row with the Safari hat and handlebar moustache that every was chanting "Jumanji" at..... absolute quality!
 
chiz said:
Hahaha, she was canny fit like but so was her friend who everyone was calling Bella!! Did you see the guy in the front row with the Safari hat and handlebar moustache that every was chanting "Jumanji" at..... absolute quality!
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Yep, what the feck was that hat all about?
 
Carteron said:
Personally I never understood people who want a "football style" atmosphere at the cricket. Yes get a few beers in you and have a bit banter but I really couldn't think of anything more pointless than building a pint glass tower, or singing derogatory songs about the opposition.

Aside from this I actually think Durham did a pretty good job. The £3 pints were very welcome and I actually think the temporary seating was of an excellent quality. The bars also seemed to keep things moving pretty quickly.
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totally agree, the craic with people around us was spot on which is much better than anything you get at a football match. the toffs who spent half the time turned round looking at a collection of plastic cups, well fair play to them i guess, but its not for me.

i thought it was done well in everyway, yes it got crowded behind the stands but hey ho, that is the price you pay when you go to a big event, as is the prices for food and that. tbf £4 for a hog roast sarnie that kept me full all day along with a few guinesses from austins [which was always moving quick, even through lunch] and a bit of all teh other clobber that goes with it, well, i couldnt have dreamt of a way it could have gone better.

yes if it was all half the price then great but that's not realistic. i'd sooner dccc made stacks of cash and can put it on again in the future than it happens just the once. i went all 4 days and would not swap a minute of it at any price
 
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