No. 70: Broadfield Stadium [Crawley Town]

Saturday, 1st November 2014.
Crawley Town v. Crewe Alexandra [League 1] 1-1

To complete the 92 club journey, you have to do it properly in my opinion. And so, I found myself at the Checkatrade.com Stadium yesterday, for my 5th visit (even though it was always previously known as the Broadfield Stadium before this sponsorship nonsense).

My previous four visits to Crawley had come whilst they they were a non-league team. The official 92 club rules may be getting pretty lax these days, but I couldn't live with myself counting Broadfield as a league ground when it wasn't one when I visited it.

And so with the Rough Guide to Pedantry in my pocket, I set off from London Victoria for the 45min train round down to the reasonably familiar Sussex new-town of Crawley. I say familiar - but actually, I was probably doing the place a disservice with my preconceptions and lack of exploring the place previously.

Welcome to Crawley.

True enough, your entrance to the town is not anything to write home about. The train station building is a typical one for a 60's new-town, a squat, concrete oblong tower with office space above the ticket hall & obligatory Pumpkin cafe, and walking out the front door to the car park & bus station in front isn't the best introduction to a town.

I have to be honest, I thought that this and the nearby 60s shopping arcades with pound stores & dodgy-looking "unlock your mobile" shops (usually selling everything under the sun for less than £1) was all there was to the town centre on previous visits. And true enough, my attempt to explore the town started very much with walking down these concrete alley-ways wondering where I was going to eat lunch that wasn't McDonalds, Greggs or a greasy spoon full of tea-slurping OAPs with mobility scooters.

Crawley arcade: Mobility Scooters & Mobile Phone Unlocking a-go-go.

I spotted a Toruist Information board that told me Crawley had a walking heritage tour. It didn't start too exciting though - Queen's Square's bandstand was no. 1 on the list of attractions to walk past, and I have to say although it was a very functional bandstand, it was hardly worth being very much more than just that - walking past.

Queen's Square Bandstand: A fine Bandstand.

But then I found the "historic high street" and it's 16th & 17th century buildings, and I have to say, this was quite a nice little spot. Don't all rush down there - it's not exactly Stratford-upon-Avon or anything, and it is only one small section of the street, but they have at least made some effort to preserve something amidst the planned 60s section of the rest of the town, and it's nice that they have.

Crawley Old Town Historic High Street: Pleasant.

There were a few incongruous shop frontages amongst the mediaeval buildings - such as a chinese all you can eat buffet (£7 - bargain!), and a mexican burrito eatery that I'm sure wasn't there 300 years ago. But hey, you have to move with the times, don't you?

The Giggling Squid, Crawley Old Town

And as such, I was able to enjoy a very modern dining concept indeed in one of these old buildings - a bit of Thai Tapas in the Giggling Squid.

When I woke up that morning, I certainly didn't expect to be eating "Sleeping Honey Duck" & Thai Spring Rolls in Crawley that lunchtime - but I was certainly glad I was, it was delicious.

Thai Tapas: Very nice.

The walk to Broadfield Stadium from the old town was a leisurely 30min stroll down the Brighton Road past some leafy, modern suburbs of Crawley. On the way I passed very few fans also on their way to the game, and it struck me that other than 3 Crewe fans I'd shared the train from London with, I hadn't seen any other football types in town pre-match, and it wasn't until I was right upon the ground that you'd have even known a game was going on today.

"Is there a game on today?"

"No, I don't think so."

But then, this isn't a town long-known for it's footballing prowess nor staunch, die-hard depth of support. They average around 2,500 for a home game and their current residence in League 1 is the pinnacle of the club's relatively recent stellar rise into the Football League.

Only 10 years ago in 2004, Crawley were still playing in the Southern League. After winning the league in that season, 7 seasons in the Football Conference followed before a cash-injection by new owners brought the Red Devils the Conference Championship in 2011, with a record points total of 105 via the goals of the much-vaulted Matt Tubbs.

It could have all been so different when in 2006 it was revealed that club, then under the stewardship of the unpopular Majeed brothers, were over £1m in debt and entered administration. The 2006-07 Conference season nearly started one team light when in August 2006 administrators were given a day to find new owners & pay creditors or the club would be forced into liquidation. By all accounts, the death of Crawley Town FC came to within an hour before a rescue package was agreed and the club allowed to continue playing.

Broadfield Stadium, Crawley.

In 2010, with past financial worries now behind them, new ownership came onboard with investment that brought them the Conference title and a remarkable FA Cup run to the 5th Round and Old Trafford. This cup run and specifically that game against Manchester United pretty much made all the investors in Crawley their money back within a season!

John Gregory: An Invitation to watch.

And so now here they are in their 3rd season at the dizzy heights of League 1 and there are no more grateful fans for their position in the country, given how rapid has been their rise and so close their near fall from grace. One fan I spoke to said that they've probably plateaued at this level but fans are happy with this - despite having a division's breathing space from the trap-door, they still feel they are only starting the process of becoming an established League club. It's telling that when asked what the lowest ebb they've experienced as a Crawley fan, most seemed to struggle for an answer. For a team that hasn't experienced the pain of a relegation since 1970, that is hardly surprising.

The newly-monickered Checkatrade.com Stadium (née Broadfield) is a relatively modern one, opened in 1998 and built for the community by the local council. The main West stand along the side is actually  a reasonably impressive one for a small stadium, with covered terraces behind each goal.

Looking towards the West Stand

Since my last visit in 2009, they have built something of a marquee-style covering over temporary seating on what was before an open terrace along the East stand of the ground - If I remember correctly the home fans would stand on the South Terrace when their team were kicking towards that goal, then shift round and stand on the side at the far end next to the away fans when the teams changed ends at half-time.

The newly-developed East Stand: Marquee-esque.

No more of that non-league behaviour these days of course. The away fans on my visit were housed in the far end of the East Stand, with the usual away terrace I remember at the North side of the ground closed for the afternoon. With a crowd of only 2,300 in the 6,000 capacity ground - I guess you can understand why they wouldn't bother stewarding all 4 stands.

Broadfield Stadium's South Terrace: Comfortable.

I got myself a ticket on the South Terrace with the more vocal section of the home fans. Which isn't saying an awful lot to be honest - they aren't really a very noisy bunch, I think I heard one chant of "Crawley" in the 2nd half and a faint-hearted bang on a drum, but that was about it.

I'm sure they do get good atmosphere in here now and then, especially being lucky enough to still have a terrace to generate one, but I guess  a mid-table clash against Crewe isn't exactly the most exciting draw on a Saturday afternoon. And I must admit, it wasn't a particularly entertaining 1st half, and unused to standing at a football game for 45 minutes, I was quite glad of the chance to sit down on my arse at half-time and rest my legs.

Going into half-time 1-0 down, the home side came out of the blocks slowly in the 2nd half, but by the time Izale McLeod levelled for Crawley in the 68th minute the hosts were well on top in this game, and should really have gone on to win it after an exciting last 20 mins when they piled on the pressure on the in-form Crewe goalkeeper.

Sunset in Sussex.

I left the ground in injury time as the sun began to set over the West Stand, and walked around the ground and back down the Brighton Road into town in near silence yet again - even right outside the ground, the 2,300 people inside would have surprised you on their exit if you hadn't known they were there, such was the lack of noise from the crowd.

"Are you sure there wasn't a game today?"

But do you know what, that's quite nice in a way, and reflects something of the non-league game that Crawley have obviously carried over from their recent time there. It's a good, friendly community club, but it isn't in your face, it isn't overbearing and it doesn't dominate the town. 

As might be expected; after all Crawley is an expanding but still small town, situated in-between Brighton & London and therefore likely to be leaking support to both those places. And as a relatively new town with an even newer successful football club, it'll also suffer the fate of similar places where newly-arrived residents may already have a connection to another team, and it'll take time for Crawley to establish more of a support base. But I'm sure they will, and I'm sure Broadfield will be one of the 92 grounds people are ticking off their lists for a long time to come.

With thanks to Perry Watts (@Bastythegreat).

Next Up: Walsall! 8th November.