By theimps.tk
January 11 2009

Victoria Road is the home of Dagenham and Redbridge FC. It's not a great ground, or even a great day out to be honest. It's not one of my favourite grounds in the Football League and is one of the lowest rated scores that I have on this site.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS GROUND WAS LAST VISITED BY CITY FANS BEFORE THE STAND BEHIND THE GOAL WAS REDEVELOPED, SO IT IS LIKELY THAT SOME OF THE BELOW HAS CHANGED.

With City failing in the Playoffs (yet again!) and Dagenham winning the Conference, it gave me a chance to add another ground to the list as I travelled to Essex to watch the Imps face the Daggers.

Now, if you're travelling down and have read the instructions on car parking provided by all ground guide websites, ignore them. You're only allowed in the club's car park if your name is on the list, so you're stuck with street parking. Fortunately there are plenty of streets around the local area but all of them are extremely thin so I'd recommend getting there early to give yourself enough time to do a 27 point turn.

Directly around the ground there doesn't seem to be a lot to do, although obviously you could just hop on the underground and travel into central London.

THE AWAY TERRACE - THE PONDFIELD ROAD END

THIS STAND HAS SINCE BEEN REDEVELOPED

After you walk past all the home fans you finally get to the away entrance, a huge metal gate that they keep closed until 10 minutes before they open the turnstiles. When you finally get in the ground you are met with some confusion if you have a ticket for the seating. Unless you ask someone then you've got absolutely no chance of finding where the entrance to the seated section is.

The view from this stand isn't bad but isn't particularly great either. You get a good view of the goal near you but you also struggle to see what's going on at the other end, thankfully the home fans near you seem quite friendly and didn't try and taunt the away fans once. The only chance you really have of getting a decent view of a goal down at the other end is if the shot is high, or you are dead line with it, otherwise you're pretty screwed.

Facilities in this stand are shared with your fans behind the goal, and they weren't the best to be honest. The ground, at the time, was all pretty old with out of date facilities, meaning that things such as at the toilets were what you'd expect after several years of being used.

THE NORTH STAND

The one saving grace I will give to the seated away end is the leg space, for quite a tall person I was reasonably comfortable, then again I did have my feet up on the seat in front of me.

Unfortunately looking out at the rest of the ground you'd be forgiven for thinking you were at a Conference South game or something similar to that, the ground is severely non-League, although as mentioned, there is a new stand behind one of the goals, so this will no doubt improve the look of the ground.

Going in a clockwise direction from the away terrace, you encounter a pitch length terrace that is quite small to say the least. This is where the majority of the home support seemed to gather and what little noise they did produce came from this stand. The fans in this section were constantly trying to antagonise the Imps fans who were in the terrace.

BURY ROAD END

Continuing further around the ground is a tiny terrace that is behind the far goal, it can't be more than a few steps high. The club shop is also in this part of this stand and you can't reach it unless you are a Dagenham fan, which is a shame as I like to view club shops if I have time to kill, and occasionally I do buy an item (usually a DVD of some variety).

The final stand, which is right next to the away seated section, is a near pitch length seated stand that is roughly the same height as the away seats.

As for atmosphere, this is one of the weakest atmospheres that a team coming up from the non-league has produced. In my visits there was only one chant and that was amusingly "We Hate Boston More than You".....ok then.

Overall I must admit I didn't overly enjoy my visit to Dagenham, infact it's one of the most miserable away days I've experienced and I can't say I'd be overly keen on going there again, but I know that I will end up doing if they and Lincoln ever meet in a competitive game again.

LOOKING DOWN THE CARLING STAND

Dagenham's LBBD Stadium

Discussion started by theimps.tk (IP Logged), 11/01/2009 00:30

theimps.tk
11/01/2009 00:30

What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Reply Quote Report

dagger321
11/01/2009 01:15

Yep, that's pretty accurate!

However, we do have more fans now than when you last visited, which has improved the atmosphere....slightly.

Some good news is that we are building a new 1,200 covered all seater stand at Pondfield Road end for away supporters, in time for the start of next season.

Bad news for you is that we might not be in the same League.

Reply Quote Report

Rob Patterson
20/01/2009 08:51

Quote:

dagger321
Yep, that's pretty accurate!
However, we do have more fans now than when you last visited, which has improved the atmosphere....slightly.

Some good news is that we are building a new 1,200 covered all seater stand at Pondfield Road end for away supporters, in time for the start of next season.

Bad news for you is that we might not be in the same League.

Amusing. The atmosphere in Dagenham in general is hard to improve, what makes me believe its improved down at Victoria Road?

Remember going to see some West Ham reserve games down there, as well as the Lincoln fixture there last season... must admit, its definately changed since my days in Romford and that area.

And Pondfield Road end? HAHA! I have fond memories.

Reply Quote Report

Goto: Forum List•Message List•Search• Log In

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net