By Nathan Jackson
July 5 2010

Gainsborough Trinity's Northolme is the closest ground form the top six levels to Sincil Bank. Little over 20 miles away, Gainsborough's Northolme is not too bad for that level, although it's far from ideally located in the town, with several parking restrictions around the ground

Ahh Gainsborough, the dumping ground for seemingly every ex Lincoln, Scunny, Grimsby or Boston player that ever existed. I had never actually been to Gainsborough which was surprising considering it is quite literally only 20 miles up the road from Lincoln, meaning that in terms of geography, this is the closest team to Lincoln that are anywhere near us in the footballing structure.

The trip to Gainsborough is frustrating though as it's all single lane roads that wind around corner after corner, meaning that overtaking opportunities are at a minimum to say the least, but once you get into Gainsborough it's not too bad as it's quite easy to navigate to the ground, and finding parking is pretty easy as it's all street parking.

So once inside the ground, you automatically get the non-league feel to the ground but I'll be fair, it isn't as bad as I had expected it to be. There is only two entrances to the ground, the most commonly used of them is right in the corner and immediately to your left is a terrace of around 5/6 steps that actually offers a great view of the action despite of the length of the pitch.

To your right is a pitch length terrace of roughly the same height. I stood in this stand a few times and it's impossible to really get a decent view. Standing down the front is the only unrestricted view in the stand but doesn't offer a great view in many ways,

Opposite that is the only seated section in the ground although it is extremely thin and can only seat around 400-500 or so. The view from this stand was good however. The final stand is situated behind the far goal and this again offers a decent view of the action, but as soon as it starts getting full it does become a little difficult to see.

What I loved most about Gainsborough was the club shop. Having gone in there against my better judgment, I was actually delighted I did. Despite being fairly small, they were selling LOADS of programmes from various clubs and I managed to get around 100 or so ranging from teams such as West Ham, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, all the way down to teams such as Bottesford Town and Corinthian Casuals United. They were doing a great deal of 12 for 50p and although you couldn't seen which programmes you were getting, it was definitely worth it and the staff were extremely friendly.

At the time I was actually starting to think about starting a new business that sold a lot of footballing merchandise, such as programmes, shirts, etc. The business plan didn't last that long though and now because of Gainsborough's deal, I have about 5,000 a random programmes sat at home.

My only real issue with Trinity down the years came in a Playoff match against Nuneaton when I was forced to go into the Nuneaton end due to Gainsborough's end being sold out. As soon as Gainsborough started losing there was a sudden feeling of danger, especially when all the local chavs tried to invade the Nuneaton end, one was chuckeout and subsequently made his way to the back to the stand and started throwing eggs at Nuneaton fans......gotta love safety. 

Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Gainsborough and will come here again if the mood strikes me....but it probably won't any time soon.

ES

Gainsborough Trinity's Northolme

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 05/07/2010 11:50

theimps.ka
05/07/2010 11:50

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