Scunthorpe United

We previously bought our tickets from York, but I telephoned Scunthorpe to reserve a parking space and was told it was strictly on a first come first served basis.

We arrived before 12 noon and were directed to a field off the main car park, even though I told them we had a wheelchair on board. We were grateful for the place but it definitely wasn’t suitable for wheelchairs, the rough uneven slope was really hard to move the chair & it almost tipped over in the ruts.

We parked the car & then went to“The Old Farmhouse” (Fayre & Square) pub for lunch which was very close to the ground. Trying to enter the ground was a struggle, no one seemed to know which gate we should go through & we were sent to several different ones.

Inside no one told us where the toilets were or the teabar, but we were directed to a space in front of the Scunthorpe fans,pitchside. No seats for the carers though.

I found the teabar & went to buy a sausage roll £2.50 for another disabled person. It had a low counter & I noticed the accessible toilets were close by.

Just before half time a steward told me there was a seat at the front further along, which I was grateful for but wish I hadn’t as a disabled Scunthorpe fan came from further along the stand & parked in front of me blocking the whole pitch & I missed our goal. After the match it took about 90 minutes to get out of the car park, so be prepared for a long wait.

Having been to Scunthorpe several times before we were delighted to be sat in an empty stand as the home fans were all on the other 2 stands. We were seated at the end where the away fans were. The 2 stewards on duty were very good (Mick Conway & Jeff Scott) and friendly and helped us get refreshments from the home end without any problems. There are 2 nice pubs nearby serving food and although the stadium is old the toilets and level access good and facilities are better than many of the other clubs we have visited in higher leagues.

The dedicated wheelchair facilities for fans are only in the home areas but the club will allow you to sit in front of the away fans and escort you to the accessible toilet if required (you may have to ask to sit there). Facilities are generally pretty basic as would be expected in an old ground with your PA sitting behind you. Catering outlets have lowered counters. Car Parking is close by if you get there early enough with restaurants etc on nearby business park. View is adequate for a pitchside location but you are very close to the touchlines and at serious risk of being hit by stray balls. Stewards were helpful although they could do with some disability equality training as they all spoke to my PA rather than me!

We would agree with the comments of the last reviewer and found his photo particularly helpful as we felt we knew what we were going to. When we arrived in our club’s wheelchair accessible mini-bus despite explaining who we were, we were directed to “drop-off” at the rear of the ground but having done so we then had to go round the side we had driven past to find anyone to ask where was our entrance. If like us you wish to sit with your own supporters (regardless of being a wheelchair user) this was readily accommodated by good humoured stewards. Entrance for this is where the dropped kerb is on the side of the car park. They have a really wide vehicle-free area which is excellent. On the day we visited it was torential rain and both me in my chair and my husband stood behind me got wet as the wind was blowing it on to us. Good waterproofs required. It was not my husband’s day as he has little sight and whilst he was able to have a headset commentary he said that it broke up so much it did not assist him follow the game. He was also hit on the arm (hard) by one of those stray balls the last reviewer made reference to. Response of the stewards in summoning medical help even before I had realised what had happened was excellent – thankfully nothing broken – just painful. This is the only ground I have visited where those with the wheelchair users were told in no uncertain terms at the beginning of the game they must sit and in the designated seats (not behind to shelter from the rain!). The escorted trip half way round the ground required to go to the loo put me off going during the game but at the end a helpful steward was happy to take us further round to another one to avoid queuing. Noticed a Travel Lodge across the road if you wanted to stay over. Ground is right by the motorway junction.

Our second visit to Scunthorpe as away fans. After I reviewed our first visit on LPF’s website earlier this year, Scunthorpe took the trouble to respond to me (via LPF) to let me know they were taking my feedback on board. This is the only club I have known to do this despite typing many such reviews. And what is more our second visit proved they have. Well done to Scunthorpe. To this end the parking arrangements did not have the problems of our last visit. Scunthorpe has a large car park at the Stadium. We were sensibly advised to move to the side during the pre-match shooting practice to ensure our safety as they remembered my husband was hit when we last visited. Neither did we have the officious stewards telling carers they must sit down. My husband did have the same problems with his headset commentary but we think that might be due to the range of the equipment. Our steward said he would report the difficulty. All in all, a much improved experience, with very friendly stewards who gave us a completely unbiased view in favour of our visiting team. Nothing more to add to my earlier review, apart from it seems I missed off that, as well as being a Travelodge close to the ground there is also a large out of town shopping area with Tesco and a range of eateries.