"Bromsgrove Sporting FC - The Victoria Ground"

I visited here to see the Rouslers take on Littleton in a Midland Football League League Cup tie. Bromsgrove Sporting is, I guess, a phoneix club, having been born out of the ashes of the old Bromsgrove Rovers in 2009. The Victoria Ground was Rovers' home for many years and is an ex-conference standard ground; it is easily the most impressive venue in the Midlands Football League and possibly at any Step 5 league in England. As a result of the clubs past, Sporting regularly attract crowds of over 600.

Location

Its only about 300 yards from Bromsgrove town centre off the Birmingham Road which makes it convenient for places to eat and drink and for local buses. There is a pub the opposite side of the Road from the ground called the Hope Pole Inn. Strangely Bromsgrove Railway station is right on the edge of the town and is probably a good 20-30 mins walk. There is a car park at the grouund but this got full quickly even with a relatively small crowd of 350. I believe the local college allows its car park to be used on matchdays, although I found street parking wasn't a problem

View

Its a very impressive ground and could easily host step 2 non-league. Entrances are on the Birmingham Road side of the ground which actually has no stand - its the home to the Rousler's Bar, toilets and club shop, so viewing here is from the patch only. The Main stand is the opposite side of the pitch and runs about half the length of the playing surface, straddling the halfway line. The lower section is standing terrace, whilst the upper tier contains about 300 seats giving an excellent view. The dugouts are either side of the tunnel and set back into the lower terracing.
Behind the lefthand goal is an open terrace whilst the other end is an impressive covered terrace (about 10 steps high) known as the Cow Shed

Facilities

There are toilets in the main bar and on both sides of the Main stand, plenty of facilities and clean too. There is a good sized club shop selling a wide range of merchanidise and old programmes.
The club match programme contained a few intersting pieces but was a little light on content.

Food & Drink

There are food kiosks on both sides of the ground selling a wide range of food (burgers chips, pies etc) and hot and cold drinks (including soup). Although I didn't sample one the Chicken Balti Pies smelled amazing.
The Rousler Bar was larger than most clubhouses I've visited and had the usual big screen sky etc (not why I come to non-league football!)

Police & Stewards

For a Step 5 team there were a lot of stewards about but they were unobtrusive and for the most part chatted with the fans

Atmosphere

Cracking for Step 5, Crowd of 350+ on a freezing Tuesday night, both sets of fans really getting behind their teams.
Really impressed with Bromsgrove Sporting and the Victoria Ground. I consider it to be a must-do in non-league

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