"Buckie Thistle FC - Victoria Park"

I have managed to visit all of the ground in the Highland Football League bar one (Cove) on non-match days, but this visit to Victoria Park would only be the third match that I had managed to see. This opportunity came as Buckie were to take on Aberdeen in the local county cup as it was conveniently to be played on a Tuesday evening. As it happened, Aberdeen sent their Under 21s for the game, although this really didn’t matter.

Location

Buckie is midway between Inverness and Fraserburgh, along the A98. There is no railway station in the town, the nearest one being at Keith which is at least 15 miles by road. Two bus services serve the town – the number 35 which is the route between Aberdeen and Elgin and the number 38 is a circular service from Elgin. There is a small car park on site, but plenty of road parking in the immediate area of the ground, which is primarily residential. There are a few pubs to choose from in the town centre, probably the nearest to the ground is ‘The Pub in the Square’

View

The ground itself is located in Midmar Street, about 300 yrds from the town centre and has the largest capacity in the League. The entrances are on the northern side of the ground by the Main stand. This sits astride the halfwayline and contains 400 seats. Unusually it is set back some yards from the pitch and has a paddock in front which is used by standing spectators. On the opposite side of the ground is a large covered terrace whilst there are no stands behind either goal.

Facilities

Hot drinks and food are available from a refreshment bar in the main stand, which is where the toilet facilities are to be found. There is a clubshop located in a portakabin which is behind the lefthand goal. This sells a selection of shirts, tee shirts, club scarves, badges etc as well as old programmes. The club did not produce a programme for this match but did make a teamsheet available.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere for the game was reasonably good. Buckie are traditionally one of the more successful clubs in the HFL and their fan base reflects this. There were well over 300 people in the crowd for this game - not many of them following Aberdeen’s youth side. Whilst there was no singing there were plenty of comments being hurled at the officials in a broad Moray dialect

Write your own review of Victoria Park

Have you been to Victoria Park? Write a review!