I'd be interested to hear what others who went to Newport yesterday thought of the city and match day experience as a whole.

Personally, I had a cracking day. I went for a walk and a few pints in the town centre and I've never known anywhere where the locals were as friendly and helpful. We were stopped numerous times by people offering us directions to the ground and wanting to have a general chat about RL.

The ground wasn't as bad as I expected. I liked how fans were allowed to stand on the walkways around the ground to watch the game. The whole place had a really relaxed feel and they had a good system in place in the refreshment areas (special mention to the bloke who had a back pack with beer in meaning no queues at the bars).

In terms of the crowd, there seemed to be a lot of locals in Newport shirts there giving RL a chance, I had a few asking me certain things about the rules and they were eager to learn. They did say they were impressed all in all.

A top day out all in all, a rare good call by the RFL it seems.

Best away game I've been to in years.
Nice tidy traditional ground,Good craic with the taff's!!

God knows what state The Brewery Field is in if the Newport Ground is an improvement!!
Portaloos, Wakey type chalets at one end, Harlequins tent coverage at the other and Cas type terracing. Hardly a state of the arts stadium and wouldn't get a SL licence.
Crowd friendly enough but facilities poor.

Newport the city = poop hole
The ground = not worthy of hosting top flight RL (never thought I’d say this but Belle Vue has better facilities)
Ground parking = we were lucky but for most I guess it was a nightmare as 95% of the surrounding streets were ‘Permit holders only’
Ground staff = some of the nicest and most accommodating stewards I’ve had the fortune to encounter.
Home fans = the ones we encountered were either ‘ex-pats’ or eager to learn.

Therein, one of the first victims of the great myth that all Welsh RU club grounds are some great edicifices to kick & clap and could take as many thousand of the great unwashes masses that pitched up for a game.

I was at Bridgend a few years ago for the Wales Vs Australia test. In terms of comparison, the Main Stand at Newport is better, whilst the popular side (standing area) at Brewery Field is better than Newport.

For those of you that didn't go, this is a general description of the ground :

The Main Stand runs most of the length of one side of the ground, a sort of a Bramley cum Wilderspool with similar floodlights.

At the North end of the ground was a temporary 'family' stand with seats. This was just a elongaged marquee. Judging by what was behind it, at one time there was a terrace and the old scoreboard.

I was stood in the 'Argus Terrace' which ran down the opposide (long) side of the ground to the Main Stand. That reminded me a bit of the old stand at McLaren Field. Saldy not too much depth going back and towards the front, hardly any raised height, so the view could be difficult if there was a really big crowd present.

The southern end of the ground had no terracing, but did have the hospitality boxes (similar to Belle Vue Wakefield, but a storey less) and a large building in the corner that served as the scoreboard / dressing rooms / pavillion.


As has been said before, the locals were friendly and eager to learn more about the game. The Welsh chap in from of me (with a European Challenge Cup jacket on) was friendly to loads of people around him and being a predominantly union fan, was amazed at the fitness level of the league boys.

The bottom line is that there is a market for the club in that part of Wales and it would be a shame, present problems accepted, to come this far and let it all go to waste. Remember how the Catalans were in their first season ?

They'll still be none the wiser then I imagine.

If this ground is better than brewery field then i can only imagine taht brewery firled is just in fact that a field, the stadium was very basic, and the toliets where lets just say not the best! As was said about the the stewards where great and very very helpfull! Overall I think the stadium needs a lot of work if it wants a 2011 licence as that was one of the worst I've been to! Oh and the local fans where very chatty and intrested in all things rugby league, had 2 sat behind us and all the time they where going on about how league was better than union so that was good!

Would whole heartedly agree with those 2 comments especially the 1st, as one local said to me in the beer queue at half time Newport is refered to as the armpit of Wales............must be because it stinks.

The ground facilities were basic, but then again so are those at Wakefield, Cas, Salford & the mighty Saints. I hope that they can overcome the off-field problems & continue to build & grow as a SL club.

Thought Bristol was a fantastic place to stay, had a great couple of days there.

I was staying in Bridgend for this match,having booked before they moved the venues.Actually glad i didnt change to somewhere else,lol.The locals there were brilliant and as in Newport very much up for a chat.I actually used the brewery field carpark for the duration of the weekend and a superificial look at the ground suggested that it wasnt anything unreasonable.Certainly the sideline terracing looked to give better viewing.And as mentioned we need to remind ourselves that exisiting SL clubs have grounds we go to and do accept their 'limitations'.Certainly it was just a quick look round as the gates were open,lol.
If i recall one reason they are moving to Newport is that development work on the Bridgend venue is part of a future plan.

Travelled to Newport on the Celtic supporters coach and the banter was brilliant.