15. Bootham Crescent-York City

York City 0-1 Hull City
Pre season friendly
Saturday 17th July 2010

Ground: Bootham Crescent
League: Conference National (match was a pre season friendly)
Admission: Adults: £10 Children: £5 (On league matchday, Adults: £14-£17 Children: £6-£11)
Programme: £2
Attendance: 2,550
Capacity: 7,900
Seated: 2,400
Covered: 5,200
Town/City: York
Club shop: yes
Floodlights: yes
Step: 5

York as I have already covered before is a large city with a population of 195,400. The number one thing to do in York is obviously visit the minster. Which towers above everything in the City center. This is open on matchdays between 9:15 and 17:00. It costs between £5.50 and £9 to get in. Nearby to York is Castle Howard. By many said to be England's grandest stately home this will certaintly take a few hours to explore. The house is open March-October and late November to mid December every day from 11:00-17:00. The grounds are open all year from 10:00-17:00. It costs £10 but £7.50 for just the grounds. Jorvik is the other site that provides interest. It provides a simulation ride through a Viking York with sounds and smells to go with it. It is open daily from 10:00-16:30 and costs £7.95. Also associated is Dig! which lets you dig artifacts up for yourselves. This costs £5.50 or £11.20 with Jorvik. You must pre book for this.
York holds every sport with City being its main one. York Knights RLFC play in the Co-Operative Championship 1 and play at Huntingdon Stadium in Northeast York. York RUFC play at Shipton Road Northwest of York centre. They play in the Yorkshire Division One. York CC (who I have already visited) also play at Shipton Road. They play in and are holders of the Yorkshire ECB Premier Division.

York City were founded in 1922 and joined the Midlands league. They spent 7 seasons here before being elected to the Football League Division 3 North. In 1955 they were FA cup semi finalists after beating Notts County in the Quater final. They lost to Newcastle United on a replay at Sunderland. In 1959 they were placed in Division four. They were promoted to Division 3. This was followed by relegation in 1960. They were promoted twice more the first was followed by relegation again. In 1984 they won the Football League Division 4. in 1993 they were promoted to Division 2 after winning the play offs. In 2004 they were relegated to the Conference. Here they have waited since. They lost last seasons play off final 3-1 to Oxford United. In 1962 they reached the Quater finals of the Football League cup where they lost to Rochdale. The club lost the 2008-2009 FA trophy final against Stevenage Borough.
York first played at Fulfordgate, this was demolished in 1932. The highest attendance was 12,721 when York played Sheffield United in an FA cup match. York then moved to their current ground Bootham Crescent. In 1938 28,123 fans squeezed in to see York play Huddersfield in the FA cup sixth round.

When we arrived in York we saw police milling about everywhere. First thoughts were football hooligans, but I soon dismissed this as it was only a pre season and instead presumed that it had been a bomb scare. I arrived at the ground in time for kick off and sat in the main stand. I paid my £5 admission and picked up the thin 8 page programme for a miserable £2. The match started slowly with neither side looking to make the break through the fans were looking for. Hull hit the underside of the bar with 10 minutes remaining of the half to the annoyance of the 900 Hull fans. The break through was made on 80 minutes when a free kick was guided into the box for Daniel Cousin to head home. The full time whistle went and both sets of fans applauded their teams. I left through the narrow exit and made my way back to Marygate car park.
That night I checked the news and found out that 50 Hull fans had started a riot in York centre just before I got there. That would explain all the commotion. Some people say pre season is a waste of time and isn't worth seeing, and then there's these fans who take it to the other extreme and are risking being arrested and fined just at a friendly match. What would they be like at the Champions League?

Bootham Crescent is located in the Centre of York. There is no parking at the ground so your best bet is to either park at Marygate about 3/4 of a mile away, or park and ride. There are turnstilesat the main stand and the corner of the North Stand. Away fans can enter through the turnstile at the South stand. Fans wanting to access the Popular stand have to pay at the North stand turnstile, walk through the North stand and pay £1 at the other side to get into the Popular stand. You'll need to collect a ticket if you want to leave the Popular stand and get something to eat from the snack stand in the North stand. However on days like this when it isn't a league game. It may be there is no extra fare to enter the Popular stand and no ticket needed to go in and out. Its the same for away fans. They pay at the South stand turnstile and then pay £1 extra to get into their section of the Popular stand.
The main stand is on the East and holds 1,800 seats and covers 2/3 of the pitch length. Half the seats are wooden tip up and half are red plastic tip ups. The stand has windshields at both sides.
In front of the stand are two Perspex dugouts. Opposite the main stand is the Popular Stand which contains 1,700 seats all red plastic tip ups. One block is designated to away supporters.
The North Stand is completely terracing and is covered and holds 2,200. The opposite end is also terracing but is uncovered, it also holds 2,200. There are 4 floodlight pylons, one on each corner.

The programe for the match was awful. It was 8 pages long and most of it was welcomes for the new season from lots of different people. We only need one or two. There is also news on the youth academy, full season fixtures and team lineups (with no Hull squad numbers). All this was £2, rip off.

York City matchday pictures