GROUND REVIEW: Spalding United’s Sir Halley Stewart Field

By Jon Warren

I keep saying Spalding United's Sir Halley Stewart Field is a new ground - it isn't, but it certainly appears that way as it has had over £1 million spent on it over the last year or so, and from what I could see it’s been well worth the money.

As part of my Southern League Premier Central series I visited Spalding in mid-October, and they will be ranked against the rest of the stadiums in this league. The series can be found here:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnVmFcfGabO1L3M3-nDyQE81E5of8pWDE&si=c7U1aaRBoRhVdTe5

First category is the atmosphere:

While Spalding's atmosphere isn't the worst in the division it does certainly fall short of the likes of Halesowen or Kettering. They have a small group with a drum behind the goal in the home end but I didn't feel there were enough to really generate a good atmosphere, so I scored Spalding 3 out of 5.

The playing surface is artificial and new, so no complaints, but as Quorn supporters will have seen when I visited the Stotto Stadium, I prefer a grass pitch. So by default, as with all the other artificial surfaces in this league, they get a 3 out of 5.

I nearly always have a cheeseburger from these grounds but Spalding United has plenty of incredible looking food options on offer, so I wish I'd been a little more adventurous with my choices. They have loaded jacket potatoes, chilli and chips etc, so my cheeseburger and chips looked pretty tame by comparison, but the portion size was generous and my food was good. 3.5 out of 5.

The facilities are great too, and so they should be. Everything is new. Spalding United have a large clubhouse that even boasts a hospitality lounge, and the number of kiosks on site means queueing isn't really an issue. I gave them 4 out of 5 for their facilities.

Regarding the view at the Sir Halley Stewart Field, firstly I noticed you can probably just pay £3 for car parking and watch the game from here, as they haven't yet built a wall or stand to obstruct the view but with plenty of standing room around the pitch and an elevated main stand the view here is decent almost everywhere you choose to stand. Another impressive 4 out of 5.

For me Accessibility is a very important factor when visiting a football ground, so I've included a category for it. I'm not just talking about disabled access but how easy the stadiums are to get to and move around in and alongside being one of the most wheelchair friendly stadiums I've come across, its location in the centre of Spalding and numerous nearby car parks gives it a 4.5 out of 5.

Overall I gave Spalding United a 6.5 out of 10 for their matchday experience, giving them 28.5 out of 40 in total, leaving them 4th overall at the time of writing this.

I must add that Spalding United are looking very good, and probably in the same league as favourites Harborough Town - they hammered Royston Town 4-0 on my visit and it could have easily been more. Look out for that devastating attack on November 4th!