Awaydays: Oakwell, Barnsley

Just in time for their home FA Cup quarter-final tie against Chelsea...

Getting there:
By road, leave the M1 at Junction 37 and take the A628 towards Barnsley. Stay on this road (the ground is well signposted) and you will eventually see the ground on your right. There is a fair sized car park located at the ground. Alternatively, Barnsley railway station is about a ten minute walk away. This station is served by trains running between Sheffield & Leeds. From the train station turn left away from the town centre and head towards the bridge that the dual-carriageway runs over. Go under the bridge and turn left up the slip road and then take the first road on the right and head towards the Metro Dome leisure complex at the top of the hill.

Around the ground:
Pub: Be warned, unless your favourite film is Football Factory, wearing colours in town is not advisable. But there are plenty of decent pubs in town such as a Weatherspoons and O’Dwyers which is a popular haunt for home fans, with away fans allowed in small numbers. Also, if you fancy a stint on the treadmill before the match the Metrodome is an all-in-one leisure centre based just a short two minutes from the away turnstiles. If exercise before a match is not your thing, a) we thought not, and b) worry not, it has a bar.

Grub: The aforementioned Metrodome serves food as well as a tipple, or again visit town where there are your usual top class pre-match eateries such as KFC and Burger King, while various burger vans surround the ground.

Inside the ground:    
Fans/Atmosphere: For big games at Oakwell, theres nowt better. The home fans are passionate and get behind the team with vigour. Some of the fans do have a reputation, but if you aren’t looking for trouble you wont find any, and the club pride's itself on being a 'family club'.
        
Bogs and Pies: As there are three new-ish stands, the toilets are of a decent standard and do a job, if you excuse the expression. Food is football ground standard, not the best but not the worse.
            
Stewards/Police Friendliness: The stewards aren’t the most friendly and some of them seem to have a chip on their shoulder, but you just have to put up with it. Like you were told at school, backchat gets you nowhere. Police are only around for the bigger games, tend to be very low profile and the South Yorkshire force aren’t too bad.

Fact!
Dickie Bird, Michael Parkinson and Darren Gough are all avid Barnsley fans.

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Posted by: Lex