CoventryGround: Ricoh Arena Visits: 2
Date: 31st October 2006 Match: Coventry - Birmingham 0-1 (CC Championship) Attendance: 27 212
Date: 29th March 2016 Match: Coventry - Colchester 0-1 (League 1) Attendance: 10 027
Report (Coventry - Colchester): The last match on this trip was Coventry v Colchester on Tuesday evening. I visited the Ricoh Arena, the home of Coventry, in 2006 and even though Coventry v Colchester is not exactly the most exciting of games I decided to finish off my tour with a second visit to the ground. From London Euston it only took me around an hour to reach Coventry and shortly before 1 pm I was at my hotel. After having lunch at the hotel I did a short tour of the city centre to take some pictures of the old Cathedral as well as the statue of Lady Godiva. Coventry suffered severe bomb damage during the Second World War. There was a massive Luftwaffe air raid, part of the "Coventry Blitz", on 14 November 1940. Firebombing on this date led to severe damage to large areas of the city centre and to Coventry's historic cathedral, leaving only a shell and the spire. A new cathedral was built after the Second World War and the old one remains as reminder of what happened in 1940. Godiva was an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to a legend dating at least to the 13th century, rode naked – covered only in her long hair – through the streets of Coventry to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation that her husband imposed on his tenants. Having got a bad cold out of my visit to London I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at my hotel and wait for Stefan and Jocke to arrive. They arrived at 5.30 and the three of us had something to eat and drink at my hotel before setting off for the ground around 7 pm. There was heavy rain coming down in so need to be early at the ground.
The Ricoh Arena was opened in 2006 and has a capacity of 32 500. It is used for games in rugby (Wasps) as well as being the home of Coventry City FC. The ground is situated far, around 3.5 miles, from the city centre and we went ordered a taxi. On our way to the ground the rain stopped and suddenly it was sunshine in Coventry. We bought tickets for the East Stand before taking a few exterior pictures of the ground. The North Stand was closed and in the South Stand only the 150 or so away supporters were seated. 95 % of the crowd were in the East Stand and we had a cold and miserable evening at the Ricoh Arena. There were four highlights in this game: 1. The goal scored by Colchester (18th minute), 2. A penalty for Coventry (45th minute, missed), 3. A Colchester player playing a one-two with the corner flag, 4 The final whistle. It was only 4 °C when the game finished and after a while we managed to find a taxi bring us back to the train station. Stefan and Jocke made the 22.21 train back to London and I returned to my hotel. Around 15.30 on Wednesday afternoon I was back home in Kristianstad. Yet another Easter trip to England had come to an end.
Pictures from the city centre of Coventry City centre
Coventry cathedral
Coventry cathedral
Coventry cathedral
Coventry cathedral
Coventry cathedral
Lady Godiva
Lady Godiva
Pictures from the Ricoh Arena Ricoh Arena
Rear of the South Stand
Rear of the East Stand
Wall of fame
Statue of Jimmy Hill
South Stand
West Stand
North Stand
Pano
Pictures from Coventry vs Birmingham Away fans
West Stand
North Stand
Pictures from Coventry vs Colchester Players and officials entering the field
Colchester fans
Kick-off
View of play
West Stand
View of play
Pano |