Forest GreenGround: The New Lawn Visits: 1 Date: 22nd April 2019 Match: Forest Green Rovers - Cambridge 2-1 (League 2) Attendance: 2 699 On Easter Monday there were full rounds of matches in the Football League. I decided to travel to The New Lawn in Nailsworth, which perhaps is the most difficult 92 ground to get to by public transport, for Forest Green Rovers v Cambridge. From Birmingham I went by train to Cheltenham where I changed to a train taking me to Stroud. From Stroud there are buses to Nailsworth but being on a day with Sunday traffic buses were only every two hours. I found a taxi though and shortly before noon I was at the ground to pick up my ticket. The village of Nailsworth has a population of around 6,000 and until green energy tycoon Dale Vince arrived at the club Forest Green were a struggling non-league club. They were for instance twice reprieved of relegation from the National League due to the demotion of other clubs. In 2015 Forest Green became the world’s first vegan football club and The New Lawn has several eco-friendly innovations. The ground was opened in 2006 has a capacity of around 5 000. The previous ground, The Lawn ground, was only a few hundred yards down the hill from the current ground. That hill is a pretty long and steep one btw and since I was not in the mood for vegan food for lunch I went down the hill and after 15 minutes I was at the George Inn pub. At the pub I had a nice lunch before slowly making my way back to the ground. It was not as hot today as it had been in recent days but still a tiresome walk up the hill. Outside the ticket office I then met up with Scott from Scotland. He is a groundhopper but also works for UEFA as a match delegate and stadium inspector. My seat was in one of the top rows in the seated stand meaning I avoided the sun today. Seats were almost sod-out and the terraced South End was pretty full as well. In total 2,700 (220 from Cambridge) were at The New Lawn for this match and for Forest Green that is a good attendance. Forest Green will most likely end up in the promotion play-offs and regardless of the outcome this is the club´s most successful season ever. It started well for the them today, 1-0 in the 24th minute. The match was better than the League 2-game I attended on Friday and in the second half Cambridge managed to equalize. Forest Green scored again though to deservedly win 2-1 and they can now look forward to the play-offs. The last bus back to Stroud was at 17.31 and by then traffic along the narrow road had died down. As I was waiting for the bus I engaged in interesting discussions with Cambridge and Forest Green fans. One of them lived in southern Wales and had been to every Barry Town match this season. He was looking forward to them playing in the Europa League coming July. The Barry fan was on the same train as me and as he left in Gloucester I promised him to closely follow Barry´s progress in Europe. Around 8pm I was back in Birmingham and another trip to the UK was coming to an end. I have now been to 90 of the 92 but as I haven´t been to any of the promoted teams from the National League I will be back at 88 when next season starts. Match! The New Lawn ![]() Stadium map ![]() Queuing for tickets Forest Green Rovers Rear of the North Stand Rear of the South Stand South Stand West Stand Seated part of the West Stand Terraced part of the West Stand
East Stand Players and officials entering Kick-off South Stand Banner Seated away fans Cambridge fans View of play 1-0 North Stand After the match After the match Pano Pano |