Football Ground Guide Logo

Done The Lot

This section is dedicated to those Football Fans who have visited all the grounds in their particular League. So if you have visited all 92 Premier & Football League grounds in England & Wales, all 42 in Scotland, or all of the Football Conference, League of Wales etc... then this is the place where you can in some way celebrate your achievement. Plus it gives others who are contemplating visiting all of the grounds and those that are already on their way to completing them, some inspiration and practical advice. 

Martin Barnes recently completed visits to all 92 Premier & Football League grounds. You can read about his experiences below. To read about other fans who have previously featured in this section (all of whom have done the 92) then just click on their name at the bottom of the page.

Martin Barnes At The Liberty Stadium Swansea

Martin Barnes

Age: 32

Team Supported: Burnley (For 25 years)

First League Ground Visited & When: Turf Moor, in 1981. A 0-0 draw against Swindon Town in the old division 3.

Last Ground Visited to complete the 92: Swansea’s Liberty Stadium. A 1-1 draw with Walsall.

Date Completed:
Saturday 3rd December 2005.

How Long Has It Taken You To Visit All 92?
I began really trying to visit all the grounds around 7 years ago, and I’ve had quite a lot of help and understanding from friends and family along the way! I’ve done a few that have since left the league, and am now going to try and (slowly!) conquer Scotland! (2 done so far!)


Best Ground visited (& why)
.
St. James’s Park, Newcastle is very impressive indeed, and must be unrecognizable to most Geordies now. Not the best grounds, but a good day out: Norwich, Crystal Palace, Grimsby; have always liked going to these.

Poorest Ground Visited:
Brighton. Hope they secure their new ground ASAP. Colchester can’t be far behind. That said, there’s something about the old smaller grounds which has a certain character: Rotherham and Chesterfield, for example.

Worst experience on your travels:

Getting punched on a train back from Huddersfield wasn’t great, nor was being rear-ended (as it were) on the M1 down to Luton. (It didn’t stop me carrying on, nor from doing Cambridge United the day after!!) The journeys to Norwich (if done from up North) or Plymouth and the grounds round there CAN seem to go on for ever.

Funniest experience on your travels:
In Slovenia on my stag do we decided to catch a local game. So we got a taxi out to a stadium called "Sportni Park Ljubljana" - actually, there were 2 taxis full. I was dressed as Carlos Valderrama complete with wig and 'tache, as well as a Blackburn shirt (urgh!) We ran round to the stadium, as we were drunkenly a few minutes before kick off.
Turns out it was the wrong stadium, the taxis had gone, and we ended up watching an U-15s game on astroturf just outside! Turns out we wanted Sportni Park, Svoboda, which is a SUBURB of Ljubjana, and is a common name for a stadium! You'd have thought the driver(s) would have known, I mean, 2nd division football not big in Slovenia, or what?!

Most Goals Seen In One Match:
11 – TWICE - both in games involving Burnley, and both games we lost: 6-5 at Grimsby, and 7-4 at home to Watford. A terrible season which I’d rather forget!

Best Goal Seen:
A guy from Crewe, maybe Shaun or Steve Smith (my memory fails me.) He got a free-kick in from his own half away to Brentford long before Beckham! I’m sure there are loads of others, but that one stands out – it was about 10 years ago.


Best Player  Watched:
Just talking about the 92, I’d have to go for Thierry Henry. Arsenal beat Boro 7-0, and he was absolutely immense that day. Some of the stuff he did was just outrageously brilliant.

Stupidest Chant Heard:
“We’re going to win 5-4” away at Bury when we were 4-2 down, having just scored in the 92nd minute. It was me that started it!

Any tips for those attempting to visit the 92?
Enjoy it. Don’t rush; this will help you enjoy it more.

Try and do a few a season, when your team aren’t playing, and look into doing a couple over a weekend where possible. Be nice to your friends and family!

Other fans who have done the 92:

Pip Caselli  from Sheffield
Truls Meyer from Norway
Han van Eijden from the Netherlands
Brian Scott from Ipswich
Colin Peel from Sutton Coldfield
Phil Jones from Cardiff
Nick Matlock from Nottingham
Jon Stredwick from Southampton
Stuart Fuller from West Ham
Steve Wilson from Blackpool
Lee Roberts from Southport
Daniel Musson from Luton
Richard Wells from Leicester
Steve Curwood from Blackpool
Barry Sear from London
David Denton from Chesterfield

Peter Holdridge from Leicester
Duncan Adams (author of this site) from Birmingham.
Eric Van Dorp from the Netherlands.
Mark Osborne from Swindon. 

Return To The Football Ground Guide Main Menu
 

 



 


Copyright © Duncan Adams 2007. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: 06 September, 2007