Essex based journalist and Hammers fan Jen Atherton reflects on a memorable Rugby World Cup visit to West Ham United's new home...
Essex based journalist and Hammers fan Jen Atherton reflects on a memorable Rugby World Cup 2015 visit to West Ham United's new home...
I’ve now visited the Olympic Stadium twice and both times I’ve been completely blown away!
My first visit was to watch The Anniversary Games in the summer and the second time was earlier this week to see the Rugby World Cup game between France and Romania. It is an exceptional place with an atmosphere to match and that’s before you’ve added a football team and thousands of football fans into the mix.
If you’re a West Ham fan who has yet to visit the Stadium, you will definitely not be disappointed with your new home!
The walk up to the Stadium is so impressive and you sense immediately that this is a very special place. From the outside, the grandness of the Stadium makes an instant impact and you know that this is no ordinary stadium.
You feel the atmosphere as soon as you enter and recognize that this is a special place instantly. Better still, there is no bad seat in the Stadium - honestly! Wherever you sit you will have a perfect view of the pitch with no obstructions. You will also be able to see two huge, high quality screens either end of the pitch to keep an eye on scores and watch many entertaining replays.
So many improvements have already been made including the new seating arrangement which sees thousands of seats in place of the underlying athletics track to really give a feeling of intensity to a game and gets you right on top of the action.
I’ve now visited the Olympic Stadium twice and both times I’ve been completely blown away!
My first visit was to watch The Anniversary Games in the summer and the second time was earlier this week to see the Rugby World Cup game between France and Romania. It is an exceptional place with an atmosphere to match and that’s before you’ve added a football team and thousands of football fans into the mix.
If you’re a West Ham fan who has yet to visit the Stadium, you will definitely not be disappointed with your new home!
The walk up to the Stadium is so impressive and you sense immediately that this is a very special place. From the outside, the grandness of the Stadium makes an instant impact and you know that this is no ordinary stadium.
You feel the atmosphere as soon as you enter and recognize that this is a special place instantly. Better still, there is no bad seat in the Stadium - honestly! Wherever you sit you will have a perfect view of the pitch with no obstructions. You will also be able to see two huge, high quality screens either end of the pitch to keep an eye on scores and watch many entertaining replays.
So many improvements have already been made including the new seating arrangement which sees thousands of seats in place of the underlying athletics track to really give a feeling of intensity to a game and gets you right on top of the action.
There are so many changes and improvements still to be made, including Claret and Blue seats, so I can only imagine how amazing this Stadium will be when the Hammers take to the pitch for the first time next August.
What is great for West Ham is that next summer, other Premier League teams will be looking at their fixture list to see when they will get a chance to play at this iconic venue. Teams will want to visit and experience the uniqueness of this iconic Stadium. It will no doubt be overwhelming for a lot of them and will really push the Hammers on to a new level.
As much as this is an exciting time, change is never easy and leaving something you love behind is even harder.
The Boleyn Ground is a stadium filled with important history for the club and of course it will be extremely emotional to leave it behind and watch the players come out for the last time next May.
But if there was ever a place for a new era, a new legacy and for new heroes - this is it!
What is great for West Ham is that next summer, other Premier League teams will be looking at their fixture list to see when they will get a chance to play at this iconic venue. Teams will want to visit and experience the uniqueness of this iconic Stadium. It will no doubt be overwhelming for a lot of them and will really push the Hammers on to a new level.
As much as this is an exciting time, change is never easy and leaving something you love behind is even harder.
The Boleyn Ground is a stadium filled with important history for the club and of course it will be extremely emotional to leave it behind and watch the players come out for the last time next May.
But if there was ever a place for a new era, a new legacy and for new heroes - this is it!