IPSWICH TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB IPSWICH TOWN V BARNSLEY – SATURDAY 6TH AUGUST 2016, KICK OFF 15:00 INFORMATION FOR AWAY FANS Welcome back to the Championship and to Ipswich! This is a short guide, designed to answer the kind of questions that we often get from visiting fans, and provide the information that we find useful when we’re travelling away ourselves. For any further information, or if you have any feedback on our guide, please contact Elizabeth Edwards, Assistant Supporter Liaison Officer and Chair of the ITFC Supporters Club, on officialitsc@btinternet.com or 07968 876504. HOW TO GET TO THE STADIUM Back in 2003, we hosted an England international v Croatia. On the Englandfans message board, someone asked “how do I get from the station to the ground?” The response was simple: “Come out of the station and look straight ahead. The ground is the oblong structure with floodlights at each corner.” • BY CAR The address is Portman Road, Ipswich, IP1 2DA. From Barnsley, the drive takes at least three hours. The recommended route is to take the A635 across to the A1, and then head south, joining the A14 about 10 miles south of Peterborough. The A14 then brings you to the outskirts of Ipswich. Beware average speed cameras on the stretch between Huntingdon and Cambridge, continuing the length of the Cambridge ring road. Satnavs vary in their recommended route into town, but whichever way you go, it shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes from the A14 to the ground. For those without Satnav, once you reach the junction of the A12 and A14, just south of Ipswich, take the A1214 for a couple of miles into town. As you approach the town centre area, there’s a Sainsbury’s supermarket on the left – at this point, go straight on past Sainsbury’s and then almost immediately right onto West End road. Take the first left (after about half a mile) onto Sir Alf Ramsey Way and you’ve arrived. Note that the roads immediately behind the Cobbold and Sir Bobby Robson stands are closed about 90 minutes before the game, so to access the NCP car park on Portman Road you will need to continue on London Road, straight on to Handford Road and then do a U-turn at the roundabout with Civic Drive, turning back onto Handford Road, then taking the first left into Portman Road. • PARKING There is no official stadium car park, but there is parking all around the ground. The closest is a large NCP on Portman Road (right by the away end), which usually has spaces up to at least 2.15pm, and it’s worth checking later. There’s also a large car park on West End Road (5 minutes’ walk away) and at the railway station (less than 10 minutes). The town centre is less than 10 minutes’ walk, and has numerous car parks, as you’d expect. Being a town centre ground, most streets are controlled (residents only) parking, so free on-road parking tends to be at least a 20-minute walk away. As usual, the car parks nearest the ground are a bit slow to clear after the game – for a quick exit, use the railway station car park, and exit left out of the station onto Burrell Road / Ranelagh Road (B1075), then (after about a mile) left onto the A1214. • BY COACH Away coaches usually park in the West End Road car park, 5 minutes’ walk from the ground. The Station Hotel (away fans pub – see below) is just a couple of minutes away – go towards the bridge over the river, at the east end of the car park, turn right and you’ll find the pub the other side of the river, right opposite the railway station. • BY TRAIN Train is much slower than the road option, especially as there are engineering works that mean it is buses only out of Barnsley. If you do train it, then you’ll be travelling via Sheffield / Peterborough, or Meadowhall / Doncaster / Peterborough, or Peterborough / Doncaster / Wakefield Westgate or Sheffield / London St Pancras / London Liverpool St. Do allow extra time, whichever route you take, as rail delays on all lines into Ipswich are sadly all too common. It’s worth checking www.abelliogreateranglia.co.uk for updated times and any late changes to engineering works. • OFFICIAL AWAY PUB The Station Hotel (formerly the Riverside Hotel) is opposite the station, and is the official away pub. It has had a major refurb recently, is roomy, has a garden and TV screens, and three beers on handpump from the Greene King stable. Most pubs immediately around the ground are home fans only, and few pubs around the town, if any, will welcome groups of away fans. As always, couples, families and older people will find it a bit easier to slip into a town centre pub for a quiet beer or two. Note that, on a match-by-match basis, police may designate other pubs in the town centre as home fans only. With the closure of the two nearest licensed premises over the summer (the Drum & Monkey pub and Rileys Snooker Hall), it is likely that more premises will become “home fans only” on the stadium side of the town centre. There is a new Fanzone marquee at the stadium this season, but this is strictly open to home fans only. There will be ticket checks at the door. STADIUM • PORTMAN PALS – volunteer fans who help out with information etc. Look out for the Portman Pals outside the stadium. Dressed in red, they are there to help answer your questions and point you in the right direction. One of the most common questions for the Pals is “where is the nearest cash machine?” There are no cash machines at the ground – the nearest are at the Cardinal Park leisure park (about 5 minutes’ walk) or the railway station (about 5 to 10 minutes’ walk). The machine at the station is now a temporary effort, just inside the main doors. • MATCHDAY PROGRAMME The matchday programme can be purchased outside the stadium from the white, tardis-like kiosks. Programmes cost £3.00. • SECURITY As at most away grounds, you can expect to be searched prior to entering the ground. • SEATING Portman Road is a traditional ground, with 4 separate stands. The away end is blocks V1 and V2 of the Cobbold Stand. This gives you a good side-stand upper-tier view of the action, though it is an older stand, dating from the 1970s. Ambulant disabled fans will be seated within block S of the lower tier of the Cobbold Stand. Wheelchair users will be located in the home end. If tickets are available on the day you will be able to purchase these at turnstiles 10 and 11. These are cash turnstiles with no debit or credit card facilities for away fans. We will advise your SLO as soon as we have this information. • HUNGRY OR THIRSTY? Food and drink facilities are what you’d expect (pies, hot dogs, confectionery etc). Alcohol availability in the away end is determined on a match-by-match basis. We will advise your SLO as soon as we have the information for this game. • SMOKING POLICY Portman Road is a no smoking stadium. This includes e-cigarettes. Anyone found smoking will be ejected from the ground. For anyone considering leaving the stadium, note that no re-admission to the ground is permitted. • FLAGS/BANNERS Subject to space, flags and banners are allowed in the away end. These will need to be fire certificated. For questions relating to this contact Mick Warden on mick.warden@itfc.co.uk. • MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND SELFIE STICKS Musical instruments and selfie sticks are not allowed in the away end. DISABLED FANS There are special arrangements for wheelchair and ambulant disabled fans (tickets and parking). Please contact Warner Duff by email on warner.duff@itfc.co.uk or by phone on 01473 400556. STAMP IT OUT Ipswich Town Football Club takes a zero-tolerance stance on any form of racial, homophobic or prejudiced behaviour. Supporters can report any incident instantly that they feel needs attention by texting the anonymous ‘Stamp it Out’ number on 07834 439429 (standard text rate applies). All reports will be handled in the strictest confidence. Alternatively, Supporter Liaison Officer Sally Webb can be contacted on sally.webb@itfc.co.uk. IF YOU’RE SPENDING A BIT MORE TIME IN IPSWICH… HOTELS Ipswich has numerous hotels, many at the budget end of the market, within a comfortable walk from the ground. Of the chains, the nearest are the Novotel and Penta hotels (5 mins), with Premier Inn and Travelodge around 10-15 mins from the ground in the harbourside area and a new lodge at the Mermaid pub (Marstons), also about a 10-minute walk. For a more upmarket option, the Salthouse Harbour Hotel is on the harbourside. LOCAL ATTRACTIONS Ipswich local attractions include: • Harbourside and marina, with numerous restaurants, cafes and bars • Town centre, with many independent stores dotted around a fairly compact area • Christchurch Park, Mansion and Gallery – a huge, 70-acre park just north of the town centre, including a Tudor mansion which houses a renowned (and free) art gallery (with a permanent display of local artist John Constable) • Pubs selling a wide range of locally-brewed real ales, with town centre options including the Fat Cat, Greyhound, Dove Street Inn, Mulberry Tree, St Judes Tavern, Thomas Wolsey, Greyhound and Briarbank Brewery. Of these, the Dove, St Judes and Briarbank are also microbreweries. • Felixstowe is just 15 miles (15 minutes, via the A14) away to the east, and is both a traditional seaside resort (there’s a pier and the promenade stretches for a couple of miles) and major container port, which includes a fantastic viewing point, where you can see shipping movements and the loading / unloading of the world’s largest container ships. • The Orwell Bridge carries the A14 over the river to Felixstowe, and is an impressive sight from below. You get to it off the A137, which is a mile or so east of the A12/A14 junction. The road under the Orwell Bridge then meanders for a few miles past Pin Mill (the Butt & Oyster is a lovely old waterside inn) and onto Shotley, which has loads of yachts and great views of the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich. • The historic little town of Woodbridge is just a few miles from Ipswich, with a tide mill, lots of little boutiques, some fine pubs, and an Adnams Wine and Beer store (next to the station) • Just a bit further up the coast you’ll find the beautiful seaside town of Aldeburgh with its famous fish & chip shop (it’s the one at the north end of the High Street, with the big queue outside), as well as some wonderful little shops and pubs. You’ll pass the concert hall, antique, home furnishings and fine foods shops of Snape Maltings en route to Aldeburgh, and it’s well worth the short detour – no national chains here! • If you’ve managed to get as far as Aldeburgh, you may well be tempted to continue a bit further up the coast, past the impressive power station at Sizewell, to the beautiful seaside town of Southwold, home of Adnams beers, a pier, and lots of little shops and galleries.
Not quite sure why they needed to get the hosting an England game in 2003 in... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
