New York Stadium: Rotherham United 3-0 Bristol Rovers

Monday 20 January 2020

Rotherham United 3-0 Bristol Rovers

Aerial shot of the New York Stadium (millers.co.uk)

Rating

Overall Ground Quality : 9/10

Ease of getting there : 8/10

Atmosphere : 8/10

Programme : 8/10

View of Action : 7/10

Quality of the game : 7/10

The "football" feeling : 7/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 5/10

Legroom : 10/10

Surrounding area : 7/10

Overall : 76/100

Programme - £3.00

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Rotherham United 3-0 Bristol Rovers

With a Saturday free, Adrian and I (Ross) had the opportunity of going to a match and found one of the better fixtures on the day were the League One leaders, Rotherham United. The Miller’s were unbeaten in the league since the start of December and they were taking on Play Off hopefuls, Bristol Rovers, who haven’t won in 5 matches.
It has been over 7 years since our maiden visit to the New York Stadium and we haven't visited since so we were both looking forward to a return.
We set off at 12pm making the fairly short journey up the M1 coming off at junction 33. We decided to park on St Bede's Road, the same road we parked on when we previously visited.
At the time of writing this, the Miller's previous home, Millmoor, is still in existence however only used for the odd event and match day parking. We took the opportunity to have a look around the old ground before making the short journey to their current ground.
Following a very brief walk around the town centre which very much resembled a ghost town, we decided to make our way back to the New York Stadium and take in the pre match atmosphere. As we walked around the stadium, we noticed Fan Zone situated outside the stadium, the latest craze in an attempt to build up the atmosphere. This example was a very poor attempt with blaring music yet very little interest from the supporters.
We continued walking around the stadium in the cold January sunshine before we entered the stadium through the turnstiles.

The New York Stadium has a capacity of 12,021 and was opened in July 2012. Rotherham United announced their intention to construct a new community stadium when they moved away from Millmoor to the Don Valley Stadium in May 2008 after a dispute with the ground owner Ken Booth, owner of C F Booth. In January 2010, the club purchased the former site of the Guest and Chrimes Foundry to be used for the new stadium. Outline planning permission for the stadium was granted in November 2010, and the first images were sketched shortly after. The design of the New York Stadium is unique for a new stadium with the unusually slopping roofs on the stands behind each goal.
The name of the stadium was announced as the 'New York Stadium' on 19 December 2011, chosen ahead of 'The Foundry' and 'The Waterfront Stadium'. The reason for the name is that the area of land that the stadium lies upon is called ‘New York’ and it was thought that it would be better to name the stadium after history and/or where the stadium is situated, like nearby stadiums Bramall Lane and Hillsborough. Also, Guest and Chrimes used to make fire hydrants for New York City. Chairman Tony Stewart also hopes that the name could bring investment from New York City or further afield, as the New York Yankees chairman had recently said that he wanted to invest in an English football team.
The New York Stadium made its league debut on 18 August 2012, in which Rotherham beat Burton Albion 3–0, Daniel Nardiello scoring the first competitive goal in the ground.

Onto the match and Rotherham's impressive form continued as they saw off Bristol Rovers to keep hold of top spot in League One. It was a sixth league game without a win for Rovers, whose manager Ben Garner was again absent due to a family member's illness.

Visiting striker Jonson Clarke-Harris should have scored in the opening three minutes against his former side but he shot wide from close range.
Michael Smith came closest to netting for the hosts in the first half but he headed Ben Wiles' centre just over the top.

The home side upped the tempo after the break and were ahead in the 51st minute with the in-form Kyle Vassell glancing in Chiedozie Ogbene's cross.
Their lead was doubled two minutes later with Ogbene again the provider and Smith on hand to nod into the bottom corner.
Rovers substitute Josh Ginnelly was foiled by Daniel Iversen before Clarke-Harris headed wide from close-range.
The points were fully secured in the 88th minute with Ogbene on hand to tap in after Freddie Ladapo's shot had been parried by Jordi Van Stappershoef.

After the match, we made our usual dash back to the car and found ourselves back on the M1 in no time. Bizarrely, I was home only 15 minutes later than if I had been to the King Power Stadium which is only 20 miles from my home!
All in all, a really good afternoon out at one of the best stadiums in League 1. The match had plenty on it for both teams. Based on their performance, Bristol Rovers might struggle to make the Play offs unless they significantly improve. As for Rotherham, they will be looking to bounce back into the Championship at the first attempt. With a small squad with many talented young players and a promising manager in Paul Warne, they will be one of the favourites for promotion.

Rotherham United 1-0 Torquay United

Today was our only recent opportunity to visit Rotherham
United's brand new New York Stadium. The visitors today were to be Torquay
United who we previously saw in the Play Off Semi Final at Cheltenham Town.
We left fairly early to make the most of the day. Staveley
Miners Welfare was our first stop which is not far from Chesterfield. On the
approach to the ground, a wall of blue and white caught our eyes.
Dinnington Town was our second stop situated just south of
Rotherham. They formed in 2000 and play at Phoenix Park.
Shortly following Dinnington Town was Maltby Main. Maltby
Main play on Muglet Lane which features two stands and a club house.
Parkgate was one of the last stops of the day who play at Roundwood Sports Complex which
is also on the same site as the training ground of Rotherham United.
We parked on St Bede’s Road which is situated between
Rotherham United’s old ground, Millmoor and New York Stadium.
We decided to visit Millmoor and take photos which were made
difficult due to a jobs worth security guard guarding the secure match day
parking at the old ground. Instead we went up to Coronation Bridge next to
Millmoor where we took even better photos.
We then walked to the New York Stadium to collect our
tickets and take some photos. After that we walked into the town and ate at the
Riverside Cafe near the Tesco where we enjoyed Meat and Potato Pie, Chips Mushy
Peas and Gravy with a Cup of Tea and afters Apple Pie and Custard for £4.95
each! BARGAIN.
We then walked back to the stadium and went in.
Wikipedia states that “Rotherham United announced their intention to construct a new community
stadium when they moved away from Millmoor in May 2008 after a dispute with the
ground owner Ken Booth. In January 2010 the club purchased the former site of
the Guest and Chrimes Foundry to be used for the new stadium. Guest and Chrimes
were a steelwork company, who made the iconic fire hydrants seen in New York
City. Outline planning permission for the stadium was granted in November 2010,
and the first images were sketched up shortly after”
“The stadium is
located within walking distance of the railway station and bus interchange and
is easily accessible by car. It is a few minutes’ walk away from Rotherham Town
Centre, unlike most other grounds throughout the country.”
“The name for the
stadium was announced as the 'New York Stadium' on 19 December 2011, chosen
ahead of 'The Foundry' and 'The Waterfront Stadium'. The reasoning for this is
that the area of land that the stadium lies upon is called New York, and it was
thought that it would be better to name the stadium after history and/or where
the stadium is situated, like nearby stadiums Bramall Lane and Hillsborough.
Chairman Tony Stewart also hopes that the name could bring investment from New
York or further afield, as the New York Yankees chairman had recently said that
he wanted to invest into an English football team”
“The stadium has
a 12,000 all-seated capacity, with the option to be able to increase the
stadium's capacity if needed. It cost approximately £20 million to construct.”
The game saw Rotherham United beat Torquay United by just
only 1 goal which should have been more!
The goal scorer was Alex Revell in the first half which
sealed all three points for the stadium banned Steve Evans following his FA
suspension of 6 matches away from the dugouts and stadiums!
We really enjoyed our visit to Rotherham. We think its great
for a new stadium to be in the town centre as well as have a unique design
rather than a boring Shrewsbury Town or Colchester United ‘4 stand ground’.