Exeter Chiefs versus Pertemps Bees, County Ground

The decripitude of the County Ground is such as to make the old Stamford Bridge - or Plough Lane, or even the old Wembley stadium - look like a modern Stade de France; it is appalling.

Of course, the Chiefs are soon to move to their new stadium out at Sandy Park, by the M5 motorway, a welcome improvement though nothing like as grand as the local Express & Echo paper would have you believe. From the plans on the wall in the old clubhouse at the County Ground, it consists of just 2,400 seats in one stand with the rest standing around most of the ground. Nevertheless, today I pay my first ever visit to the County Ground for the purposes of watching rugby.

The approach from Cowick Street, in St Thomas, is flat; you can hear a slight commotion from somewhere and the rugby ground - which dates back to about 1920 - is obviously not far away. The Longbrooke pub will benefit to some small extent, though today the crowd cannot not be much greater than about 2,000. They are mostly spread out around a tiny perimeter, above the speedway track and the banking which is mostly taken up for car parking; about 150 cars line the edge of the track, as well as a Stagecoach bus over the other side.

The old cinder track below remains, offering another year of speedway. The small grandstand is full and, for some odd reason, the only entrances and exits are on the grandstand side; there is no access to Ferndale Road on the Marsh Barton side.

I have no idea where Pertemps Bees are based; how stupid to reveal nothing of your origins in the club name.