Broadwood Stadium
Ardgoil Drive
Cumbernauld
Glasgow
G68 9NE
Ground Number: 1399
Friday 11th March 2025
Cumbernauld Colts 2-0 Bo'ness United
Lowland League
CUMBERNAULD COLTS FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
The club was established in 1969, and had success as a youth football club in the 70s and 80s, helping develop young footballers such as future Scotland internationals Derek Whyte, Jackie McNamara and Dougie Bell. The club had a period of decline in the '90s, due to several of its teams disbanding. It was re-branded in 1999 and built its way back up from a single youth side. The senior team competed in the Caledonian Amateur Football League with the club eventually entering the Lowland Football League in 2015. A credible 4th place finish in their debut season remains their best effort so far. That season also represents their best progress in the Scottish Cup as they got to the 3rd Round before losing to Stirling Albion. Recent seasons have seen relegation battles and early cup exits.
The team is based in Cumbernauld which has a population of around 50,000. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated town in North Lanarkshire, positioned in the centre of Scotland's Central Belt. It was designated a 'New Town' for Scotland in 1955 and a lot of the architecture reflects this. Neil Primrose, the drummer for the band Travis, was born in the town. Cumbernauld hosted Clyde F.C of Scottish League 2 from 1994 until 2022. Having shared at many venues in their history, they now play at Hamilton Academical FC. The town's rugby team, Cumbernauld RFC, were formed in 1970. The club and council agreed in the late 1970s to develop the Auchenkilns area in Condorrat. The multi-sports facility opened in 1979 and is now shared with Kildrum United FC. They play in West Region League 3, the 7th tier of club rugby in Scotland.
MY BLOG
It was once more time for the annual Scottish Hop, one of my favourite weekends of the year. A few times, I have been on the official hop coach and had a great weekend. Last year though was probably the best when Colin & I went with Richard and Daniel and had a great value and extended weekend. It would not be possible this year though as Richard's nephew Andrew was back in the mix and had claimed his spot in the car. Therefore, Colin and I were on our own. I already decided to do it under our own steam as it was far easier to get small amounts of money out of Colin than a big lump sum in one go as Groundhop UK require. We booked most of the trip as all good trips should be planned - in the pub before Wycombe's game against Huddersfield Town on January 7th. The flight up there was bagged for £19 and the overnight coach back for £21. The hotel was a little more tricky to book, so I waited a couple of days until I could do my research. I got a reasonable deal for both of us at £162 for the two nights, or £81 each. For the Friday night game, it looked as if Cumbernauld Colts was the only real possibility and I chose the hotel with that in mind.
It was a good drive home from our game at Shirehampton on Tuesday. I dropped Colin off at 11.30 and got home 15 minutes later. Despite getting straight into bed, I still only got around 3.5 hours of sleep with a 3.55 alarm. It was only a six-hour shift thankfully, so when I finished at 11, I came home and caught up with a couple of hours of sleep. I was going to book some flights for June but with the prices having gone up a tenner since Friday, I decided to put it off for the time being. Instead, I got on with this weekend's blog and planning as well as catching up with other things. Wednesday and Thursday were decent days at work and by the time Thursday evening came, all my research and blogs were done. I was asleep by 10.30 and up before 6. I killed time before getting up, having a bath and putting on a fresh set of clothes before my Mum kindly gave me a lift to Amersham station.
I arrived at 9.40. I then had to wait for Colin to arrive and then post a card but we still got the 10.10 Chiltern train as planned. It took us to Marylebone where we had a couple of tubes before the 11.29 Gatwick Express. We then had security where I found out I lost my wallet somewhere. Luckily, I had everything on my phone and had only brought the bare minimum in my wallet. I cancelled my cards and will have to apply for a new driving licence but at least the weekend could go ahead. The security staff were great in trying to help sort out my problem though. Some cracking loaded chips (an airport exclusive) and a couple of pints of Stowford Press at Wetherspoons helped me relax. I was glad that pretty much everything can be done on my phone nowadays. I could well have been pickpocketed but aside from £20 cash, the scrotes would have gained nothing. In fact, I am almost certain of it being in Sadiq Khan's crime-ridden ghetto.
There was a half-hour delay, partially due to some birds getting sucked into the engine of another plane, resulting in the runway being temporarily closed. We landed in Glasgow just before 4 and out of the airport by 4.10. It was an outrageous £10.50 for the 15-minute bus to the city centre. In Liverpool, Luton, Heathrow et al, it was just the standard bus fare to get from the airport to the city. It took far longer than the claimed 15 minutes in any case and was anything but express. After a stop at Tesco, we were behind. We had to get the train from Glasgow to Stepps, costing £2.75 with Colin's railcard. It was 15 minutes walk to our hotel where we had half an hour's rest before leaving to get the bus for the game. It was delayed and then some, so we got to the ground just before kickoff. I got entry, a raffle ticket, a pennant, Irn Bru and a superb steak and haggis pie for £17 in total. The pies were so good, that I had a second at half-time.
Cumbernauld Colts were 16th in the table. They were in decent form though, having won two, drawn two and lost one of their last five. In their last game, they had drawn 1-1 at University of Stirling. Broxburn Athletic were in 6th and were in mixed form. Last time out, they had won 3-1 at Cowdenbeath. It was a dull start, Cumbernauld Colts took the lead on 10 minutes, a deflected own goal in off the left-hand post. They continued to have the better of the game and doubled their lead with a drilled shot from just inside the area on 40 minutes, scored by Euan Ross. That was how it stayed for the rest of the game with Broxburn having a couple of half chances but no more.
THE GROUND
BROADWOOD STADIUM is a large and anonymous venue as far as Cumbernauld Colts are concerned. The stadium has a capacity of 8,086 and was originally built for Clyde FC and the red seats reflect this. The club did a great job making us feel welcome with a great range of merchandise and superb pies. The car is best done by car as parking is plentiful and the buses aren't the most reliable. Nearby is the likes of McDonald's, M&S, Tim Hortons and Aldi as part of a huge retail park.
No comments:
Post a Comment