Off to The Valley

In our euphoric mood we happily found our way to Charlton Station via London Bridge and according to the book we would see the Charlton Athletic's stadium from the station. We didn't see it, and asked directions but the first person we asked had no idea where it was. So we took a risk and turned left and headed for a busier looking road. This turned out to have a sign eventually. The Valley is hidden within a housing estate and I think it is a little hard to find. I later read that it doesn't have any floodlight pylons so this might be why I didn't spot it until we reached our destination.

The rebuilt Valley was completed in 1992, so it was a similar age to Millwall. Charlton was the first top flight club to be forced to ground-share for a seven year period with local rivals Crystal Palace but the new stadium struck me as impressive. We had read that Charlton had only just been promoted to the Championship and there were signs of celebration pasted around the club.

The shop had it's metal shutters partway closed, but as we approached we noticed people inside. I tentatively knocked on the door and a man emerged from around the side to tell us that they were doing a shop inventory that day and it was closed. We must have looked disappointed, and as we explained the reason for our visit, he quickly offered to take us into the ground itself. We could hardly believe our luck.

As we walked along we chatted about Charlton's recent success and their hopes for the season ahead. There was an industrious air around the place as we peeked into the stadium gap between the south and west stands. Charlton were taking advantage of the summer break to completely re-seed the pitch, and there were diggers and piles of sand all around us. After a frenzy of photos we headed back along past the ticket office and waved goodbye to the store manager.

As we were just about to leave we had noticed a group of OAPs inside a Charlton Community Trust building that is inside the ground. They were having an exercise session and waved us in. Nervously we explained our visit and they couldn't have been more kind. The boys played on the Wii with them and I chatted about football. There were people having a cooking lesson in there too. Most of the people there also volunteer as stewards during games and are all lifelong Addicks fans. Though we had plans to visit more stadiums that morning, part of this adventure is knowing when to abandon your plans and go with the flow. We learned more about the kindness and warmth of football fans there than we had ever known before. We reluctantly left with our bag full of goodies including children's t-shirts, programs and a season pass holder. They were off to have lunch at the stadium cafe and we waved goodbye with a spring in our steps. Pictures to come eventually.

-Ali