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NAME: East End Park
ADDRESS: Halbeath Road, Dunfermline, KY12 7RB
CAPACITY: Approx. 12,000.
CELTIC ALLOCATION: Approx 5,500 – Whole East, North East & South East Stands. Access from Leys Park Road (east, north east) or Halbeath Road (south east)
RECORD VICTORY: Celtic 9, Dunfermline Athletic 0, 14 January 1928
RECORD DEFEAT: Dunfermline Athletic 5, Celtic 1, 28 April 1965
The Celtic allocated end as viewed from the Norrie McCarthie Stand, complete with plastic pitch. Main stand to the right, North stand to the left, East stand directly across. Picture from DAFC.net.
DIRECTIONS
BY CAR: Halbeath Road is also the A907 which is off Junction 3 of the M90 from the east. Coming from the West it is also the road from Alloa, which can be met by crossing the Kincardine Bridge and following the A985 & A994 into Dunfermline. The Stadium lies towards the north east of the town centre, and you can't miss it if you stick to the main road.
BY BUS: Dunfermline bus station is just off the A907 on Market Street, west of the stadium. In the good old days, the 14 used to go from Buchanan Street, Glasgow to Dunfermline Bus Station via Stirling, but now the 14 only goes between Stirling and Dunfermline, with the 24 doing the Glasgow to Stirling run. Supporters Buses will be parked on a stretch of road just off Leys Park Road to the north west of the stadium.
BY TRAIN: The stadium lies between Queen Margeret station (east) and Dunfermline Town station (west). Follow the main road when you get there and you can't go wrong.
PARKING: Bellyeoman Road runs parallel (and uphill) to Leys Park Road and is usually a good bet if you're that side of the stadium.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Dunfermline fans are usually pretty friendly when it comes to Celtic, but recently the Chris Sutton comments at the end of the 2002/03 season have made things a little sour – so much so you should keep an eye out for low flying bricks. Fortunately, both sets of fans seem to have moved on from this with the return of Jim Leishman and the replacement of "the two Jimmies" with former Celtic player and manager Davie Hay.
Leg room is fairly reasonable in the stadium, despite the north east stand being a converted terracing. This is due to them doing a half decent job with that stand, rather than the usual "bolt a seat on to every other step" approach of so many others.
If you are sitting in the north east stand, you may find the odd restriction in your view – especially the TV camera gantry that sits between the Celtic and Dunfermline fans.
"Stephens Bridies "
-Big_Bobo_Balde, seconded by Fudgie Bhoy
SAD TRIVIA
Dunfermline Athletic was home to a plastic pitch, sanctioned as an experiment by UEFA. Its official name is XL-Turf. It was one of only two artificial surfaces in Scotland used by the senior clubs. Many have said the other one (located at Douglas Park, Hamilton) is better. Ironically, the north east stand has the sponsor "Scottish Grass Machinery" emblazoned on the top of it. The plastic pitch was deemed unfit for SPL football and Dunfermline had to rip it up and put down grass again for the start of the 05/06 season.
The last team to play Dunfermline on grass at East End Park? Celtic – a 0-0 draw. The first team to play Dunfermline on the new Xl-Turf? Hibernian – also a 0-0 draw.
The last team to play Dunfermline on plastic at East End Park? Gretna in a friendly, Dunfermline won 2-1. First team to play them on grass again? Caley Thsitle, who won 1-0. So, better than the last change then.
The current main stand was built in 1962 and was considered to be one of the most modern football stands of its time. Although it has since been refurbished, the stand pretty much remains the same as it did when it was first built.
The end terraces were removed in 1998, replaced with the East Stand and the Norrie McCathie Stand, bringing the stadium up to its current SPL standard.
Norrie McCathie was a Dunfermline Athletic player for around 15 years before sadly dying of Carbon Monoxide poisoning in January 1996. He is still affectionately known as "Mr Dunfermline" by the home fans. As well as naming the West Stand after him, there is a Benevolent Fund set up in his name to help identify children with football potential. More details can be found at http://www.nmbf.org.uk/
TIM FRIENDLY PUBS
Ironically, The Elizabethian seems to be a favourite of some people on this board!
"Tim friendly pub in Sinkys (Sinclairs). A 10/15 minute walk from ground (up the hill)."
– BhoyWonder
" Other Tim friendly pubs is Sinky's which is up beside the Fire Station.
Also up there is the Ballroom where at the last Celtic game up there Gary Og played a gig before the match.
However due to time of KO I doubt this will be the case this time. "
-Owenybhoy
Any more???
PUBS TO AVOID
Anyone???