Leichhardt Oval

There really is nothing quite like a Wests Tigers home game when it’s being played at Leichhardt Oval. The atmosphere in that old, local ground is unparalleled and that’s not just me as a Tigers supporter.
I’ve been to home games of other teams I support, I’ve been to home games for the Tigers at other venues, but nothing beats Leichhardt!
It’s electric, the 20,000 seater/​stander is always full when the game kicks off, the beers are expensive as is the food, but that’s about the only draw back, you can time your runs to the bathroom and avoid a rush, and exiting the ground takes a while as you could probably imagine, a mass exodus of twenty thousand people.
But not even that slow moving, pressed up against a stranger walk could ruin the excitement and energy of the match in question.
There is one major grandstand where the members sit and then two sides are grassy hills, and the entrance is made up of smaller stands and a grassy flat area. The Oval is located close to Norton Street and all it’s bars and restaurants as well as a brisk walk in the other direction to Rozelle’s pubs and a slightly longer walk to Balmain.
Leichhardt oval holds this reputation throughout the whole code as one of the last remaining local home grounds as all the teams, including two thirds of the Tigers games are moving to larger capacity stadiums such as Telstra Stadium and the SFS. Grounds with less atmosphere, less history and less character.
And I do believe the reputation extends beyond the code as I recall early last year being at a game when Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles walked through the crowd soaking up an Australian experience in what must have been a Supernatural publicity tour, that is a tour for Supernatural, not a tour of supernatural publicity.