An Unbiased View
The South West Corner (SWC) of the Amex Community Stadium is possibly the finest, most colourful corner outside of the Premiership. And not many clubs in the top league can boast of a corner with as much character as ours.
Flags, lively fans, wonderful facilities and a great view impress all those who come to watch the Seagulls for the first time from the SWC and it’s clear the regulars have an almost covetous, first-love crush on this space – often complaining if they are moved to accommodate away fans and they have to watch from a quieter stand.
The SWC is not the home of the rowdiest. Not an all-out rebel rousing band of ultras bearing beer bellies and wrist whipping their scarfs as they bounce up and down. It can’t compete with the North Stand for noise and colour. But it is special.
For a start it is a beautiful corner in a beautiful brand-spanking new, award-winning stadium. Compared to other ‘new’ stadia, the stadium at Falmer has charm and sheer aesthetic beauty where the likes of Derby’s Pride Park, Leicester’s King Power Stadium and the Cardiff City Stadium are just bland and featureless enclosures. With un-padded seats.
If you see the corner from the other side of the stadium at night, full of spectators and concourse lights shining through from the exits either side of the open ‘boxes’, I’m told you can make out a giant face. With the added quiff of the 1901 SWC. And if you continue wearing rose-tinted specs and keep squinting, you’ll notice that the SWC has three tiers – if you count the raised boxes above the disabled viewing area as the middle tier.
It certainly hasn’t got any right angles and columns that obscure your view like the old school stadiums. Or nondescript buildings built into the structure of the stand. Nor does it have a gaping hole in it – like Stoke City’s fearsomely noisy Britannia Stadium, which currently is three corners short of an Amex.
As well as being perfectly formed, the SWC boasts a ‘motley’ cross-section of a diverse and success-starved fan base. Take a look at the 200 members who have recently joined the SWC forum on Facebook. No pattern emerges. All ages and backgrounds are represented. Is the SWC a mirror of the city itself? But let’s not forget, we are gate-crashers in some respects. For the original residents of the SWC, and it’s all inclusive beating heart, are the disabled fans who took up residence here on day one of the Amex. And in my books they have first dibs on any issues to do with the corner.
There are some hugely positive souls who have put a lot of energy into making sure the fan culture of the SWC has flourished. They know who they are. Yet it hasn’t been an uphill struggle as others have bonded well to the corner and many new friendships have been made.
There is also the possibility that this corner we call home has something else. A magic ingredient of destiny or enchantment. It could be the millions of microscopic fossilised life forms in the wall of chalk immediately behind us helping to resound out our cheers and chants. Or perhaps we have an auspicious Feng Shui-like orientation. Whatever, I have never met anyone in the SWC who has been indifferent about the place and didn’t think it had charm aplenty.
As a legacy, we will always be the first home corner of the Amex. And without tunnels or press boxes to negotiate, we will always be the largest and most beautiful. I can only predict that the SWC will continue to get friendlier as we continue to get to know each other, that there will be more flags and chants (and who knows, maybe our own SWC themed anthem) and that we will support Brighton and Hove Albion with good humour and raised voices from the jewel in the corner.
Slyme Slymey
