Where is it?
Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir. FK5’s beacon of sports entertainment.
Why do you go there?
To watch my team, Stenhousemuir FC. They are on a hot streak at the moment but are the least successful side in the SPFL and have yet to win a championship title in their 139-year history.
How often do you go?
Once a fortnight, at the very least. Whenever Stenhousemuir are competing in a league match or a high-stakes cup encounter, I will be there, cheering on my team.
How did you discover it?
Like many people who lived locally, I was swept up by Stenhousemuir’s Scottish Cup run in 1995. As a child, it felt incredible that big games with large, noisy crowds were taking place just a short walk from my house. I found it captivating.
I’ll admit I was less enthusiastic about the run-of-the-mill league encounters that followed and quietly drifted away from the club, but I returned eight years later and began wholeheartedly supporting the Warriors.
Ochilview has changed a lot since then, but it is a handsome ground and perfect for a club of Stenny’s stature.
What’s your favourite memory?
I’ve enjoyed some incredible afternoons at Ochilview. It’s difficult to settle on a favourite - the Scottish Cup wins over Aberdeen in 1995 and Falkirk in 2018; beating Cowdenbeath on penalties to win promotion to the Second Division in 2009 - but if I had to pick, it would be Mick Dunlop scoring two headers in the play-off final first leg against Peterhead in 2018.
The team hadn’t scored from a set-piece all season, but the big man scored two headers from dead balls in the space of 15 minutes to send us up. An extraordinary match.
Who do you take?
I travel to the games alone but often meet with a wide and varied cast of characters in the Wee Bar, a small saloon tucked inside Ochilview’s Norway Stand.
This is the premier destination for any Stenhousemuir supporter. Over a lager, we debate team line-ups, formations, upcoming matches and the club’s current predicament, as well as discussing obscure Challenge Cup matches from the mid-noughties and terrible players.
What do you take?
Ochilview can be deceptively chilly, even on the sunnier days that tend to bookend the football seasons, so I always take a jacket with me. Watching agricultural, often brutal, matches in the cold is not a lot of fun.
What do you leave behind?
Nothing. I am conscientious and always tidy up my foil pie tins after I’ve finished with them.
Sum it up in five words.
Often underwhelming, but sometimes magical
What other travel spot is on your wish list?
As someone who spends their Saturday afternoons in some of the less grandiose stadiums across Scotland, it might be nice to experience football in a world-renowned venue. Let’s go for the San Siro in Milan.
Craig G Telfer is host of A View From The Terrace on BBC Scotland, Fridays, 10.30pm. Catch up on BBC iPlayer
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