Rugby Ground Reviews: Parc y Scarlets
It’s been a little while but it’s back; and we’re kicking things off with a big one.
The premise is straight forward enough; we visit different rugby grounds around the UK and rate each venue based on five key areas:
Facilities
Refreshments
Game quality
Atmosphere
Total cost
We rate each of these areas out of ten, before using our super-secret in-house formula to come up with a grade to rank the venue.
Travel and parking
Benny made the journey west to Llanelli to visit Parc y Scarlets, as the Scarlets welcomed Ulster for their first home game of the season. You can tell it’s game day, as the A4138 was rammed heading towards the stadium. It’s a single lane road for the most part headed towards the stadium, and despite a few roundabouts to navigate, it’s a relatively straight shot from the M4 exit all the way to Pemberton, where the stadium sits.
Unless you’ve been allocated a parking bay, there is no parking within the stadium bowl. There are a few alternative options however. The most popular one is the pay and display parking area known as Car Park B which is just a short walk via the underpass to the stadium and costs just £5. Be careful parking in the retail park, as it tends to be for customers only and there are time limits. If you’re early enough to enjoy a quick meal at the Beefeater, you can normally get away with leaving your car there for the duration of the game. Or you could pull a Benny, and find a residential street to park at.
If you’re not driving, the Scarlets do provide a shuttle service, so it’s worth checking out their website and social media for information before setting off.
Tickets
Queues for the ticket office can vary, but they’re fairly efficient at getting through the queues. Prices are relatively cheap too, with a standing ticket in the north stand enclosure setting you back just £15.
However, bear in mind that if you want a seated ticket in the north stand, it’ll set you back an additional £5; and the best seats in the south stand will cost you £31. Not breaking the bank by any stretch of the imagination.
You enter the stadium via traditional looking turnstiles with the modern bonus of scanning the QR code on your ticket to speed up the process. And that’s it, once you clunk and clank your way through the barrier, you’re in the concourse.
So, with Benny safely and securely within the stadium grounds; it’s time to get out the white gloves and fine tooth comb, and begin marking down those scores.
The Facilities
Parc y Scarlets has all the perks and facilities of a top-flight sports ground but has done a fine job of retaining some character of a traditional grassroots club. The stadium has a capacity of just under 15,000 and has the benefit of a standing enclosure which many supporters feel is the best place to be to watch their side play.
Unfortunately, the stadium rarely gets to flex its capacity muscles of late, with even the big west Wales derby not drawing the same crowds it used to. However, once in a while something special happens, like beating Toulon in 2018 to secure a quarter-final spot in the Champions Cup. They welcomed another French side, La Rochelle, to the stadium in the first knock-out game a Welsh side has played in in six years. For that game, extra seating was installed to allow a record crowd of just under 15,500 to attend. But it’s a crisp and clean venue, with an indoor ‘barn’ area for families and children to have fun in before and after kick-off.
Score: 7/10
Refreshments
Benny opted for a matchday classic for his first trip to the food kiosk: a cheeseburger. First impressions were good, although possibly skewed by his hunger pangs. A white, fluffy bread roll and a hot beef patty was on point; but let down by the handful of cold grated cheese that served to upgrade it from a hamburger to a cheeseburger.
Everyone knows that the best cheeseburgers need the cheese to be melted and gooey. Clocking in at £4.50, it wasn’t cheap either. To wash it all down, a cold bottle of Pepsi Max will set you back a whopping £2.30. That’s almost £7 for a bite and a gulp, though not extortionate in the realms of sportsground food and beverages.
If you’re more of a grazer, and want a tray of chips to keep you going through half time, they’ll set you back just £3. Advertised as ‘chips and dip’ the dip was… well it was just a bottle of tomato ketchup. Technically not factually incorrect but not what the image ‘chips and dips’ conjured in our heads. However, the chips themselves were exceptional. Chunky, fluffy inside, and crunchy on the outside.
There are bars aplenty in the concourse, but it’s your standard choice of ales, lagers, and ciders, so no major complaints. Flimsy plastic cups ruin many a pint, but it’s what we’ve come to expect in most venues these days. A pint of Heineken is £4.50 off the old budget.
Score: 8/10
Game quality
It was a spectacular game to be fair, with the tries coming thick and fast from both teams and almost a hundred points scored between them.
As a neutral fan, you can’t really complain about a 12-try thriller. There were big hits, line breaks, and plenty to cheer about, while the game was always in the balance, which kept everyone invested until the final whistle. A shame for the home crowd but all in all an entertaining game of rugby.
Score: 8/10
Atmosphere
Unfortunately, as is the case across Wales, attendance for this game was relatively poor, a little over 6,000. Low attendances are also amplified in stadiums that have a larger capacity; so your Parc y Scarlets’ and Swansea.com Stadium’s will always suffer when the crowds are sparse.
In fairness to the home support, they were noisy when it mattered and the travelling support was enthusiastic too. It definitely added to the atmosphere but there’s only so many empty seats you can shout for.
Score: 6/10
Cost
All in, the day out which included the ticket and food and beverages, and not including travel and parking, didn’t break the £30 mark. That’s actually pretty impressive. Prices like that makes top-flight rugby affordable and accessible. You wouldn’t bat an eyelid paying £30 for a ticket at some venues so it was a pleasant surprise to be able to get into the ground.
If you were to upgrade to a seated ticket, and wanted a few more beers, the total cost could easily double, but if you’re looking for an affordable day out watching some of Wales’ best rugby players out on the field, you can’t go wrong here.
Score: 8/10
And that’s all the scores noted down, fed into our top-secret Rugby Ground Review grading machine and it’s come out with a grade of…
B+
Our highest rated rugby ground yet!
If you’ve read all the way down to here, well done you. We’re glad you stuck it out until the end. If you’d like to see Benny’s trip to Parc y Scarlets in full, check out his video below.
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We’ve also got an English Premiership rugby ground line up in our sights. Tell us which one you think has the best atmosphere and we may just pop over to see for ourselves…
