Out of my ground

Come on, don't go searching for the Nationwide Football Annual. And what about Brighton & Hove Albion?
Come on, no conferring, I want you to name every one of the 72 grounds in the Football League and you've got ten minutes.
Tricky, isn't it? Great fun, though, because I've just tried it, thanks to one of my favourite quiz websites, www.sporcle.com.
Sporcle is an American-owned site which asks questions you really think you ought to know the answers to and gives you a time limit to solve them.
It's a general knowledge site, so quizzes such as naming the countries and flags of the world, famous cats and dogs, American states, the elements of the periodic table, the planets and the like are among its most popular.
The American slant means that challenges such as having five minutes to name every one of the 32 National Football League franchises or every team manager in Major League Baseball are well-tried, but it does cross the Atlantic on regular occasions and I've just discovered the challenge mentioned above at www.sporcle.com/games/footballleague_stadiums.php.
How did I do? Well, for someone who professes to be a lifelong football fan and particular admirer of the lower leagues, not well.
I got 32 out of 72 in the ten minutes allotted. I named 19 of the 24 Championship stadia, but went downhill fast from there. I only found seven of the 24 League One grounds and six of the 24 in League Two. |And before you ask, yes, I did name the four West Midlands grounds involved.
I lay some of the blame on the increasing trend for clubs to name new grounds after sponsors. The only reason I remembered that Doncaster Rovers play at the Keepmoat Stadium is because of Birmingham City's recent pursuit of Rovers defender Matthew Mills but did you know that Accrington Stanley live at the Interlink Express Stadium or that Shrewsbury's new ground is the Prostar Stadium?
Some of the blame, though, must surely lie with increasing age. I couldn't even remember grounds I've visited, such as London Road in Peterborough, Bury's Gigg Lane or Spotland in Rochdale while famous old names such as Sincil Bank in Lincoln (Brian Halford, our Walsall FC correspondent and an Imps fan to his boots, will kill me) and Bournemouth's Dean Court eluded me.
I was quite pleased with myself for knowing that Carlisle United play at Brunton Park and Reading at the Madejski Stadium (and for spelling the latter correctly, unlike plenty of football writers whose copy I've amended) but I really should have remembered St James's Park in Exeter or Boundary Park, Oldham.
And that's enough of me solving this for you. Have a go yourself and I'll be fascinated to find out how you get on. Just don't come complaining to me when your boss hauls you in for becoming addicted to Sporcle during working hours.