One of the few remaining 'proper' football grounds in Britain basked in glorious Sunday morning sunshine as Ninian Park hosted its penultimate big occasion.
The biggest South Wales derby in the fixture's 97-year history is a fitting derby farewell to a ground that was built for days like this.
Yet while Welsh football's standard-bearers served up a feast of footballing entertainment - with goal chances, meaty challenges and a fair share of controversy - the game was tarnished by the hooligan element that fails to take the hint.
In three weeks this famous footballing amphitheatre will be nothing more than a memory
Referee Mike Dean being hit on the head by a coin is something the occasion did not welcome, nor deserve, but it will certainly hog the headlines.
Just like Swansea City's old Vetch Field, Ninian Park's ramshackle terraces and rough edges create an intimidating fortress for the home side.
Real Madrid and Sporting Lisbon in memorable European nights, Danny Blanchflower's double-winning Tottenham Hotspur, and FA Cup giants Manchester City and Leeds United have all been slayed in front of Cardiff City's 12th man.
In three weeks' time, this famous footballing amphitheatre will be nothing more than a memory, another classic, much-loved ground confined to the sporting archives following Cardiff's scheduled final act against Ipswich Town on 25 April.
Ninian Park will follow Derby County's Baseball Ground, Arsenal's Highbury, Manchester City's Maine Road, Sunderland's Roker Park and Swansea's beloved Vetch into the mists of sporting time.
As much as fans of Wales' capital club will be loathe to admit it, the Bluebirds will have to follow the example of their neighbours - the club once famously called Cardiff's 'little brothers' - and make a new soulless stadium into a home, not just a house.
Swans manager Roberto Martinez admitted it took his team a few years to recreate the unique Vetch atmosphere at their shiny new Liberty Stadium following its grand 2005 opening.
While the footballing purist might moan that 21st Century stadia are little more than sterile shells, Cardiff City's ground move is not just across Sloper Road, but over a footballing divide.
Modern-day football is not just about competing on the football pitch, clubs must win in the corporate market to ensure the team has the financial clout to achieve in football's money-mad bubble.
There is an element that seems to be unsatisfied with enjoying the two of the Championship's play-off chasers entertain as they have done all season
Cardiff chairman Peter Ridsdale estimates that their new £38m, 25,000-capacity stadium has the potential to boost the club's income streams by £5m thanks to the larger scope for hospitality and corporate events.
It is far from ideal that football clubs are at the mercy of the highest corporate bidder, but to swim against the tide could spell sporting suicide.
The shame of it all is that the 79th - and final - derby at Ninian Park will be remembered for the wrong reasons, just like so many Cardiff v Swansea clashes that have gone before.
Welsh club football has rarely had it so good with two clubs realistically chasing the lucrative Premier League prize and the £60m top-flight bounty that goes with it.
But there remains an element that seems to be unsatisfied with enjoying two of the Championship's play-off chasers entertain as they have done all season.
The sight of referee Dean, arguably the best performer on the field in the first 88 minutes, being struck by a coin thrown from Ninian Park's Popular Bank takes this fixture back to its violent dark ages.
The unwanted incident marred an otherwise glorious spectacle and such protagonists, and this one was promptly ejected and arrested, should never be allowed to darken football's door again.
There are some things football is desperate to leave behind but, make no mistake, Ninian Park is not one of them.
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