Abbey Stadium
Encyclopedia
The Abbey Stadium, known as R Costings Abbey Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

 in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, England. It has been the home ground of Cambridge United F.C.
Cambridge United F.C.
Cambridge United Football Club is a professional football club from Cambridge, England. They are currently playing the 2011-2012 season in the Conference National, the fifth tier of the English league system, where they have competed since 2005 following their relegation from the Football League...

 since 1932, and currently has a maximum capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...

 of 9,617 spectators. Since 2006 Cambridge Regional College F.C.
Cambridge Regional College F.C.
Cambridge Regional College Football Club is an English football club based in Cambridge. The club are currently members of the Eastern Counties League Premier Division and play at the Abbey Stadium.-History:...

, Cambridge United's feeder club, have also played their home games at The Abbey.

The first match ever played at the Abbey was a friendly against a team from Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press F.C.
Cambridge University Press is an English football club based in Cambridge. They are currently members of Eastern Counties League Division One and play at Bridge Road in Impington.-History:...

 on 31 August 1932. The record attendance at the ground (14,000) was also for a friendly, against Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...

 to mark the first use of the ground's new floodlights on 1 May 1970. This was the first time an English League ground's record crowd had turned out to watch a friendly.

History

Abbey United (as the club were then known) had moved to Parker's Piece
Parker's Piece
Parker's Piece is a flat and very roughly square green common located near the centre of Cambridge, England. The two main walking and cycling paths across it run diagonally, and the single lamp-post at the junction is commonly known as Reality Checkpoint...

 at the start of the 1930–31
1930-31 in English football
The 1930–31 season was the 56th season of competitive football in England.-Events:Of note this season was Manchester United's record of the worst start in a major European league – they lost their first twelve games of the season and went on to be relegated....

 season. Despite the special significance of Parker's Piece in the history of football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

, it being the first place where the Cambridge Rules were played out, the lack of spectator capacity and disruption caused during games meant this move was not a successful one.

Henry Francis, then president of the club, offered United a lifeline in 1931 when he donated land he had acquired to the club, and erected a grandstand and changing rooms on it. This land, where United have been resident since, was close to one of the club's former grounds (known as the Celery Trenches) where, with the approval of the Cambridgeshire FA, the club played while the new ground was being prepared. The first match at the newly constructed Abbey (though it was not known as this until 1961) was played on 31 August 1932 against Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press F.C.
Cambridge University Press is an English football club based in Cambridge. They are currently members of Eastern Counties League Division One and play at Bridge Road in Impington.-History:...

. A grandstand was not opened until March 1934, and subsequent stands were constructed between a period of many years up until 1954 when the final terrace, on the west of the ground (now the 'Habbin Stand'), was completed.

Much redevelopment has occurred since including the redevelopment of the main stand to include a roof and extra seating and, most recently, the erection of a new all-seated stand at the south of the ground to replace the original open terrace that had stood there since 1966. Despite planning permission being granted for further development, as part of the same scheme, at the north end of the ground (including an 86-bedroom hotel, retail space, new offices and a new supporters club), financial difficulties meant this has yet to be entered into.
In the 1991-92 season
1991-92 in English football
- First Division :The last-ever league championship before the creation of the Premier League was won by Leeds United who overhauled Manchester United thanks to the efforts of, among others, Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty, Gary Speed and Gary McAllister...

, Cambridge were challenging for promotion to the forthcoming new Premier League and were faced with the prospect of changing Abbey Stadium into an all-seater venue, as all teams in the highest two divisions of the English league were obliged to be all-seater by 1994 due to the changes in legislation that followed the Hillsborough disaster
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....

 of 1989. But due to Cambridge's subsequent decline (they were back in the lowest division of the Football League within four years) meant that the ground has changed very little in the last 15 years, and with standing accommodation still permitted below the second tier of the English league there has been little pressure to make the stadium all-seater and in 2001 the club's directors stated that it was their intention to retain standing accommodation for as long as they are at a level that will permit it.

The same financial difficulties meant the Abbey Stadium land, donated to the club by Henry Francis in 1931, was sold to then director John Howard
John Howard (UK businessman)
John Howard is a British businessman/entrepreneur who plays a significant role in many companies in East Anglia, including being a former member of the board of directors of Cambridge United F.C.....

's company Bideawhile 445 Ltd in December 2004. Although the club confirmed in January 2006 it had "reached an agreement in principle" to buy back the ground, this has not yet happened, but is seen as crucial in safeguarding its long term financial security. Also in January 2006, John Howard announced plans to move out of the Abbey Stadium to a new purpose built stadium in Milton
Milton, Cambridgeshire
Milton is a village just north of Cambridge, England. It has a population of approximately 4,300 with 3,200 being on the electoral register. It expanded considerably in the late 1980s when two large housing estates were built between the bypass and the village resulting in a doubling of the...

. These were criticised by fans as risking the club's identity by moving out of the city and, despite Howard describing them as crucial to the club's future, little else has been heard of them since.

In April 2008, the club announced that for the first time, the corporate naming rights
Naming rights
In the private sector, naming rights are a financial transaction whereby a corporation or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, typically for a defined period of time. For properties like a multi-purpose arena, performing arts venue or an athletic field, the term ranges from three...

 in the stadium had been sold. Although the club's Chief Executive Norman Gautrey acknowledged that the fans would 'mourn the passing' of the Abbey Stadium name, it was stated to be crucial to the club's finances given the high annual rent on the ground. Trade Recruitment began a five-year sponsorship deal on 1 May 2008 for a total fee of £250,000. In the June 2009 a new deal was announced with a St Ives
St Ives, Cambridgeshire
St Ives is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England, around north-west of the city of Cambridge and north of London. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Huntingdonshire.-History:...

-based legal firm to rename the stadium as the R Costings Abbey Stadium.

In March 2010 Cambridge Fans United started a project to purchase the Abbey Stadium from Bideawhile 445 Ltd. The attempt was unsuccessful and the stadium was sold to Grosvenor Estates for £3.5m. Positive talks between the club and Grosvenor have resulted in a "significant" rent reduction from the annual £240,000 being paid to previous ground owners Bideawhile over the next three years. Cambridge United, Grosvenor and their development partners, Great Shelford-based Wrenbridge, have also shaken hands on a memorandum of understanding to consider options for a new community stadium in Cambridgeshire.

Current stands

  • The Main Stand — a single-tier, all-seater stand running the length of the east side of the pitch including a family area, dugouts and media box.
  • The Habbin Stand — a single-tier, all-terraced stand, opposite the Main Stand and named after Harry Habbin, a famous fan from the Club's early days. The south third of this stand is sometimes open for away fans.
  • The North Terrace — a single-tier, all-terraced stand running three-quarters of one end of the pitch, known among fans as the Newmarket Road End (as it backs onto Newmarket Road
    Newmarket Road, Cambridge
    Newmarket Road is an arterial road in the east of Cambridge, England. It is designated the A1134 at the western end, linked by a roundabout forming a junction with Barnwell Road to the south. The eastern end links with the city's inner ring road at another roundabout, with Elizabeth Way to the...

    ) or the Corona Stand.
  • The Marston's Smooth South Stand — a single-tier, all-seater stand, opened in 2002. Previously known as (officially, but not often) the 'Heritage Conservatories Stand' after the company won a competition to sponsor the stand in early 2004, but now named after title sponsors Marston's
    Marston's
    Marston's is the colloquial name for the brewer and pub operator Marston's plc . The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index...

     who announced a 10-year sponsorship deal with Cambridge in August 2007. This stand was primarily built to house away fans however it is often used to seat home supporters (at ticket promotion matches). At the same time that the South Stand was constructed a new Police control centre was built to the west of the stand. This building also houses emergency medical facilities for players and spectators.

The club planned to redevelop the ground (including building an all-seater stand on the North Terrace with new accommodation for the club's staff and incorporating a medium-sized hotel and new function room into the site), but after a series of financial crises, the club sold the ground in November 2004 to Bideawhile Ltd, a company partly owned by Cambridge United director John Howard
John Howard (UK businessman)
John Howard is a British businessman/entrepreneur who plays a significant role in many companies in East Anglia, including being a former member of the board of directors of Cambridge United F.C.....

, on a sale and lease back scheme for a reported £2 million. The club's supporters have since launched the Cambridge Community Stadium Trust, which is striving to buy back the ground, a step that is seen as necessary to secure the club's long-term financial security.

The stadium's frontage, often criticized for negatively portraying the stadium, was refurbished during late June and early July 2007. This involved recladding portacabins
Portable building
A portable building, or demountable building , is a building designed and built to be movable rather than permanently located. A common modern design is sometimes called a modular building, but portable buildings can be different in that they are more often used temporarily and taken away later....

 that serve as Cambridge United's offices and general maintenance of the stadium's car park. The following summer the rear wall of the Newmarket Road End was redecorated in amber with a black 'Amber Army' motif, a term for the club's supporters.

Non-football events

On Friday and Saturday 26–27 May 2006, the Abbey Stadium hosted Cambridge's first major outdoor pop concert under the title Abbey Aid
Abbey Aid
Abbey Aid was an open-air pop concert held at the Abbey Stadium, Cambridge, England in May 2006. It was the first of its kind in Cambridge, targeting pop fans as opposed to the more established Cambridge Folk Festival which targets a substantially different audience...

. The capacity of the ground was, however, reduced for this event to around 7,000, all of which was standing accommodation on the pitch. This was due to a failure to gain a safety certificate for the ground's stands as they were built without dynamic loading protection, a necessary feature for stands at a music concert. However, the concerts only attracted approximately 1,000 paying spectators on each night - well short of the numbers the organisers had anticipated - and the events ended up losing money.

External links

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