- Avenue Stadium
The Avenue Stadium is a
football (soccer) stadium, home of Dorchester Town.The stadium is located near to a branch of
Tesco on the outskirts of Dorchester, off Weymouth Avenue. Opened in 1990 and costing £3m to construct [Dorset Echo Souvenir Supplement,March 29 ,2005 ] , it consists of one main stand, which is all-seated, and three small banks of terracing, which is all-standing. A railway line runs along the back of the stadium.While the capacity of the ground is 5,009, it is very rarely full — an average
Conference South fixture might expect to attract 500–600 supporters. However, more important or "glamorous" fixtures (such as the 2005friendly match against a Chelsea XI orBoxing Day derby matches against rivals Weymouth) may attract crowds nearing the ground's capacity. The league record at the new stadium was 4,129, while on2 January 2006 the attendance against Weymouth was 3,006.Dorchester Town are fortunate to have their ground situated on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall who, when Tesco supermarket took over the site of the original ground in Weymouth Avenue, insisted that any development took place through them. Accordingly, the Avenue Stadium was designed by the Duchy's architects, with the Duke of Cornwall himself - HRH the Prince of Wales - taking his usual keen interest in all things architectural. Prince Charles paid two official visits to the ground, plus a number of unofficial ones prior to the grounds inaugural match of
18 August 1990 .Kerry Miller is unequivocal in stating that at the time of its first competitive match, on
18 August 1990 (vs Worcester City), the Avenue Stadium was “certainly the most innovative football ground built in England for many years”.The whole ground was built by McIntyre Construction at a cost of around £3 million, of which £110,000 was spent on the playing surface. 32,000 tons of chalk were laid to ensure the good drainage of a pitch what was prepared fully 18 months before completion of the stadium. the chalk lies 1 metre deep at one end, and 3 metres deep at the other, to ensure a level surface. The floodlights are of Football League standard, the ground having accommodated AFA Bournemouth for the first part of the 2001/02 season.
The stadium is now known as the Jewson Stadium after
Jewson agreed to sponsoring the ground.References
External links
* [http://www.pyramidpassion.co.uk/html/dorchester_town_fc.html Pyramid Passion feature]
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