- Colchester Community Stadium
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Colchester Community Stadium 
Full name Weston Homes Community Stadium Location Colchester, England Coordinates 51°55′24″N 0°53′52″E / 51.923394°N 0.897703°ECoordinates: 51°55′24″N 0°53′52″E / 51.923394°N 0.897703°E Opened July 2008 Owner Colchester Borough Council Surface Seeded Grass Construction cost £14 million Capacity 10,084 Tenants Colchester United F.C. The Colchester Community Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as the Weston Homes Community Stadium, is an all-seater football stadium, the home of Colchester United. The stadium was built at Cuckoo Farm, on the northern outskirts of Colchester, with work beginning in July 2007, ready for the 2008–09 season.[1] The stadium has a capacity of about 10,000, with potential to increase to 18,000, and cost £14 million, largely paid for by Colchester Borough Council and Colchester United, with additional grants from the Football Foundation, the Communities and Local Government and the East of England Development Agency.[2] It was named overall winner in the 2009 RICS East of England Awards. [3] The stadium is within 1/4 mile of Junction 28 of the A12, which opened in December 2010.
Contents
Facilities
The site contains more than 600 parking spaces and two synthetic surface football pitches, for use by the Colchester United Community Sports Trust. The complex encompasses a variety of sporting, leisure and business facilities, including hospitality suites.
Sponsorship
On 12 June 2008, Colchester United revealed a ten year sponsorship deal with Weston Homes,[4][5] worth up to £2 million to sponsor the new stadium. The deal included sponsorship of Colchester United's shirts for the 2008–09 and 2009-10 seasons.
Notable fixtures
The football club took possession of the stadium in July 2008. Colchester United's first game at the stadium was a 2–1 loss against Athletic Bilbao on 4 August 2008. The first goal at the stadium was scored by Bilbao's Aritz Aduriz. Colchester's first goal at the new stadium was the equaliser, scored by Scott Vernon which was also the first penalty awarded at the stadium. The first red card in the stadium was also shown in that game, Athletic Bilbao's Ander Murillo was sent off an hour into the match. Near the end of the game David López Moreno scored to give Bilbao a 2–1 victory.
The first competitive match played at the ground was a 0–0 draw between Colchester United and Huddersfield Town in Football League One, before an attendance of 5,340.
The stadium hosted its first international match on 18 November 2008. England Under 19s beat Germany Under 19s 1–0 in front of a record U19 and Community Stadium attendance of 9,692.
Records
The record attendance at the stadium is 10,064 when Norwich City beat Colchester United 5-0 on 16 January 2010.[6] This game saw Colchester's biggest home league gate in 42 years. [7] This beat the previous record for a Colchester United game at the stadium for a competitive match of 9,559 versus Leeds United in League One on 4 April 2009.
References
- ^ Building work on stadium begins BBC News, 23 July 2007
- ^ Colchester stadium rises from ground East Anglian Daily Times, 30 October 2007
- ^ BBC News announcement of RCIS East of England awards for 2009
- ^ Colchester reveal ground sponsors BBC Sport, 12 June 2008
- ^ U's seal stadium deal Colchester United FC
- ^ Colchester 0 - 5 Norwich BBC Sport, 16 January 2010
- ^ Colchester vs Norwich City Colchester United FC, 16 January 2010
External links
- Photos of the new stadium ColchesterUnited.com
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- Colchester United F.C.
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