Withdean Stadium is an athletics stadium in Withdean, a suburb of

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. It was constructed in 1930. It was the home track of Olympic athlete

Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Ovett set five world records for 1500 metre ...

. Between 1999 and 2011 it was the home ground of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.

History

The site was opened as a lawn tennis club venue in 1936, having been used as playing fields before this. The centre court had seating for 2,000 and was used for the Davis Cup match between Great Britain and New Zealand in the spring of 1939. Later developments included a zoo and miniature railway. In 1955 the then mayor of Brighton, Walter Dudeney, opened Brighton Sports Arena as a new athletics arena hosting various sporting activities and events. The arena was upgraded over the years, with lighting added and additional squash courts. In 1980

opened an all-weather running track, which was resurfaced in 1997. In 1999 the stadium became the temporary home of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.

Use by Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.

The club's original stadium, the Goldstone Ground, had been sold for commercial redevelopment in 1997. This resulted in the team playing their home matches for two seasons at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium, over from Brighton, before moving to Withdean Stadium. The only other local option for Albion had been to play at

Sussex CCC Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The c ...

County Cricket Ground, Hove The County Cricket Ground, known for sponsorship reasons as The 1st Central County Ground, is a cricket venue in Hove, in the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The County Ground is the home of Sussex County Cricket Club, where m ...

Withdean Stadium was voted the fourth worst football stadium in the UK by ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' in 2004. The temporary nature of the stadium was obvious - the stadium was primarily used for athletics; there was a single permanent stand along the north side, while the other stands were assembled from scaffolding, some of which also served as temporary seating at the

Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

golf tournament. The largest was the South Stand, running the entire length of the pitch. The east end of the pitch contained two medium-sized and one small stand. One of the larger stands here was designated as the family stand. The West Stand was the designated away stand. Changing and hospitality facilities were provided with portable cabins placed haphazardly around the site, and there was very limited on-site car parking. There was considerable opposition in the local neighbourhood to allowing the football club to use the stadium. After some unique concessions were made, the club was allowed to move into Withdean in 1999. Amplified music was banned during football matches (except for the traditional " Sussex by the Sea"), and matchday parking restrictions were imposed within a one-mile radius of the ground. After a year, the music restrictions were eased, but the parking limitations continued in force. The price of each match ticket also included a public transport voucher allowing free bus or rail travel throughout the Brighton and Hove area on match day. For Albion's match against Sheffield United on 2 October 2004 the stadium was temporarily renamed Palookaville as it hosted the launch party for

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known as Fatboy Slim, is an English musician and DJ who helped popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. His music makes extensive use of Sampling (music), samples from eclectic ...

's album of the same name. The album was released on Skint Records, then the club's shirt sponsor, and for that match the team wore shirts bearing the name Palookaville instead of Skint. The name Palookaville was also considered humorously appropriate by fans because it reflected the inadequacy of the club's temporary home. Additional seating was added at the East and West Ends of the ground in November 2005. The club played their last game at Withdean on Saturday 30 April 2011 against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

. Since the club has moved out, the temporary seating and other structures have been removed with only the original North Stand remaining, with seating for around 1,300.

Withdean Sports Complex

Today the Stadium is part of the Withdean Sports Complex leisure centre owned by

Brighton and Hove City Council Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority for Brighton and Hove, a local government district with city status in the ceremonial county of East Sussex, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also per ...

and operated by Freedom Leisure. Facilities include squash and tennis courts, a gym and rock climbing wall.

References

External links

Withdean sports complex official site
{{Brighton and Hove buildings Sports venues in Brighton and Hove Athletics (track and field) venues in England Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Football venues in England Sports venues completed in 1936 Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Kingdom