Liberty Way is a multi-use sports stadium in Nuneaton,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, which is leased by

Nuneaton Town F.C. Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton to ...

but is also used by Nuneaton R.F.C., which rents the stadium from the football club. Liberty Way has been used by the rugby club since the 1990s; however, it was a mere pitch with a perimeter fence and nothing like the facilities of the current complex. The current stadium is made up of 4 stands.

Opening

Nuneaton Borough moved into the stadium prior to the start of the 2007–08 season, and their first match at the stadium was played on Tuesday 17 July 2007, when local rivals

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

visited for a 2–2 draw. The first ever goal at the stadium was scored by a

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian trialist playing for Coventry City, whilst the first Boro player to score was defender Gavin Cowan. The stadium also played host to the Coventry Jets American football team, who beat rivals

Bristol Aztecs The Bristol Academy Aztecs are an American football team based in Filton, South Gloucestershire, England, who operate in the BAFA National Leagues Premier Division South, the highest level of British American football. They operate from the Stok ...

13–7 in the BAFL Premier Division semi final, August 2007.

Stadium

The stadium has 4 stands Britannia Tyres Stand which can hold 1,800 supporters. Away Stand (Loans 2 Go Stand), which can hold 1,000 visiting supporters. Rugby Club Terrace (South Terrace) which is the only uncovered part of the stadium holds up to 500 standing. Main Stand has 500 seats. There is also a small complex of club offices, Sports Bar (Legends Lounge) between the Britannia Tyres Stand and the Main Stand. The ground also meets the ground grading criteria for the National League

Geography

Liberty Way is part of the Attleborough Fields

Industrial Estate An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...

and therefore the stadium is surrounded by warehouses and factories. There is a sizeable

car park A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...

at the stadium, as well as other pitches for football and rugby. Nuneaton R.F.C. use one of the outfield pitches for their home games when Nuneaton Town play at the stadium

Re-naming the stadium

In 2014, the stadium was renamed as the JDRF James Parnell Stadium to promote juvenile diabetes and to promote the

JDRF JDRF is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that funds type 1 diabetes (T1D) research, provides a broad array of community and activist services to the T1D population and actively advocates for regulation favorable to medical research and approval o ...

Foundation. On 23 July 2015 it was renamed the A1 Gasforce Stadium. For the 2016 to 2017 season, it was renamed as the Coombe Abbey Arena. For the 2017 to 2018 season, the stadium was renamed as the LDJ Solicitors Stadium.

References

Sports venues in Warwickshire Football venues in England Sports venues in Nuneaton Rugby union stadiums in England Nuneaton Borough F.C. {{England-sports-venue-stub