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 ...
stadium
A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
in
Arbroath
Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...
,
Angus, Scotland
Angus (; ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City (council area), Dundee City and Per ...
. It is the home ground of
Scottish Professional Football League
The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...
team
Arbroath F.C.
Arbroath Football Club is a semi-professional Scottish football club based in the town of Arbroath, Angus. They currently play in the . The club was founded in 1878 and plays home matches at Gayfield Park. They play in maroon strips and are ni ...
The club have played at Gayfield since 1880, although the pitch has only been on its current alignment since the ground was redeveloped in 1925. The ground has a capacity of , including 861 seats.
History
Arbroath F.C.
Arbroath Football Club is a semi-professional Scottish football club based in the town of Arbroath, Angus. They currently play in the . The club was founded in 1878 and plays home matches at Gayfield Park. They play in maroon strips and are ni ...
was formed in 1878 and played at Woodville Park and Hospitalfield before acquiring a former rubbish tip on the seafront to build Gayfield. The new ground was opened in 1880, with the first match being a
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rob Roy. The original site was very cramped, with no room for spectators on the Dundee Road side; when
Rangers
A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...
lost to Arbroath in the Scottish Cup they complained that the pitch wasn't playable due to its size, saying they had been "beaten on a back green", and won the rematch. In September 1885, Arbroath played Bon Accord in the Scottish Cup at Gayfield and won 36–0, which remains a British record score for a senior football match.
Arbroath joined the
Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...
in 1921, with the first League match at Gayfield being against
East Fife. Gayfield's record attendance of 13,510 was set against Rangers in February 1952. Floodlights were first installed in 1955. The main stand had to be rebuilt following a fire in 1958. This stand was replaced in 2002 by the present main stand, which was extended in 2010.
Upgrades to the stadium exterior (main front wall, club shop, turnstiles and main entrance) were carried out in 2022, replacing structures which had been largely unchanged since 1925.Famous Arbroath stadium Gayfield to undergo upgrades The Courier, 11 April 2022
Structure and facilities
Gayfield is situated on the sea front, to the west of Arbroath harbour, on the southern edge of the town. Due to its position next to the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
, in winter spectators can be exposed to severe cold and winds.
The ground has a capacity of . The only seating area is the single tier, covered, Gayfield Stand. The stand was opened in 2002 and seats 861 spectators. The stadium has standing terracing around the entire pitch with covered pleasureland stand (South End), the East Terrace and the bellrock buffet stand (North End). When segregation is required, the away support is allocated the pleasureland stand End and half of the East Terrace, but this can be reduced to just the pleasureland end if required. The pitch size is .
Records
*Record attendance: 13,510 v
Rangers
A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...