Stonebridge Road is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

Northfleet Northfleet is a town in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. It is located immediately west of Gravesend, and on the border with the Borough of Dartford. Northfleet has its own railway station on the North Kent Line, just east of Ebbsf ...

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, also known as Kuflink Stadium for sponsorship reasons. It is primarily used for

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 ...

matches. Stonebridge Road was constructed in 1905, and was initially the home of Northfleet FC, which merged with Gravesend FC in 1946. It is currently the home ground of Ebbsfleet United (formerly Gravesend & Northfleet FC). Thus, Stonebridge Road has been the home of Ebbsfleet and its predecessor football clubs for over 100 years. Although one of the Fleet's local rivals, from 2000 to 2006

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

had a groundsharing agreement with Ebbsfleet United to use Stonebridge Road as its home. Gillingham used Stonebridge Road briefly for home matches in 1961.

Ground details

The stadium has a capacity of 4,769 people. The average attendance for Ebbsfleet United home ties at Stonebridge Road was 1,165 in the 2006-2007 season. When the Fleet plays at Stonebridge Road, the home supporters typically sit in the Main Stand or in the Plough End. Both those seating areas are covered, although seats were not installed in the Plough End, which is also called the Northfleet End, until 2006. Home fans also stand in the terraced Stonebridge Road Stand, which runs along the length of the pitch on the side of the stadium closest to the street and which is also covered. Away supporters typically stand in the Swanscombe End, which is an open terrace. The pitch size at Stonebridge Road is 112 by 72 yards for football matches, and the pitch is presently maintained by groundsman Peter Norton. The postcode (for maps and directions) of Stonebridge Road is DA11 9GN.

History

Ebbsfleet United, then called Gravesend and Northfleet F.C., played its first ever match after the merger of the two Kent clubs at Stonebridge Road in August 1946 against Hereford United. The Fleet won that first match 3–0 with more than 5,000 fans in attendance. The stadium's record attendance is 12,032, which was achieved against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

in February 1963 in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Fourth Round tie. In April 2002, the Fleet gained promotion to the top level of non-league football, the

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

, by defeating Bedford Town on the last day of the season at The New Eyrie. The season also saw the highest modern day attendance at Stonebridge Road, an official figure of 4,068 spectators was announced for the game was against title rivals

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames Estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ...

, although unofficial estimates put the number closer to 6,000 fans. Following the club's victory in the FA Trophy in May 2008, the parade honouring Ebbsfleet United's victorious squad started at Stonebridge Road. In July 2014, the construction company PHB agreed a sponsorship deal with the club to rename the stadium as The PHB Stadium, Stonebridge Road. A new sponsorship deal for stadium naming rights was struck in 2017 and the ground is currently The Kuflink Stadium.

Future

In August 2009 proposals for a new stadium as part of redevelopments in the local areas were rejected by Kent County Council and Gravesham Borough Council. After the owners of the freehold put the site up for auction on 21 September, a group of former directors, Ebbsfleet supporters and MyFootballClub members set up a limited company to raise the funds to buy out the freehold. On 17 September 2009, Gravesham Borough Council announced that they had bought the ground, to be leased to the club at £1 per year, but with the option of the Club purchasing it from the Council if sufficient funds can be raised. In 2016, work began on a new multi-million pound redevelopment of the stadium with the demolition of the Liam Daish stand and adjoining terracing. The resulting structure on the Stonebridge Road side will house all of the operational and commercial offices, as well as hospitality and social facilities and seating. The new stand opened for supporters in December 2016 and was fully operational in November 2017. Because National League requirements state a stadium capacity of 4,000 is in place, the club completed work on a £200,000 strengthening of the Swanscombe End terrace to bring the Kuflink Stadium up to a capacity of 4,769, from its previous 3,134.

References

External links

Ebbsfleet United F.C. Official Site
- 360-degree panorama and photos of Stonebridge Road
Stadium images

- Club secures free hold ownership of ground {{coord, 51, 26, 58, N, 0, 19, 20, E, type:landmark, display=title Ebbsfleet United F.C. Football venues in England Sports venues in Kent Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Kingdom Sports venues completed in 1905 American football venues in England 1905 establishments in England