The Arsenal Training Centre, often referred to as its geographical location London Colney in
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
, is the
training ground
A training ground is an area where professional association football teams prepare for matches, with activities primarily concentrating on skills and fitness. They also sometimes form part of a club's youth system, as clubs consider it important t ...
of
Arsenal Football Club
Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...
. It houses ten full-size pitches, an indoor facility and a medical and rehabilitation centre.
Constructed after manager
Arsène Wenger
Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...
campaigned for Arsenal to replace its existing
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
groundshare
A groundshare, also known as a shared stadium or shared arena, is the principle of sharing a stadium between two local sports teams. This is usually done for the purpose of reducing the costs of either construction of two separate facilities and r ...
site, it opened in October 1999 at a cost of £10 million. The training centre was financed by the transfer of
Nicolas Anelka
Nicolas Sébastien Anelka (; born 14 March 1979) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and retired Football player, player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. As a player, he regularly fe ...
to
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
.
As well as accommodating Arsenal's first team and youth teams, the centre from 2003 to 2012 acted as the training base for the
England national football team
The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...
before home internationals and
friendlies
An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
. It has attracted criticism from local residents over environmental and catchment issues.
History and development
When
Arsène Wenger
Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...
joined
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
in October 1996, he attempted to organise an extra training session at
University College London Union
Students' Union UCL (formerly University College London Union) is the students' union of University College London. Founded in 1893, it is one of the oldest students' unions in England, although postdating the Liverpool Guild of Students which ...
(UCLU) Sports Grounds in Shenley, for the benefit of getting to know his players.
Wenger was told that the ground – owned by UCL, was reserved for its students, which left him not knowing “whether to laugh or cry”.
A few weeks after, a fire partially burnt down the training centre, causing £50,000 worth of damage. Arsenal temporarily rehoused their training base to the
Sopwell House Hotel
Sopwell House is a historic Georgian country house, now a luxury 128 bedroom hotel, country club & spa located south of St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It gained fame as the gathering place for the England national football team before inter ...
in
St Albans
St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...
. Wenger, dismayed by the arrangement, campaigned for a purpose-built, Arsenal-owned ground that housed the latest training equipment.
This was one of the "important decisions" he wanted to make for the club – "Without an assurance of that freedom and control I would not have stayed."
By February 1998,
Hertsmere Borough Council
Hertsmere is a local government district and borough in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Borehamwood. Other settlements in the borough include Bushey, Elstree, Radlett and Potters Bar. The borough borders the three north London ...
had granted consent for Arsenal to build a training centre on greenfield land, adjacent to a local school, in the Bell Lane area,
London Colney
London Colney () is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is located to the north of London, close to Junction 22 of the M25 motorway.
It is near St Albans and part of the City and District of St Al ...
.
[ ] It is situated adjacent to the former facilities at the Shenley UCLU Sports Grounds, which
Watford Football Club
Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. They play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football.
The club’s original foundation is 1881, aligned with that of its antecede ...
use for training purposes. They concluded it was “essential to support the training facility”, that it would replace an existing building used by the club and that Arsenal's community work “constituted exceptional circumstances”.
The plans were referred to the
Environment Secretary John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...
, who ratified it, in spite of the site being within the
green belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...
.
Planning permission was obtained in September 1998.
Richard Marshall and
Dearle & Henderson designed the training ground and its facilities.
Wenger was "heavily involved" in the process – “even down to the kitchens” and shared ideas from his time as
Nagoya Grampus
(formerly known as ) is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture and founded as the company team of the Toyota Motor Corp. in 1939, the c ...
manager, when the club itself was building its own training centre.
As part of a fact-finding mission, club representatives visited other training facilities around Europe, such as
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
and
Auxerre
Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...
.
Arsenal's physiotherapist
Gary Lewin and fitness coach
Tony Colbert were involved in their respective areas.
The project, transforming a 140-acre site, was completed in 45 weeks at a cost of £10 million. Arsenal financed this through the transfer of
Nicolas Anelka
Nicolas Sébastien Anelka (; born 14 March 1979) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and retired Football player, player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. As a player, he regularly fe ...
to
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
for £22.5 million in August 1999.
The Arsenal Training Centre was opened by
Sports Minister A minister of sport (or sports minister) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with sports.
Minister of Sport may refer to:
* Ministry of Tourism and Sports (Argentina)
* Minister for Sport (Australia)
* Minist ...
Kate Hoey
Catharine Letitia Hoey, Baroness Hoey (born 21 June 1946), better known as Kate Hoey, is a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister for Sport from 1999 ...
on 11 October 1999.
Chairman
Peter Hill-Wood
Peter Denis Hill-Wood (25 February 1936 – 28 December 2018) was a British businessman and a chairman of Arsenal Football Club.
Biography
Hill-Wood was born in Kensington, London, son of Denis Hill-Wood and his wife Mary Smith.
His fath ...
described it as “simply superb”, while Wenger felt it acted as a "big attraction" for players to come to Arsenal.
Unlike before, the training centre was open to the first team squad and youth teams for training simultaneously, which in Wenger's words gave Arsenal a “stronger feeling of togetherness”.
The club have since expanded the training centre to include a press briefing building, as well as an indoor pitch facility.
During development work in August 2006, an
artillery shell
A shell, in a military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Modern usage ...
was found near the site which led to the surrounding area being evacuated.
Facilities
The training centre covers an area of . In all, there are ten full-size pitches at the site.
Inside the complex there are training and rehabilitation areas, physiotherapy and massage rooms and remedial and hydrotherapy pools.
There are also squash/basketball courts, sauna, steam and weight rooms, a restaurant for staff and players, conference rooms, offices, classrooms and a TV studio to interview players and staff for
Arsenal TV
Arsenal TV was a sports television channel devoted to coverage of the English football club Arsenal F.C. It was a part of the Setanta Sports package and was similar to other Setanta's other channels Celtic TV, Rangers TV and LFC TV.
Arsena ...
.
All ten pitches have undersoil drainage and an automated sprinkler system. In addition, two have undersoil heating. Each pitch is built to match the playing surface specifications of the
Emirates Stadium
The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacity ...
.
Three of the pitches are reserved for the Arsenal youth team, three for the reserves and three for the first team.
The tenth pitch is where first team friendlies and Under-18 league fixtures take place.
A medical and rehabilitation centre was completed in October 2011, tailored to meet the needs of the Arsenal players.
The centre houses apparatus such as an anti-gravity treadmill and a range of screening equipment.
[ Players returning from injury are able to focus on their rehabilitation "in a separate, specialised space", with medical staff on hand.][ Extra training pitches are also set to be laid. In February 2015 Arsenal ordered 1,400 m2 of artificial grass from the Swiss company called Tisca Tiara for the training pitch.
In March 2015, Arsenal announced plans for a major redevelopment of its training centre.] The plans included expanding and upgrading the main building, constructing a player performance centre, and refurbishing the visitors, educational and media centre. Specific gym improvements include new 40m running tracks.[ New offices and meeting rooms were to be built for the scouting team, academy staff, and data analysis personnel.][ Upgraded training medical and training facilities include a spa, a cryochamber, and ]ice bath
In sports therapy, an ice bath, or sometimes cold-water immersion or cold therapy, is a training regimen usually following a period of intense exercise in which a substantial part of a human body is immersed in a bath of ice or ice-water for a ...
s.[ The project was supported by the Sport England with planning approval given by the Hertsmere borough council planning committee. Project completion is scheduled for the beginning of the 2017–18 season.][
]
Criticism
The ground has attracted criticism from local residents. A parish council meeting in October 2001 revealed that Arsenal players had not been involved with local initiatives, despite claims during its planning phase that the ground would allow the club to develop links with the local community.[ Shenley Primary School reportedly failed to receive any visits from players despite repeated requests.][ The club responded by pointing to initiatives by its Ladies team to organise competitions at local grounds.][ Plans to develop new buildings and road links to the site were challenged by residents four years later; they believed it would lead to increased traffic and noise pollution in the area.
In March 2006, '']The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' noted Arsenal's failure to develop young English players following a UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
tie against Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
, in which they did not use a single English player. According to desk research, youth team opportunities was a main reason the club obtained planning permission for the centre.[ Arsenal cited in a statement: "The Bell Lane site is within the Arsenal 'catchment area' and the club already has a very active youth policy in the area. In particular, the club currently works closely with 12 local clubs which would be maintained and enhanced if the Bell Lane proposal were to go ahead."][
]
Other uses
The England national football team
The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...
frequently trained at the ground when preparing for games in London; the agreement with Arsenal began in March 2003. They have since 2012 relocated their training base to St George's Park National Football Centre. Arsenal's training ground was used by the national team in November 2013, for the friendlies against Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
and Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
after St George's Park reported a stomach bug.
For the UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
final that took place at Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
in 2011, Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
used the centre's facilities to train. American Football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
side St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994.
The arr ...
trained at London Colney in preparation for the 2012 NFL International Series in London.
In November 2009, the ground held a tournament between teams of colleagues from eight local organisations, which raised £1,500 for charity.
References
{{Authority control
Association football training grounds in England
Arsenal F.C. home grounds
Shenley
fr:Centre d'entraînement de Shelney