The Broadfield Stadium is a

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

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

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 ...

. It is currently used mostly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches and is the home ground of

Crawley Town F.C. Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...

The stadium has a capacity of 6,134 people, and is owned by Crawley Borough Council. Between 2013 and 2018, the stadium was named the

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Stadium as part of a sponsorship deal. In late 2018, the stadium was renamed "The Peoples Pension Stadium" as part of a new sponsorship deal. For the 2022/23 Season, the stadium has reverted back to being named the "Broadfield Stadium".

History

Crawley Town FC spent 48 years at their Town Mead home until the land was sold to developers in 1997. The club then moved to the Broadfield Stadium, about two miles across town. In January 2012 the application for the new 2,000-seater East Stand (and facilities including new turnstiles and

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

standard flood lights) was accepted by

Crawley Borough Council Crawley Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Crawley, in the county of West Sussex, England. The council consists of 35 councillors, either two or three for each of the 13 wards in the district. It is currently controlled by t ...

. The upgrade is required to meet the league rules which require a minimum 5,000 capacity stadium. After just one week of construction, the new East Stand was completed on 2 April 2012, bringing the total capacity of the Broadfield Stadium to 5,500. Upon completion, Crawley's first game with the new stand was against League Two side Crewe Alexandra on 6 April. The match ended in a 1–1 draw, with a new record crowd of 4,723, the previous best being 4,522. The record attendance reached 5,880 on Saturday 5 January 2013 when Crawley Town hosted Reading in the FA Cup. Between 2013 and 2018, the stadium was called The Checkatrade.com Stadium as part of a sponsorship deal with the online trades comparison company Checkatrade.

Stands

West Stand

The West Stand is the main stand, running two-thirds of the length of the pitch. It contains club offices, merchandise shop, changing rooms and hospitality. It is raised above pitch level meaning that fans have to climb a small flight of stairs at the front to enter the seated area. Prior to the building of the East Stand, it was the only stand in the stadium to contain seats and a small section at the north end of the stand was available to away supporters. It is now entirely for home support.

North and South Stands

The North Stand and South Stand are two identical small roofed terraces. The South Stand contains the most vocal home support and the North Stand is allocated to away fans. Both stands curve around the corners of the pitch to meet up with the West Stand. The South Stand has been known as the Structured Communications Stand since December 2015.

East Stand

The East Stand is an all-seated roofed stand with a capacity of 2,154. It is mainly for home fans although some seats at the north end of the stand are available to away supporters. The stand opened for the first time on Good Friday 2012 for the League Two home game against Crewe Alexandra. The stand was planned following promotion to the football league in May 2011, to comply with Football League regulations. Work on the East Stand of the stadium started in early February 2012. It replaced the uncovered East terrace which was a standing area. Between 2013 and 2015 it was known as the Checkatrade.com Stand but was renamed

The People's Pension The People's Pension is a United Kingdom trust based defined contribution workplace pension scheme for non-associated employers, commonly referred to as a Master Trust, 'master trust'. History The UK Pensions Act 2008 established new duties which r ...

East Stand in December 2015 due to a sponsorship deal with

B&CE B&CE is a not-for-profit financial services company based in Crawley, West Sussex. The company provides insurance-based products to people working in the UK construction industry. Group Structure Building and Civil Engineering Holidays Scheme Ma ...

Location

The stadium is located in Broadfield, Crawley. Next to a roundabout about a mile from

Crawley railway station Crawley railway station is a railway station serving the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. It is down the line from , measured via Redhill. It is operated by Southern. The station is the last stop on the Arun Valley Line before it join ...

and two miles from

Three Bridges railway station Three Bridges railway station is located in and named after the village of Three Bridges, which is now a district of Crawley, West Sussex, England. It is at the point where the Arun Valley Line diverges from the Brighton Main Line and Thamesli ...

, which is on the

Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line (also known as the South Central Main Line) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom that links Brighton, on the south coast of England, with central London. In London the line has two branches, out of and station ...

. The roundabout has a large white and red football in the centre and is at the end of the Brighton Road, which is easy to find from junction eleven on the

M23 motorway The M23 is a motorway in the United Kingdom, running from the south of Hooley in Surrey, where it splits from the A23, to Pease Pottage, south of Crawley in West Sussex where it rejoins the A23. The northern end of the motorway starts on what ...

External links

Official website

References

{{Crawley Football venues in England Women's Super League venues Sports venues in West Sussex Buildings and structures in Crawley Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Kingdom Crawley Town F.C. Sports venues completed in 1997 English Football League venues Sport in Crawley 1997 establishments in England