Location | Stonebridge Road, Northfleet, Kent DA11 9GN |
---|---|
Owner | Ebbsfleet United |
Capacity | 4,769 (2,179 seated) |
Construction | |
Built | 1905 |
Opened | 1905 |
Stonebridge Road is a multi-purpose stadium in Northfleet, Gravesend, Kent, England, also known as Kuflink Stadium for sponsorship reasons. [1] It is primarily used for football matches. Stonebridge Road was constructed in 1905, and was initially the home of Northfleet FC, which merged with Gravesend FC in 1946. [2] It is currently the home ground of Ebbsfleet United (formerly Gravesend & Northfleet FC). [3] 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 had a groundsharing agreement with Ebbsfleet United to use Stonebridge Road as its home. [4] Gillingham used Stonebridge Road briefly for home matches in 1961. [5]
The stadium has a capacity of 4,769 people. [6] The average attendance for Ebbsfleet United home ties at Stonebridge Road was 1,165 in the 2006-2007 season. [2]
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. [3] 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. [2]
The pitch size at Stonebridge Road is 112 by 72 yards for football matches, [2] and the pitch is presently maintained by groundsman Peter Norton. [7]
The postcode (for maps and directions) of Stonebridge Road is DA11 9GN. [8]
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. [9] The stadium's record attendance is 12,032, which was achieved against Sunderland in February 1963 in an FA Cup Fourth Round tie. [6]
In April 2002, the Fleet gained promotion to the top level of non-league football, the Conference National, 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, although unofficial estimates put the number closer to 6,000 fans. [9]
Following the club's victory in the FA Trophy in May 2008, the parade honouring Ebbsfleet United's victorious squad started at Stonebridge Road. [10]
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. [11]
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. [12] After the owners of the freehold put the site up for auction on 21 September, [13] 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. [14]
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. [15]
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is the administrative centre of the Borough of Gravesham.
The Borough of Dartford is a local government district in the north-west of the county of Kent, England. Its council is based in the town of Dartford. It is part of the contiguous London urban area. It borders the borough of Gravesham to the east, Sevenoaks District to the south, the London Borough of Bexley to the west, and the Thurrock unitary authority in Essex to the north, across the River Thames. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Dartford, the Swanscombe Urban District, and part of the Dartford Rural District. According to the 2011 Census, its population was 97,365.
Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football.
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Swanscombe /ˈswɒnzkəm/ is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is 4.4 miles west of Gravesend and 4.8 miles east of Dartford.
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 Ebbsfleet International railway station on the High Speed 1 line.
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Ebbsfleet International railway station is in Ebbsfleet Valley, Kent, 10 miles east of London, England, near Dartford and the Bluewater shopping centre to the west and Gravesend to the east. The station, part of the Thames Gateway urban regeneration project, is on the High Speed 1 rail line, 400 metres south-west of Northfleet railway station, off the A2 trunk road, 5 mi (8 km) from its junction with the M25 motorway. It served as a primary park-and-rail service for the London 2012 Olympics.
Priestfield Stadium is a football stadium in Gillingham, Kent. It has been the home of Gillingham Football Club since the club's formation in 1893, and was also the temporary home of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club for two seasons during the 1990s. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international football matches and a London Broncos rugby league match.
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Cherrywood Road, known as the Easy As Hgv Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is the ground of Farnborough F.C. and the former home of Farnborough Town F.C. before the club went out of business in 2007. It lies in the town of Farnborough, Hampshire. The capacity of the ground is 7,000, with 1,927 seats. Up to the mid-1970s Farnborough Town F.C. had played at Queens Road but moved due to the lack of facilities. Cherrywood Road was newly built with the help of a local company Worldwide Carpets.
Gravesend was a county constituency centred on the town of Gravesend, Kent which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election. It is most notable for being a bellwether, with the winner of Gravesend winning every election from 1918 through to the present day except for 1929, 1951, and 2005.
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Ebbsfleet Valley is a new town and redevelopment area in Kent, South East England, and part of the Thames Gateway, southwest of Gravesend. Development is coordinated by the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation.
Gravesend United Football Club was a football club based in Gravesend, Kent. The club evolved from the Gravesend Football Club and was initially founded in 1893. It disbanded on two occasions in 1902 and 1914 and subsequent reformed in 1903 and 1931. It finally dissolved in 1946 when it amalgamated with Northfleet United to form Gravesend & Northfleet F.C.
Northfleet United Football Club was a football club based in Northfleet, Kent.
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Coordinates: 51°26′58.34″N0°19′20.18″E / 51.4495389°N 0.3222722°E