Central Park, Cowdenbeath

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Central Park
Location	Central Park Cowdenbeath Fife Scotland UK KY4 9QQ
Opened	1917
Owner	Cowdenbeath Football Club
Surface	Grass
Tenants	Cowdenbeath Football Club
Capacity	4,370 (1,622 seated)

Central Park is a football stadium in Cowdenbeath, Scotland. It is the home ground of Cowdenbeath F.C.. Originally the team played at another ground called North End Park. They moved to Central Park when it was opened in 1917. The ground is situated in the centre of the town, beside the High Street.

Central Park has a capacity of 4,370. The most unusual feature of the ground is a tarmac race-track circling the pitch. this is because the stadium is occasionally used for motor sport events. The track means fans on the east and west terraces are quite far away from the pitch. The pitch size is 107 x 66 yards.

Three sides of the ground are uncovered standing terraces. The seating area is on the north side of the stadium, which seats 1,431 spectators. Another unusual feature is that there are actually two stands here, side by side. Originally there was one main grandstand here which sat 3,500, however half of it was destroyed by a fire in 1992. The surviving section of this stand is called the West Stand, or the Old Stand. Beside this the ' Alex Menzies Stand' (or New Stand) was constructed in 1993. Along with this the club built new dressing rooms, a board room, function suite, and office facilities. Both stands have a row of floodlight pylons in front of them, which can obstruct supporters views. As the perimeter wall surrounding the ground is very low it is possible to watch games from outside the stadium, without paying to enter.

[edit] Future

There are currently plans for Cowdenbeath to move to a new stadium which will be located on the outskirts of Cowdenbeath. If plans go ahead the state of the art stadium should open in Summer 2009. It is to be used 7 days a week for either Training or Games. It will cost around £4 million and it is unknown if Stockcars will also be allowed to race within the new stadium.