| The Lamex Stadium | |
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View from the Buildbase Stand |
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| Full name | The Lamex Stadium |
| Former names | Broadhall Way |
| Location | Stevenage, Hertfordshire |
| Opened | 1980 |
| Expanded | 2001 |
| Owner | Stevenage F.C. |
| Operator | Stevenage F.C. |
| Surface | Grass |
| Capacity |
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| Field dimensions |
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| Tenants | |
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Stevenage Athletic (1968–1976) Stevenage F.C. (1980–present) |
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Broadhall Way, known as The Lamex Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is an association football stadium in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. It has been the home ground of Stevenage (formerly Stevenage Borough) since 1980, and has a capacity of 7,100 people, including 3,142 seats.[2]
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The club plays at Broadhall Way, previously home to Stevenage Town and Stevenage Athletic. Following the bankruptcy of the former town club, the stadium was not used for three years.[1] However, the newly-formed Stevenage Borough moved into Broadhall Way in 1980 as a result of the council re-purchasing the stadium.[3][4][5]
Following Stevenage's successful 1995–96 Football Conference campaign, the Hertfordshire side were denied promotion to the Football League because of insufficient ground capacity and facilities.[1] Consequently, in the early 2000s the ground was upgraded, with a new £600,000 stand opening,[1] providing a computer learning centre underneath and work on a new £5 million training facility was announced for nearby Shephalbury Park - which subsequently opened in Autumn 2002.[5]
In January 2009, Stevenage announced that they had signed a 7-figure sponsorship deal with the Lamex Food Group, resulting in the renaming of the Broadhall Way to the Lamex Stadium.[5] As a result of the club securing promotion as league champions during the club's 2009–10 campaign, Broadhall Way hosted League football for the first ever time during the 2010–11 season.[6]
The ground's pitch includes four stands – the East Terrace, the North Terrace, the Main Stand, and Buildbase Stand.[5] The Main Stand is all-seated and covered, and covers the length of the pitch, although it has open corners to either side of the stand. At the back of the stand there are a number of glass-fronted areas to various club offices and executive boxes.[1] The club shop is situated next to the Main Stand, opposite to the club's official car-park.[7] Opposite to the Main Stand is the East Terrace, which is a covered terrace for home supporters. The terrace has a gable with a clock sitting on its roof above the half-way line,[1] as well as holding a television gantry on its roof.[3]
The North Terrace is situated behind the goal at the north end of the ground and is just seven steps deep.[1] Three-quarters of the terrace is covered, whilst one-quarter is open and without cover.[5] The stand can hold a capacity of 700 people,[8] and also offers facilities for disabled fans.[1] Opposite the North Terrace is the Buildbase Stand, which is a single tiered, all-seated covered stand. The stand was built in 2001, costing £600,000 and provides a computer learning centre underneath.[5] The stand also has an electronic scoreboard in the centre of the roof, making it visible to home supporters.[1] Behind the stand is the supporters' club.[9] However, the stand is reserved for away supporters and can hold a capacity of 1,400.[8] A new set of floodlights were installed before the start of the club's 2007–08 campaign.[2]
The stadium hosted the England C team, who represent England at non-League level, in January 2003, for a friendly against an Italy XI outfit.[10] Additionally, for five years, the ground played host to the Tottenham Hotspur reserve side,[11] but the North London club opted to use Leyton Orient's Brisbane Road for the start of the 2007–08 season due to its more convenient geographical location.[12]
At the end of the 2005–06 season, Broadhall Way also hosted the Conference South play-off final between St Albans City and Histon; a match that St Albans won 2–0 in front of 3,284 spectators.[13] The following year, the stadium played host to the play-off final again, where 3,167 were in attendance to watch Salisbury City beat Braintree Town 1–0 to gain promotion to the Conference National.[14] It hosted the final for the last time in May 2008 when Eastbourne Borough beat Hampton & Richmond Borough 2–0.[14] In addition to this, various charity based matches have taken place at the ground in recent years.
The highest attendance recorded at the stadium was 8,040 for a match against Newcastle United in the FA Cup fourth-round on 25 January 1998.[15] A temporary stand was erected behind the away end to increase the stadium capacity to 8,100, enough to satisfy the FA.[16] The highest attendance recorded for a competitive league match at Broadhall Way is 7,024, when Stevenage played Luton Town in the Conference National in April 2010, previously beating the 6,520 attendance when Stevenage played Hereford United in the Conference National play-offs in May 2005.[17] The club's lowest attendance whilst playing in the highest tier of non-league football is 879 for a match against Stalybridge Celtic in March 1995.[18] The lowest attendance recorded at the ground is 314 for a Conference League Cup quarter-final match against Crawley Town in March 2005.[19]
The highest seasonal average for Stevenage at Broadhall Way since the club was promoted to the Football Conference in 1994 is 2,748, during the club's 1996–97 campaign.[20] The lowest overall average attendance was in the side's first year in the Conference, in 1994–95, averaging 1,415.[18]
The ground is located just over a mile away from Stevenage railway station, which is adjacent to the town centre,[21] the station lies on the East Coast Main Line north of King's Cross station.[2]
In April 2011, Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace confirmed that the club were looking for investment to re-develop the North Stand, which can only currently hold a capacity of 700 people.[22] The new plans involve a 2,000 all-seater stand that Wallace "wants to signify Boro's transition from a former non-league outfit to that of an ambitious, forward-thinking Football League club".[22] The new build would look similar to the South Stand from within the stadium – except for being a few rows deeper.[22] Wallace hopes construction will begin no later than 2012, but if investors get behind the project earlier then it would be a case of getting work underway as soon as possible.[22]
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