Broadwood Stadium

Broadwood Stadium
Location	Cumbernauld, Scotland
Coordinates	55°56′41.19″N 4°02′13.51″W / 55.9447750°N 4.0370861°W / 55.9447750; -4.0370861
Opened	1994
Owner	Broadwood Stadium Company (owned by North Lanarkshire Council)[1]
Surface	3G artificial pitch[2]
Construction cost	£8 million
Architect	Walker Group
Capacity	7,936[3]
Field dimensions	112 x 76 yards (pitch)
Tenants
Clyde F.C. (1994 - Present) Airdrieonians (1994 -1998) Cumbernauld Colts (2012 - Present)

Broadwood Stadium, also referred to as simply Broadwood, is a football stadium and multi-use community sports complex situated in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium was opened in 1994 and since then has been the home venue of Scottish League Two side, Clyde F.C.. It has staged the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup on four occasions and has been chosen to host numerous representative fixtures.

History

Clyde previously played in Glasgow at Barrowfield Park, from their creation in 1877 until 1898, and then Shawfield Stadium from 1898 until they were evicted in 1986. Clyde shared Firhill with fierce rivals Partick Thistle from 1986 until 1991, and then Douglas Park with Hamilton Academical until moving to the purpose built Broadwood in 1994.^[1] The move to Broadwood, 10 miles outside Glasgow,^[1] meant that the club would lose some fans in the move, but hoped to gain some new supporters in the new town of Cumbernauld, which had never hosted senior football before.

This historic relocation was the first of several that have taken place in British football since, seeing a club move to a more viable location for attracting support. Some 18 months after Clyde relocated to Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld, Meadowbank Thistle relocated from Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh to the Almondvale Stadium in Livingston (also a new town) and to reflect their new location changed their name to Livingston F.C.. Several years later, Airdrie United, formed after the collapse of the old Airdrieonians club, took over Clydebank Airdrie and its place in the Scottish league.

A much more high profile relocation of this kind took place in England in 2003, when Wimbledon F.C. relocated to Milton Keynes (some 70 miles from their historic South London home) in search of a location that would attract more support, and the following year were rebranded as Milton Keynes Dons. Like Cumbernauld, Milton Keynes was a new town which had never previously hosted senior football.

The stadium opened to the public in February 1994 to a full house at that time, of 6000 fans. Clyde lost the game 2–0 against Hamilton Academical. At the time of opening, only two stands, the Main Stand and the West Stand, had been completed, giving the stadium a capacity of 6,000. The third, South Stand was completed in 1997 to bring the overall capacity to just over 8,000. Plans to complete the stadium, and bring the overall capacity to 10,000 were shelved after Clyde failed to win promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2004.

It also previously hosted another Scottish League club, Airdrieonians, between 1994 and 1998. Broadwood also formerly hosted Rangers reserve team matches on a regular basis. Broadwood has hosted many Scotland U-21 matches. Broadwood was the scene of a giant Scottish Cup shock in 2006, when Clyde beat holders Celtic 2–1. Broadwood has also hosted four Scottish Challenge Cup finals.

Structure and facilities

Broadwood has three all seated stands with a capacity of 7,936. It is equipped with a full size astroturf pitch, which the Clyde first team uses to train, and where the Clyde youth teams play their home fixtures. It also has 4 5 a side pitches for public use, changing rooms, and a gymnasium, the latter being located to the north side of the pitch.

For the 2012-13 season, Clyde will play their football on a new 3rd generation synthetic pitch.^[2][4] Broadwood will hence become a multi-purpose stadium.

Future

The future of the stadium is unclear. Clyde have announced their intention to leave Broadwood for a site elsewhere.^[5] On October 2011, they revealed that East Kilbride was one of the possible locations that they were exploring. East Kilbride is currently the largest town in Scotland without a senior football team.^[6] In addition, on September 2012, they were hinting at the possibility of a move back to Rutherglen for the first time in nearly 30 years to develop the Clyde Gateway Stadium in a ground-sharing agreement with current tenants Rutherglen Glencairn, who approved the proposal.^[7]

It was announced that along with the introduction of a 3G surface, the club would also be sharing the ground with local team Cumbernauld Colts FC.^[2][8]

In April 2013, an EGM took place at broadwood stadium which gave the clyde owners (CIC members)a chance to vote on a proposed move to East Kilbride, this motion was carried and the directors can now officially pursue and cif possible complete a move to East kilbride, with the team being renamed EK Clyde, casting further doubt on the future of the stadium.^[9]

References

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