Ten Acres

Ten Acres, known as the Silverlake Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football ground in Eastleigh, England. It has been the home of Eastleigh F.C. of the Conference Premier since 1957 when they moved from Walnut Avenue.^[1] The clubs's record attendance is 4,216 for a conference premier match against Macclesfield on February 28, 2015, this match was live on BT sport and saw Eastleigh win convincingly 4-0.

Description

Eastleigh FC moved to Ten Acres in 1957 from their previous ground Walnut Avenue.

In 1976 floodlights were added to Ten Acres.

In 2004, following promotion to the Ryman premier league, the old wooden stand was knocked down, and a new 352-seat grandstand was built on the halfway line stretching for just under a third of the pitch. Behind the motorway end hard standing was hard pitchside standing with a cover, this was named the Silverlake Stand. In 2006, the roof was widened across the Silverlake Stand to cover the whole width of the pitch.

Until 2006, the area opposite the grandstand was just hard standing backing into a tall fir trees. During the summer of 2006, a metal back and roof were added, along with an electronic scoreboard on the roof which was the Premier Telecom stand.

In 2009 150 seats were added to the middle of the Silverlake Stand to give Eastleigh the necessary ground grading to compete in the Conference South playoffs.

On 20 December 2012, concerning the situation regarding the stadium, the club announced that an offer had previously been made to the board at ‘Ten Acre Holdings’ (the current owners). Following discussions the board of Ten Acre Holdings felt that they were willing to accept the offer presented to them as long as the remaining shareholders also felt a desire to sell the ground at this stage. On this basis a full shareholders meeting was called and the outcome was that a clear large majority were in favour of accepting the offer and that the sale of the freehold should progress.

Ten Acre Holdings had been set up to safeguard the club and enable it to get back on a sound financial footing, which it has achieved over recent years. The proposed purchase was intended to provide the football club with the strongest possible opportunity to continue its progression.[10]

The ground was, again, extensively redeveloped during 2014. New pitch side fencing was installed following damage to the previous fencing during Eastleighs championship winning game against Basingstoke. The former East stand at Sandy Park (home of Exeter chiefs RFC) was rebuilt along the premier telecom side of the ground as well as behind the clubhouse goal providing a covered terraced accommodation for 2,000 spectators. On 2 December 2014, the newly completed 2,290-seater South Stand was opened for the first time in a Conference Premier game against Dartford F.C. with the club allowing spectators in for free to celebrate the occasion.^[2] The Mackoy community stand was officially opened on February 28, 2015 with a club and stadium record attendance of 4,216 for a conference premier match against Macclesfield, this match was live on BT sport and saw Eastleigh win convincingly 4-0.

The stand behind the clubhouse goal has been affectionately named the "shed end" and is where most vocal home fans congregate.

References