St Mary’s Stadium

St Mary’s Stadium Profile

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St Mary’s Stadium is the home of Southampton F.C. in the city of Southampton. It is a UEFA 4-star rated stadium with a capacity of 32,689.

History

After a lengthy and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to build a new 25,000 seater stadium and leisure complex at Stoneham, on the outskirts of Southampton, the city council offered the club the chance to build a new ground on the disused gas work site in the heart of the city, about one and half miles from The Dell. The move was cited as the club returning home, due to the fact that the club was formed by members of the nearby St Mary’s Church, as the football team of St. Mary’s Church Young Men’s Association before becoming Southampton St Mary’s FC, and eventually Southampton FC.

Construction started in December 1999 and was completed at the end of July 2001, with work on the stadium itself and improvements to local infrastructure cost a total of £32 million.

The Saints have been in residence since August 1, 2001 when they moved from the The Dell, which for the final years of its life, held just over 15,000 spectators – less than half the size of the new stadium. The first match was played on 1 August 2001 against RCD Espanyol, with the Spanish side winning 4-3.

The first competitive hat trick at the stadium was not scored by a Saints player, nor was it scored in a game involving Southampton FC. That honour goes to former Aldershot Town striker Stafford Browne, who scored three goals in the Shots’ 3-1 victory over Havant & Waterlooville in the Hampshire Senior Cup final on 1 May 2002.

Facilities

The stadium is a complete bowl, with all stands of equal height. There are two large screens at either end that can be seen from any seat.

The stadium has four stands, which are named after the areas of Southampton they face, when looking from the centre circle. The main (east) stand is the Itchen Stand, and faces the River Itchen. The opposite stand is called the Kingsland Stand. Behind the south goal is the Chapel Stand, and to the north is the Northam Stand.

At the rear of the Chapel, Kingsland and Northam Stands, there is a continuous, translucent ‘panel’ that is designed to allow light to access the pitch. A large section of the roof at the Chapel Stand, at the southern end of the stadium is also translucent, for the same reason

At the rear of the Itchen Stand, there are 42 executive boxes, and a police control room. The stand also houses the club’s offices, changing rooms, press facilities and corporate hospitality suites. The four main hospitality suites are named after some of Saints’ greatest players:

* Terry Paine
* Mick Channon
* Bobby Stokes
* Matt Le Tissier

The Northam Stand is home to the majority of the more vocal supporters, as well as visiting fans. Visitors can be given up to 4,250 seats (15 per cent of the capacity) for cup games, and up to 3,200 for league matches.

Name

The official ground name at opening was ‘The Friends Provident St Mary’s Stadium’. Initially the club wanted the ground to be named purely after the sponsors, but fan pressure influenced the decision to include a non-commercial title, and hence the ground is now nearly always referred to simply as ‘St Mary’s’. It is a rare example of fans successfully influencing club stadium naming policy in recent years, and one which earned Southampton fans respect amongst many other football fans. In 2006 the new sponsor Flybe.com did not choose to purchase the naming rights to the stadium, meaning it reverted to the name ‘St Mary’s Stadium’.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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