Colchester Community Stadium

The Colchester Community Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as the Weston Homes Community Stadium, is an all-seater football stadium, the home of Colchester United. The stadium was built at Cuckoo Farm, on the northern outsirts of Colchester, with work beginning in July 2007, ready for the 2008-09 season. The stadium has a capacity of about 10,000, with potential to increase to 18,000, and cost £14 million, largely paid for by Colchester Borough Council, with additional grants from the Football Foundation, the Communities and Local Government and the East of England Development Agency.

The site contains more than 600 parking spaces and two synthetic surface football pitches, for use by the Colchester United Community Sports Trust. The complex is encompasses a variety of sporting, leisure and business facilities, including hospitality suites. The catering facilities are managed by Lindley Catering, also caterers to Manchester City and Derby County.

On 12 June 2008, Colchester United revealed a ten year sponsorship deal with Weston Homes, worth near to £2 million to sponsor the new stadium. The deal included sponsorship of Colchester United's shirts for the 2008-09 season.

The football club took possession of the stadium in July 2008. Colchester United's first game at the stadium was a 2-1 loss against Athletic Bilbao on 4 August 2008. The first goal at the stadium was scored by Bilbao's Aritz Aduriz. Colchester's first goal at the new stadium was the equaliser, scored by Scott Vernon which was also the first penalty awarded at the stadium. The first red card in the stadium was also shown in that game, Athletic Bilbao's Ander Murillo was sent off an hour into the match. Near the end of the game David López Moreno scored to give Bilbao a 2-1 victory.

The first competitive match played at the ground was a 0-0 draw between Colchester United and Huddersfield Town in Football League One, before an attendance of 5,340.

References

External links

• Photos of the new stadium ColchesterUnited.com