Abbey Stadium
What was the official name of Abbey Stadium from 1932 to 2009?
Abbey Stadium Abbey Stadium is a football stadium in Cambridge , England . It has been the home ground of Cambridge United F.C . since 1932 , and currently has a maximum capacity of 8,127 spectators . Cambridge Regional College F.C. , Cambridge Uniteds feeder club , played their home games at The Abbey from 2006 until their dissolution in 2014 . The first match ever played at the Abbey was a friendly against a team from Cambridge University Press on 31 August 1932 . The record attendance at the ground ( 14,000 ) was also for a friendly , against Chelsea to mark the first use of the grounds new floodlights on 1 May 1970 . This was the first time an English League grounds record crowd had turned out to watch a friendly . Until well into the modern era , the Abbey Stadium was the only Football League ground to be styled a stadium , and was second only to Wembley Stadium in so being named . However , more recent ground moves and name changes have meant that a number of league clubs now play at grounds styled stadiums . For sponsorship reasons , the ground was until 2017 officially named the Cambs Glass Stadium . For similar reasons it has also previously been named the Trade Recruitment Stadium , and the R Costings Abbey Stadium . However , thanks to the cooperation of sponsors the ground has reverted to its original name of the Abbey Stadium . History . Abbey United ( as the club were then known ) had moved to Parkers Piece at the start of the 1930–31 season . Despite the special significance of Parkers Piece in the history of football , it being the first place where the Cambridge Rules were played out , the lack of spectator capacity and disruption caused during games meant this move was not a successful one . Henry Francis , then president of the club , offered United a lifeline in 1931 when he donated land he had acquired to the club , and erected a grandstand and changing rooms on it . This land , where United have been resident since , was close to one of the clubs former grounds ( known as the Celery Trenches ) where , with the approval of the Cambridgeshire FA , the club played while the new ground was being prepared . The first match at the newly constructed Abbey ( though it was not known as this until 1961 ) was played on 31 August 1932 against Cambridge University Press . A grandstand was not opened until March 1934 , and subsequent stands were constructed between a period of many years up until 1954 when the final terrace , on the west of the ground ( now the Habbin Stand ) , was completed . Much redevelopment has occurred since including the redevelopment of the main stand to include a roof and extra seating and , most recently , the erection of a new all-seated stand at the south of the ground to replace the original open terrace that had stood there since 1966 . Despite planning permission being granted for further development , as part of the same scheme , at the north end of the ground ( including an 86-bedroom hotel , retail space , new offices and a new supporters club ) , financial difficulties meant this has yet to be entered into . In the 1991–92 season , Cambridge were challenging for promotion to the forthcoming new Premier League and were faced with the prospect of changing Abbey Stadium into an all-seater venue , as all teams in the highest two divisions of the English league were obliged to be all-seater by 1994 due to the changes in legislation that followed the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 . But due to Cambridges subsequent decline ( they were back in the lowest division of the Football League within four years ) meant that the ground has changed very little in the last 15 years , and with standing accommodation still permitted below the second tier of the English league there has been little pressure to make the stadium all-seater and in 2001 the clubs directors stated that it was their intention to retain standing accommodation for as long as they are at a level that will permit it . The same financial difficulties meant the Abbey Stadium land , donated to the club by Henry Francis in 1931 , was sold to then director John Howards company Bideawhile 445 Ltd . in December 2004 . Although the club confirmed in January 2006 it had reached an agreement in principle to buy back the ground , this has not yet happened , but is seen as crucial in safeguarding its long-term financial security . Also in January 2006 , John Howard announced plans to move out of the Abbey Stadium to a new purpose built stadium in Milton . These were criticised by fans as risking the clubs identity by moving out of the city and , despite Howard describing them as crucial to the clubs future , little else has been heard of them since . In April 2008 , the club announced that for the first time , the corporate naming rights in the stadium had been sold . Although the clubs Chief Executive Norman Gautrey acknowledged that the fans would mourn the passing of the Abbey Stadium name , it was stated to be crucial to the clubs finances given the high annual rent on the ground . Trade Recruitment began a five-year sponsorship deal on 1 May 2008 for a total fee of £250,000 . In the June 2009 a new deal was announced with a St Ives-based legal firm to rename the stadium as the R Costings Abbey Stadium . In March 2010 Cambridge Fans United started a project to purchase the Abbey Stadium from Bideawhile 445 Ltd . The attempt was unsuccessful and the stadium was sold to Grosvenor Estates for £3.5m . Positive talks between the club and Grosvenor have resulted in a significant rent reduction from the annual £240,000 being paid to previous ground owners Bideawhile over the next three years . Cambridge United , Grosvenor and their development partners , Great Shelford-based Wrenbridge , have also shaken hands on a memorandum of understanding to consider options for a new community stadium in Cambridgeshire . Current stands . - The Main Stand – a single-tier , all-seater stand running the length of the east side of the pitch including a family area , dugouts and media box . - The Habbin Stand – a single-tier , all-terraced stand , opposite the Main Stand and named after Harry Habbin , a famous fan from the clubs early days . The south third of this stand is sometimes open for away fans . - The North Terrace – a single-tier , all-terraced stand running three-quarters of one end of the pitch , known among fans as the Newmarket Road End ( as it backs onto Newmarket Road ) . - The Marstons Smooth South Stand – a single-tier , all-seater stand , opened in 2002 . Previously known as ( officially , but not often ) the Heritage Conservatories Stand after the company won a competition to sponsor the stand in early 2004 , but now named after title sponsors Marstons who announced a 10-year sponsorship deal with Cambridge in August 2007 . This stand was primarily built to house away fans however it is often used to seat home supporters ( at ticket promotion matches ) . At the same time that the South Stand was constructed a new Police control centre was built to the west of the stand . This building also houses emergency medical facilities for players and spectators . The club planned to redevelop the ground ( including building an all-seater stand on the North Terrace with new accommodation for the clubs staff and incorporating a medium-sized hotel and new function room into the site ) , but after a series of financial crises , the club sold the ground in November 2004 to Bideawhile Ltd , a company partly owned by Cambridge United director John Howard , on a sale and lease back scheme for a reported £2 million . The clubs supporters have since launched the Cambridge Community Stadium Trust , which is striving to buy back the ground , a step that is seen as necessary to secure the clubs long-term financial security . The stadiums frontage , often criticised for negatively portraying the stadium , was refurbished during late June and early July 2007 . This involved recladding portacabins that serve as Cambridge Uniteds offices and general maintenance of the stadiums car park . The following summer the rear wall of the Newmarket Road End was redecorated in amber with a black Amber Army motif , a term for the clubs supporters . Non-football events . On Friday and Saturday 26–27 May 2006 , the Abbey Stadium hosted Cambridges first major outdoor pop concert under the title Abbey Aid . The capacity of the ground was , however , reduced for this event to around 7,000 , all of which was standing accommodation on the pitch . This was due to a failure to gain a safety certificate for the grounds stands as they were built without dynamic loading protection , a necessary feature for stands at a music concert . However , the concerts only attracted approximately 1,000 paying spectators on each night – well short of the numbers the organisers had anticipated – and the events ended up losing money . External links . - The Abbey on Cambridge Uniteds Official Site - Cambridge Community Stadium Trust homepage - Stadium images at StadiumDB.com