Stadium of Light

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Template:About Template:Infobox Stadium The Stadium of Light is a Football stadium, the home of Sunderland A.F.C., in North East England.

1 Plans and construction
2 Since completion
3 Stadium layout
4 References
5 External links

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Plans and construction

Follwing the release of the Taylor Report in 1989, Sunderland were obliged to make plans to turn their Roker Park home into an all-seater stadium. Roker Park was a ground that mainly consisted of standing terraces; the plans would have reduced the capacity of the ground to an estimated 9,000. Enclosed by residential streets on all sides, expansion was not an option. So, in the early 1990's, Sunderland began looking at alternative stadium plans.
The front-runner that emerged was a proposed stadium located on an area of land adjacent to the Nissan car plant. The 30,000 all-seater ground was labelled "the Wembley of the North". The plans did not come to fruition, as in 1992, Nissan launched an official objection, ultimately forcing Sunderland to abandon the idea.
In 1995 Sunderland put forward a plan to build a Stadium on the former site of the Monkwearmouth Colliery which had closed on November 24 1993. The area, on the north bank of the river Wear in the Sheepfolds district of Sunderland, was only a few hundred yards from Roker Park, and in the heart of the city. On November 13 1995, Sunderland Chairman Bob Murray finally announced that the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation (TWDC) had approved plans for Sunderland to build a 34,000-seater stadium on the site.

Ballast Wiltshier PLC (who had built the Amsterdam Arena) was contracted to build the stadium at an initial cost of £15 million. In June 1996, as the planned capacity rose to 40,000, construction work began. The capacity was revised again in early 1997, and the stadium was completed on time, with a capacity of 42,000. Due to the simplistic bowl design, and ample surrounding space, the stadium could be extended in stages to hold a maximum 64,000.

During construction, the stadium had not adopted an official name, and so became known to fans simply as the Wearmouth or Monkwearmouth Stadium. The name was eventually revealed by Deputy Chairman John Fickling upon completion of the stadum - to mixed reactions. The name was chosen following a competition. Although it was partly inspired by the common mistranslation of Benfica's Estádio da Luz ground in Lisbon (Luz is actually the area of Lisbon in which it stands and the word 'luz' happens to mean 'light', hence the misnomer 'Stadium of Light' in English usage), the name is a reference to a miner's lamp, recognising the fact that the stadium is built on top a coal mine, and that many thousands of Sunderland fans, past and present, have worked in the region's mines. To emphasise the fact, a giant Davy lamp (first introduced in this area) is located in front of the box office, adjacent to the stadium. A sign at one of the Stadium gates by the West Stand reads "INTO THE LIGHT" (the other reads "FOR US ALL"; the same words were found on a famous sign at the exit to the main elevator of the Monkwearmouth Colliery.

Powerful xenon "STARDRIFT" spot-lights were mounted on the roof of the corners, casting beams of light into the sky on appropriate occasions. Image:Stadium of Light sunderland crest.jpg Transportation has always been a major issue with the stadium, due to the inner-city location, and lack of large-scale parking facilities. The St Peter's and Stadium of Light Tyne and Wear Metro stations were built to service the stadium, when the Metro was extended into Sunderland. A Park and Ride system is available on match days to allow spectators to park away from the Stadium, and a number of new bridge proposals have been put forward to link the stadium to the south bank of the river, though to date none have been approved.

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Since completion

Image:Stadium of light Haway the lads.jpg

The Stadium of Light was officially opened by HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and saw its first action in an exhibition game on July 30 1997 against Dutch League team Ajax.

In the first season, Sunderland's attendances regularly reached the mid to high 30,000 mark, and on occasion, they topped 40,000. As Sunderland were playing in the First Division at the time, this was a remarkable statistic, and directly linked to the design of the stadium, which welcomed children and families in a safe atmosphere. When Sunderland won promotion to the Premier League in 1999, the Stadium saw attendances regularly reach the 40,000 mark, and games were frequently sold out. Sunderland finished the 1999/2000 season with the 3rd highest average attendance in the league behind Manchester United and Newcastle United; the only two clubs with bigger stadiums. This huge demand resulted in the club submitting plans to develop the £7 million North Stand Extension. The plans were agreed, and in 2000 the Stadium of Light was extended to a capacity of 49,000. The Stadium of Light caters for up to 3,000 away fans for a normal league game and anywhere up to 12,000 for cup games. In 2004, in an FA Cup 3rd Round Game, League 1 Hartlepool United sold 9,200 tickets; a record for away fans in the Stadium of Light.

The stadium hosted its first international football match in 1999 when England played Belgium in a friendly match, and more seriously in April 2003 when England played Turkey in a qualification match for Template:Ec2. The latter match was marred by racist chanting from England fans [1], which brought the Football Association a fine of 150,000 Swiss franc (£90,000) from UEFA [2].

The stadium has hosted the graduation ceremonies for the University of Sunderland since 2004.

Sunderland was given provisional planning permission in 2002 to add an extra tier on to the South Stand to bring it into line with the North and West stands. This would give the stadium a capacity of roughly 55,000. Following Sunderland's relegation from the Premier League in 2003, the subsequent drop in attendances and a financial crisis, the plans were put on hold indefinitely.

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Stadium layout

The Stadium is separated into the West Stand, North Stand (formerly the Vaux Stand and the Carling Stand), East Stand (formerly the Fosters Stand), and the South Stand (also known as the Metro FM Stand). The West Stand includes the Premier Concourse which is the name of the upper tier, and a number of executive boxes. The West Stand also houses the main entrance, the changing rooms and tunnel, hospitality and banqueting suites, media facilities, and the sport's bar. The North Stand includes an upper tier, and also includes the Black Cat's Bar.

Image:Stadium of light plan.gif

The pitch is actually several metres below the level of the ground outside of the stadium. This means that the stadium is actually larger than it appears from outside. Spectators who walk through the turnstile enter into an area known as the Concourse. This area contains food kiosks, shops, televisions, bookies and toilet facilities. Each food kiosk is named after a famous past Sunderland player or a stand at Roker Park. A spectator can walk around the entire stadium inside the concourse, with the exception of the away-fans section which is closed-off. Smoking, and the drinking of alcohol is allowed inside the concourse. The concourse is linked to the seating-decks of the stadium via a series of vomitories. Each vomitory enters onto a walkway in the centre of the lower-tier. This walkway circles the entire stadium, although pedestrian movements are limited within certain sections. Seats are separated into blocks, and each block can be accessed via the central walkway, and around a walkway at pitch-level. There is no direct access to the upper-tier from the lower-tier. There are special areas on the central walkway allocated for disabled spectators and their helpers.
Away fans are usually seated the west side of the South Stand (The area coloured brown on the adjacent map).

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