New Douglas Park

New Douglas Park
Hope CBD Stadium
NDP
New Douglas Park
Location within South Lanarkshire
Former names SuperSeal Stadium (2016–2018)
Location Hamilton, Scotland
Coordinates 55°46′55.76″N 4°03′30.61″W / 55.7821556°N 4.0585028°W / 55.7821556; -4.0585028
Capacity 6,018[1]
Surface Grass (2001–2004)
FieldTurf (2004–2008)
Grass (2008–2013)
TigerTurf (2013-2018)
Greenfields MX (2018-)
Opened 2001
Tenants
Hamilton Academical
Hamilton Ac. Reserves/Youth
Hamilton Ac. Women		 2001–present
2001–present
2003–present

New Douglas Park, currently known as the Hope CBD Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Hamilton which serves as the home of Scottish Premiership side Hamilton Academical. It takes its name from Douglas Park, the club's former stadium which was located immediately to the south of the current site.

Stadium

The stadium is located in the north of Hamilton, close to the Burnbank and Whitehill residential areas and to Hamilton West railway station. Construction of the stadium was completed by Ballast Nedam in 2001; the initial intention was for its name to be The Ballast Stadium.[2][3]

The pitch was converted to artificial FieldTurf in 2004, the more durable surface allowing the club to hold training sessions and youth academy matches there without damaging the playing field for first team matches. After Hamilton was promoted to the Scottish Premier League in May 2008, the artificial surface had to be replaced by grass due to league rules, an alteration which owner Ronnie MacDonald claimed had cost £850,000 (including the installation of undersoil heating).[4] In addition to the turf replacement, a small temporary stand was erected in March 2008 to bring the stadium's capacity up to the league requirement of 6,000 all seater.

At the beginning of season 2013–14, Hamilton returned to an artificial playing surface, this time produced by TigerTurf[5] with an installation cost of £400,000.[6] In June 2018, that surface was voted as the worst of 42 SPFL venues in a survey of the league's players.[7] The following day, the club made public their intention to install a new Greenfields surface in time for the 2018-19 season,[8] costing £750,000 and with the same specification as the SFA performance centre at Oriam.[9][10]

In July 2016 it was announced that as part of a £750,000 sponsorship deal, New Douglas Park would be renamed the SuperSeal Stadium after a deal was agreed with Glasgow-based home improvements company SuperSeal.[11] In July 2018 it became the Hope CBD Stadium following another sponsorship deal with a firm providing cannabidol products owned by the club's chief executive Colin McGowan.[12][13]

During the 2013–14 season, Albion Rovers played Scottish Cup ties against Motherwell[14] and Rangers[15] at the stadium.

Records

The stadium's record attendance of 6,007 was set on 17 January 2015 when Hamilton played Celtic in a Scottish Premiership game.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Hamilton Academical Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Shields, Tom (29 July 2001). "Nice new stadium, shame about the name". The Sunday Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2018 – via HighBeam Research.
  3. ↑ "Football: Accies have a Ballast at new home". Daily Record. 27 July 2001. Retrieved 25 July 2018 – via HighBeam Research.
  4. ↑ "Hamilton chairman Ronnie MacDonald on why he rates Billy Reid as the top manager in the SPL". Daily Record. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  5. ↑ "Hamilton Academical New Douglas Park Stadium". TigerTurf. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  6. ↑ "Hamilton Accies set to roar on £400,000 Tigerturf pitch". Evening Times. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  7. ↑ "Hamilton Accies' pitch named worst in SPFL by players". STV. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "Hamilton splash out for high-grade new pitch". BT Sport. 5 June 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  9. ↑ "Hamilton Accies splash £750k on new artificial surface to improve New Douglas Park". Daily Record. 5 June 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  10. ↑ "Football: Projects". Greenfields UK. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  11. ↑ McGilvray, Andy (14 July 2016). "Hamilton Accies announce biggest sponsorship package in their history". Daily Record. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "Hamilton Accies' stadium to be named after cannabis oil firm". The Scotsman. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  13. ↑ "Hamilton Academical: Club defend cannabis plant sponsorship decision". BBC Sport. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  14. ↑ Albion Rovers 1-0 Motherwell Archived 15 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine. BBC Sport, 30 November 2013
  15. ↑ Albion Rovers 0-2 Rangers Archived 15 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine. BBC Sport, 17 March 2014
  16. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 January 2016. Retrieved 2015-01-17.
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