Ground
Hastings United's current home ground is The Pilot Field, where the club have been based since 1985. The club used the ground as Hastings & St. Leonards, but were forced to move in 1948 after the council granted use of the stadium to the newly formed Hastings United. Hastings & St. Leonards relocated to The Firs, next door, and spent a short spell playing on municipal pitches. The Pilot Field has a capacity of 4,050 and has a main stand to the side of the pitch which seats and covers spectators. There is also a club bar near the main entrance to the ground which hosts various events in the function room, which is available for hire. The ground's record attendance is 4,888 v Nottingham Forest, for a friendly which took place in 1996.
Due to the increasing ground maintenance cost and ageing main stand, club chairman Dave Walters has expressed his interest in working with the council to build a new stadium as part of a new sports complex, which would involve selling off The Pilot Field and the neighbouring Firs football ground, currently lying derelict. However, there has been a lack of progress regarding the proposals. More recently, the club have been trying to raise funds to replace their current floodlights, which has involved fund-raising schemes and a grant from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund
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Famous quotes containing the word ground:
“Keep out of Chancery.... It’s being ground to bits in a slow mill; it’s being roasted at a slow fire; it’s being stung to death by single bees; it’s being drowned by drops; it’s going mad by grains.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden.”
—Bible: Hebrew Genesis 2:9-10.
“The poet is like the prince of the clouds
Who haunts the tempest and laughs at the archer;
Exiled on the ground in the midst of jeers,
His giant’s wings prevent him from walking.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)