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
Read more about this topic: Hastings United F.C.
Famous quotes containing the word ground:
“The democrat is a young conservative; the conservative is an old democrat. The aristocrat is the democrat ripe, and gone to seed,because both parties stand on the one ground of the supreme value of property, which one endeavors to get, and the other to keep.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 10:29.
“...In the past, as now, [Hollywood] was a stamping ground for tastelessness, violence, and hyperbole, but once upon a time it turned out a product which sweetened the flavor of life all over the world.”
—Anita Loos (18881981)