Stevenage - Sport and Leisure

Sport and Leisure

Stevenage has a King George's Field named in memory of King George V, which boasts cricket and a bowls green, which is used by Stevenage Town Bowls Club. The field was the original pitch that Stevenage FC used to play on. The cricket ground is called Ditchmore Lane. The Stevenage Leisure Centre contains the Gordon Craig Theatre and many facilities for sports. The nearby Stevenage Leisure Park has a multiplex cinema, clubs and restaurants. The main shopping area is around Queensway and the Westgate. At the south of the town there is a retail park called Roaring Meg, which takes its name from a stream (a tributary of the river Beane) that runs under it. The river can be seen along the western edge of the area. There is also shopping in the Old Town. The Roaring Meg did have an ice rink but this was shut down.

Stevenage F.C., formerly known as Stevenage Borough, is the town's major football team. The club won the Conference National during the 2009–10 season, having previously been denied promotion to the Football League due to insufficient ground facilities in 1996. They also played against Arsenal rivals Tottenham Hotspur on the 19th February 2012 in the FA Cup 5th round. The game ended 0-0, due to a Tottenham goal being ruled offside . Stevenage lost the replay 3-1, but took the lead through a Joel Byrom penalty. During Stevenage's first season as a Football League club, they secured back-to-back promotions to League One, the third tier of English football, after beating Torquay United 1–0 in the 2010–11 play-off final at Old Trafford. The club also won the FA Trophy in 2007 beating Kidderminster Harriers 3–2 at Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 53,262. It was the first competitive club game and cup final to be held at the new stadium. The club reached the final again in 2009, beating York City 2–0.

The town also has a number of other successful sports clubs, including a woman's football team (Stevenage Borough Ladies FC) and Stevenage Rugby Club. Many top class sporting heroes have come from Stevenage, the most notable being Ashley Young, Lewis Hamilton, Ian Poulter and Jack Wilshere.

Fairlands Valley is a large area of parkland with boating lakes. The town is a very green town, with avenues of trees (typically Norway Maple) throughout but also large woods such as Monks & Whomerley Wood, which is ancient semi-natural woodland. Indeed in the UK it is only matched for the ease of access to large woodland by places such the Forest of Dean (Woodland Trust data). There are also many playing fields (e.g. St. Nicholas playing fields near Ripon Road). The town's schools all have a substantial amount of ground; key examples are Ashtree Primary School, Moss Bury Primary School, Longmeadow Primary School and Barnwell.

Stevenage also have a basketball team: Stevenage Scorpions.