Ashton Gate (stadium)

About

Ashton Gate is a multi-use stadium in Ashton Gate, Bristol, England, and is the home of the Bristol Bears rugby team and the Bristol City football team. Located in the south-west of the city, just south of the River Avon, it currently has an all-seated capacity of 26,462, though for marketing reasons this figure has often been advertised as 27,000.

Ashton Gate was the home of Bedminster until their 1900 merger with Bristol South End who played at St John's Lane, and the merged club played at St John's Lane until the end of the 1903–04 season, when they moved to Ashton Gate.

The ground has also played a part in the history of rugby in the city. Bristol Rugby played there on a number of occasions since the 1920s, one occasion being on 27 December 2006 when they defeated local rivals Bath Rugby 16–6 whilst selling out the stadium for an all-time record Premiership crowd outside of Twickenham. Several rugby internationals have been held, starting with England versus Wales in 1899. 100 years later, the All Blacks took on Tonga in a Rugby World Cup pool match. As of the 2014–2015 season, Bristol Rugby permanently moved to Ashton Gate. It has hosted three England under-21 international friendlies. The first was against Italy on 12 February 1997 with Darren Eadie scoring the winner in a 1–0 win in front of a crowd of 13,850. The second was against Romania's under-21s on 21 August 2007. It ended in a 1–1 draw with Matt Derbyshire giving the hosts the lead on the eighth minute but Joe Hart's 25th minute own goal gifted the visitors a draw but they had Cristian Scutaru sent off on the seventy second minute for a second bookable offence. There were 18,640 in attendance. The third was against Uzbekistan's under-21s on 10 August 2010. The hosts beat the visitors 2–0 with Danny Rose scoring on the 64th minute and Martin Kelly scoring on the 78th minute. There were 9,821 in attendance. It also hosted the 2021 National League play-off final after it was moved from Wembley Stadium to avoid clashes with UEFA Euro 2020 matches. After their promotion to the Women's Super League for the 2023–24 season it was announced that Bristol City Women would play all of their home games at Ashton Gate, having previously played the majority of their games at the club's High Performance Centre.

Lansdown Stand Originally earmarked the "West Stand", this structure was completed in time for the start of the 2016–17 season and was immediately renamed The Lansdown Stand in honour of the majority shareholder, Stephen Lansdown, who funded the Ashton Gate redevelopment. The stand marked the completion of the modern redevelopment of Ashton Gate. It is the largest in the stadium, with a capacity of 9,506. The stand has two tiers, accommodating 4,801 seats on the bottom and 4,371 seats on the top. The two levels are separated by a central area equipped with eighteen executive boxes. The roof is covered in solar panels to provide a renewable energy source to power the entire stadium. The Lansdown Stand houses the tunnel, team benches and TV gantry, whilst beneath the main seating areas are the changing rooms and offices. Three blocks of the upper tier of the Lansdown stand are designated as a family area for football matches, and one block of the lower tier is designated as the family area for rugby matches.

Dolman Stand The Dolman Stand, which lies opposite the Lansdown Stand, was built in 1970, making it the oldest stand at Ashton Gate. At the time of construction it had a small, flat Family Enclosure in front of it, but during the close-season of 1996 this area which was built up and converted into seating. In the summer of 2007, following Bristol City's promotion to the Championship, the original wooden seats in the upper area were replaced by modern plastic seats. The stand is named after the former club chairman and president Harry Dolman. It was given a complete makeover during the summer of 2015 as part of the overall redevelopment of Ashton Gate. The current stand has a capacity of 6,675 seats (5,123 upper, 1,552 lower). Atyeo Stand The Atyeo stand is the smallest in the stadium with a capacity of 3,900. Originally holding around 4,200 spectators, it was constructed in the summer of 1994. Built in order to comply with the Taylor Report - which required all-seater venues for every club in the top two Divisions - it was designed to replace an open terrace, which up until then had been known as the "Open End". The modern Atyeo Stand still contains the old dressing rooms and a large gymnasium. It is named after Bristol City legend John Atyeo, who played 645 times for City and scored 351 goals, making him the club's top goalscorer ever. He died in 1993, a year before the new stand opened. After the demolition of the Wedlock Stand, the north-east section of this stand was used to house the away fans. After construction of the Lansdown Stand, away fans were situated in the western three-quarters of the Atyeo stand. The whole stand was made available for away fans from the 2017/18 season onwards, reconfigured to hold 3,900 spectators. It is usually closed for rugby matches.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.