Abbey Stadium
| "The Abbey" | |
 |
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| Full name | The Abbey Stadium |
|---|---|
| Location | Cambridge, England |
| Owner | Grosvenor Estates |
| Operator | Cambridge United F.C. |
| Capacity | 8,127 (4,376 seated) |
| Field size | 110 x 74 yards |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1923 |
| Opened | 31 August 1932 |
| Tenants | |
|
Cambridge Regional College (2006-2014) |
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The Abbey Stadium is a football stadium in Cambridge, England. It has been the home ground of Cambridge United F.C. since 1932, and currently has a maximum capacity of 8,127 spectators.Cambridge Regional College F.C., Cambridge United's feeder club, played their home games at The Abbey from 2006 until their dissolution in 2014.
The first match ever played at the Abbey was a friendly against a team from Cambridge University Press on 31 August 1932. The record attendance at the ground (14,000) was also for a friendly, against Chelsea to mark the first use of the ground's new floodlights on 1 May 1970. This was the first time an English League ground's record crowd had turned out to watch a friendly.
For sponsorship reasons, the ground is currently officially named the Cambs Glass Stadium. For similar reasons it has also previously been named the Trade Recruitment Stadium, and the R Costings Abbey Stadium.
Abbey United (as the club were then known) had moved to Parker's Piece at the start of the 1930–31 season. Despite the special significance of Parker's Piece in the history of football, it being the first place where the Cambridge Rules were played out, the lack of spectator capacity and disruption caused during games meant this move was not a successful one.
Henry Francis, then president of the club, offered United a lifeline in 1931 when he donated land he had acquired to the club, and erected a grandstand and changing rooms on it. This land, where United have been resident since, was close to one of the club's former grounds (known as the Celery Trenches) where, with the approval of the Cambridgeshire FA, the club played while the new ground was being prepared. The first match at the newly constructed Abbey (though it was not known as this until 1961) was played on 31 August 1932 against Cambridge University Press. A grandstand was not opened until March 1934, and subsequent stands were constructed between a period of many years up until 1954 when the final terrace, on the west of the ground (now the 'Habbin Stand'), was completed.
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