Gloucester City’s AFC Will Be Hosting Football Fans After 13 Years In Meadow Park
Friday, February 19, 2021
Hempsted, Gloucester--Gloucester City AFC is about to hold the FA Youth Cup tie after 13 years on Meadow Park. The next generation Gloucestershire footballers are taking to the ground after the home ground was submerged in the 2007 floods. This new Meadow Park has 350 seater stands that are two in number and a newly raised artificial pitch.
Gloucester City AFC Manager Paul Groves announced that the 13 years after the flood that rose to the crossbar of the old Meadow Park, the fans this year will be able to cheers the Tigers from the T-end. The fans will now cheer from the new ‘flood-proof’ stadium. The ticket for the FA Youth Cup match against the Needham Market at Suffolk was sold on Friday evening on December 18, 2020. The ticket sales speed up after the Gloucester City AFC club gained approval from ‘The National League’ that allowed up to 978 spectators. By December 21, 2020 night, most areas of the ground were sold. It just had a few standing tickets remaining with the organizers. In total, 1000 fans bought the match’s ticket.
The club received the approval to open Meadow Park’s gates for the Gloucester Safety Advisor Group (SAG) and the Local Building Control. The supporters have purchased the tickets for the football game before the entry to the stadium. They have been provided specific times for the arrival and the Meadow Park ground areas where they can watch the match.
According to Gloucester City AFC Club Co-Chairman Alex Petheram, “We rose the ground to around 4 meters across the whole ground’s site. We have put the protective bunds around the River Severn and raised the particular levels. The stadium has been fully transformed with the 3G pitch. But, in case the City faced the floods now, we all will need an ark as the whole Gloucester City will be underwater.”
Until now, the Gloucester City AFC fans were watching the live streaming games or were playing the games and betting on their favorite team over online betting sites, can now sit in the stadium and enjoy the FA Youth Cup tie against the Needham Market. No players without tickets will be allowed in the stadium as strict social distancing norms will be exercised. If the County moves to the ‘Tier Three’, then no spectators will be allowed. The previous matches have been played behind closed doors only, and the games were live-streamed to the paying viewers only.
The Club’s Supporter Trust official Matt Philips stated about the new stadium, “The credit for opening the new stadium at the Meadow’s Park goes to the Alex and the Gloucester people who made it happen. The Gloucester residents are the ones who kept this club going.” The Meadow Park is the home stadium to the Gloucester City AFC since 1986.
The team Tigers is still at the top of the league’s matches after playing thirteen games. This Youth Cup tie fixture will be the first ‘home game’ for the Gloucester team Paul Groves’ new manager. Talking about Paul Groves, the former Grimsby and AFC Bournemouth manager switched from the Israeli side ‘Maccabi Haifa’ last week. He started with a winning start with a 1-0 victory with the Curzon Ashton in the National League North.
The games have already been hosted, and the Tigers are at the top of the league matches. The new generation Gloucestershire players will get an advantage to play over this state-of-the-art pitch. However, the Co-Chairman confirmed that after the game, the leftover work will be completed.