Sports teams submit plans for new Sheffield stadium

Sheffield FC and Sheffield Eagles have submitted a full planning application to Sheffield City Council outlining plans for a highly anticipated 5,000-capacity inclusive community stadium.

The new stadium, which will be based at the former Sheffield Transport Sports Club site at Meadowhead, will see a partnership forged between rugby league side Sheffield Eagles and Sheffield FC, the world’s first football team.

The community stadium will encompass professional football and rugby league facilities as well as a cricket pavilion, multi-use artificial sports pitches, a football museum and an indoor community sports hall.

It is planned that the stadium development scheme will be a fully inclusive community destination for sport and physical activity. Long-term commercial viability will be achieved by maximising public access and community use through health and well-being activities, educational programmes, social and other community events. In addition, park-and-ride facilities will be available within the development.

The proposed 5,000-capacity stadium will meet the highest standards for both Football and Rugby League, adhering to both Football League and Super League criteria.

The destination will enable Sheffield Eagles and Sheffield FC to consolidate their full range of sporting, educational, community and cultural activities on the purpose-built site. In addition to both club’s men’s and women’s teams, Sheffield Eagles Wheelchair, Learning Disability and Physical Disability teams will all be based at the complex, which will allow the club to further develop homegrown talent and provide a base for both clubs’ extensive community programmes.

The development will also generate highway improvements and cycleways in the local area.

Chairman of Sheffield FC Richard Tims said the stadium should generate positive economic uimpact by attracting visitors from outside Sheffield as well having positive community impact. He added, “This development will not be just another shared rugby and football ground. It will be a new destination for Sheffield Eagles and ‘The World’s First Football Club’ Sheffield FC.

“Whilst the site will be grounded firmly in the unique history and heritage of both clubs, including Sheffield’s status as the ‘Home of Football’, it will also be an exciting destination for sport, physical activity, business, educational, cultural, and other events that will attract local, regional, national, and international audiences.

“We plan on creating a vibrant destination on both the days when Sheffield Eagles and Sheffield FC teams are playing in the stadium, as well as on non-match days through a busy diary of community, social and other activities such as conferences and meetings, functions and cultural activities.”

Sheffield Eagles’ director of rugby Mark Aston said, “We’re very excited to have reached the milestone of submitting our planning permission application for the development of the Meadowhead site which will give us the facilities we need to not only achieve our ambitions to return to Super League, but also to give us a base from which to grow our already extensive community programme.

“The feedback from both sets of fans and networks of sponsors has been overwhelmingly positive and everyone sees the potential of both clubs being unlocked with the facilities which are being planned for, which will be world-class.”