Huish Park: Yeovil Town FC

Opened in 1990, Huish Park is a purpose-built stadium that was designed to replace the Huish Athletic Ground that Yeovil Town had called home for most of the club’s existence. It took a long time for the ground to come about, with the first meeting to discuss the sale of Huish Athletic Ground taking place in the January of 1985. It cost around £3.5 million to build, opening with a friendly against Newcastle United that the Magpies won 2-1. The first competitive match at the ground was a 2-0 win over Colchester United in a Football Conference game, with the first goal having been scored by Yeovil Town player Mickey Spencer.

Yeovil Town Football Club is a professional side that is based in the Somerset town of Yeovil. Known as the Glovers, on account of the long history of glove-making in Yeovil itself, the team has been playing football since 1895. Yeovil have enjoyed some relative successes over the years, but the club has undoubtedly spent most of its time in the lower leagues. They are considered to be one of the most successful non-league sides ever in an FA Cup sense, getting big wins against teams like Sunderland over the years. That led to a match against Manchester United, which was played in front of 81,000 people.

Stats

Huish Park Stats
Year Opened	1990
Capacity	9565
Average Attendance	2730
Record Attendance	9527 (Yeovil v Leeds (23/08/2008))
Pitch Size	105 x 66 (6930)
Owner	South Somerset District
Clubs Hosted	Yeovil Town Football Club, Yeovil Town Ladies Football Club
First Fixture	Yeovil v Newcastle (04/08/1990)

Yeovil Town Stats
Year Founded	1895
Nickname	The Glovers
Club Mascot	Jolly Green Giant
Rivals	Weymouth, Hereford United, Bristol Rovers, Bristol City
Previous Stadiums	Pen Mill Athletic Ground, Huish Athletic Ground
Kit	Green with White Stripes (Home) / Yellow & Black Stripes (Away) / Pink & Black (Third)
Training Ground	Alvington Sports Complex
Shirt Sponsor	Jurassic Fibre
Team Owner	Hellier Group
Record Goalscorer	Johnny Hayward (548)
Record Appearances	Len Harris (691)

Huish Park Photos

Huish Park Seating Plan and Where to Sit

There are four stands at Huish Park, which have sponsored names that can obviously change at any moment. Here is a look at the stands as of the 2023-2024 campaign:

• Tamburino Stand – A cantilevered stand that is a single tier, this all-seated area is also the Main Stand of the stadium. There are executive boxes running across the back, whilst the dugout and the players’ tunnel are also located in this stand. The ticket office and club shop are both located at the front of the ground, whilst inside there is a small but simple electronic scoreboard
• Screwfix Community Stand – Located on the East side of the stadium, this stand is similar in nature to the Main Stand and is where the Press Box is located
• Thatchers Gold Stand – The Home Terrace is a cantilevered one that is covered
• Radio Cabs Stand – This is an uncovered terrace that is used to house the away supporters, with a large electric scoreboard standing behind it

Yeovil Town Ticket Prices

In terms of what you’ll end up paying for tickets to see Yeovil Town, there are two things that will decide the final price: your personal situation and when you buy the tickets. If you buy them before midday on a match day then you’ll pay the following:

• Adult: £16
• Senior/Military: £14
• Young Person (16-21): £10

If you leave it a bit later to get your tickets then there will be a £2 surcharge placed on them across the board, with the club obviously encouraging people to think ahead in terms of their purchasing.

How To Get Yeovil Town Tickets

Non-league teams know that they’re always going to struggle to make enough money to compete with the big boys, but one of the areas they tend to invest money is in their website. Yeovil Town are no exception, so if you want to get tickets for one of their games then the club’s own site is the best place to start. You can, of course, also buy your ticket on a match day.

Where to Buy

• Ticket Compare

Getting To Huish Park

Train – If you’re hoping to get the train to watch a Yeovil Town match then you’re in luck, with the town having two train stations. Yeovil Pen Mill is served by trains from Bristol and Birmingham, whilst Yeovil Junction sees trains coming in from London Waterloo and Exeter. Whichever one you arrive at, you’ll find yourself about three miles from the ground.

Bus – Buses from Yeovil out to Huish Park aren’t all that frequent, nor do they stop particularly close to the ground. The number 11 is the best one for you if you’re still keen to try out the public transport options.

Car – Which way you’ll go if you’re driving will depend entirely on where you’re driving from. Those coming from the Midlands will want to get onto the M5 South and then on to the A358 at Junction 25. If you’re coming from London then it will be the M3 and the A303, whilst different areas of the South will look for the A30. If you’re coming from the West Country then you can either take the A30 or the A303, following signs to Yeovil and then to the ground itself.

By Air – Bristol Airport is about an hour or so from Yeovil in a car, being around 40 miles away as the eagle flies.

Taxi – The best way to get from either of the train stations to the ground is via taxi, with punters expected to pay in the region of £10 depending on the traffic.

Parking Near Huish Park

If you’ve driven and are planning on parking close to the ground then you’ll be pleased to know that there are car parks either side of the ground, costing around £3. If you’re disabled then you’ll be able to park adjacent to the stadium provided you’ve got in touch with the Yeovil Town FC Disabled Supporters Association and organised it, given the fact that there aren’t many spaces and they’re organised on a first come, first served basis. If you’re parking anywhere else then make sure to be respectful of locals and obey the rules of the area.

• See Available Parking Near Huish Park

Useful Resources

• Parking - Just Park

Huish Park Hotels

As a town that is difficult to reach if you’re not coming from the local area it’s fair to say that Yeovil is used to putting people up. Here are some of the best hotel options:

Pubs and Bars Near Huish Park

Somerset is cider country, so make sure you try a glass of Scrumpy whilst you’re there. Here are some of our favourite haunts:

Facilities

It’s not the best stadium in the Football League but neither is it one of the worst. All of the usual places to buy food and drink exist behind the scenes, and the views are generally reasonably good from inside the ground.

Prices

• Programme: £3
• Pie: £3.2
• Cup of tea: £1.8

Hospitality

You can enjoy either the hire of the Executive Suite at Huish Park for up to 10 guests, or you could opt for the Alec Stock/Legends Lounge Package, which is less exclusive. With the latter you get a car parking space, a two course carvery meal, access to a pay bar and you’re able to hang around in the Legends Lounge.

Private Hire

Huish Park is a ‘unique conferencing and banqueting centre’, according to the club, so you know that if there’s an event you’re hoping to put on then they’ll do their best to cover it. They promise to tailor the package to suit your individual needs. Anything from a Christmas party through to a small business meeting can be hosted here, as long as you don’t need to host more than 130 people as that seems to be the limit.

Stadium Tours & Museum

Stadium tours do happen, but they seem to be organised through the Community Sports Trust rather than through the club. It doesn’t have a museum though, sorry about that.

About Yeovil Town

Yeovil Town Football Club was founded in 1895, known as Yeovil Casuals at the time because there was already a Yeovil Football Club that had been created five years earlier. Yeovil Town was adopted as the club’s name in 1897, then switching to Yeovil and Petters United when Yeovil Town and Petters United were amalgamated. It reverted to Yeovil Town for the 1946-1947 season. Having spent their existence in the lower leagues, Yeovil came to the attention of the rest of the country when the club defeated Sunderland 2-1 in the fourth round proper of the FA Cup during the 1948-1949 season, with 17,000 watching.

The team that they faced in the fifth round was Manchester United, who defeated the Glovers 8-0, but it meant that English football suddenly knew that Yeovil Town existed. In the decades that followed, the club won the various lower leagues a number of times and applied to join the Football League on a few occasions. They were founding members of the Football Conference, before eventually making it into the Football League at the end of the 1999-2000 season. Their first game at that level was a 3-1 win away to Rochdale, with the Glovers also making it to the FA Cup third round before losing to Liverpool.

Huish Park History

When Yeovil Town was formed as the Yeovil Casuals, they played their games at the Pen Mill Athletic Ground. They remained there until they moved to Huish Athletic Ground in 1920. In 1985, conversations between Yeovil and Bartlett Construction over the sale of Huish Athletic Ground took place, with the plan being for the club to move to a new home at a former army camp. In the middle of December 1986, the club was told that it wouldn’t get a better offer than the £2.4 million that was on the table. In 1987, an Extraordinary General Meeting took place and it was agreed to conclude the sale to Bartlett Construction.

Remarkably, and perhaps as a sign of just how glacial such moves are, it took until 1989 for work to start on the new stadium. It was confirmed that it would be called Huish Park as a nod to the club’s former home, with the cost of the development rising to £3.5 million but with Bartlett Constriction upping their purchase of the former ground to £2.8 million in order to help make up the difference. It eventually opened with a friendly match against Newcastle United, which took place on the fourth of August 1990 and ended in a 2-1 defeat for the home side. There was better news in the first competitive game, though, which was a 2-0 win.

Future Developments

In March 2011 a plan was announced to build a brand new stand to replace the away section of the ground, with the training pitches developed into a retail outlet. As things currently stand these plans have dropped off the agenda as far as the club is concerned.

It’s a shame, because as you can see from the artists impression, it looked great. Still, at least they got the pictures.