York Community Stadium: York City
Mtaylor848, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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York City only moved into this purpose built complex in 2021, and they played their first game here behind closed doors due to the Coronavirus pandemic that was going on at the time. They lost 3-1 to AFC Fylde too, so it wasn’t the ideal start to life in their new home.
Although named the York Community Stadium (since it is also a leisure complex and community hub), thanks to sponsorship it is currently known as the LNER Community Stadium, and the ground is shared with York City Knights Rugby League Football Club. So it’s an ‘everyone welcome’ kind of place.
Previously, Bootham Crescent had been the home of York City Football Club since 1932 when they leased the land from York Cricket Club in order to replace their former home, Fulfordgate. The club eventually purchased the ground outright in 1948 for the princely sum of £4075.
York City has as interesting history as a football club. It was first founded in 1908 as an amateur football team before folding in 1917. A new club was formed in 1922 and played their games in the Midland League. The club joined the Football League in 1929.
Stats
| York Community Stadium Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Opened | 2021 |
| Capacity | 8500 |
| Average Attendance | 2789 |
| Record Attendance | 8209 (Leeds United v Monaco 2023) |
| Pitch Size | 105 x 68 (7140) |
| Former Name | York Community Stadium |
| Owner | City of York Council |
| Sponsor | LNER |
| Clubs Hosted | York City F.C., York City Knights |
| First Fixture | York City v AFC Fylde 16/02/2021 |
| York City Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1922 |
| Nickname | The Minstermen |
| Club Mascot | Yorkie the Lion |
| Rivals | Hull City, Scarborough, Halifax Town, Luton Town |
| Previous Stadiums | Fulfordgate, Bootham Crescent |
| Kit | Red & Blue (Home) / White & Maroon (Away) / Sky Blue & White (Third) |
| Training Ground | Wigginton Road Training Ground |
| Shirt Sponsor | JMP |
| Team Owner | JM Packaging & York City Supporters' Society |
| Record Goalscorer | Norman Wilkinson (143) |
| Record Appearances | Barry Jackson (539) |
York Community Stadium Photos
From York City Fc
From York City Fc
York Community Stadium Seating Plan and Where to Sit
The all seater stadium has a more modern design, what with being built between 2017-2020 and all, so even though it isn’t a bowl design it has a contemporary feel, with the stands wrapping right the way around the pitch and each corner housing facilities of some kind.
Speaking of the stands, the East main stand is set out over three floors and also houses the hospitality boxes, players dressing rooms and space for the officials and media; the smallest of the four is the North stand which is behind one of the goals and where away supports can be found, and behind the other goal is the South stand, while the West stand runs the full length of the pitch opposite the East stand and is the best option for those with accessibility issues.
York City Ticket Prices
York don’t mess around when it comes to ticket pricing. You will pay a fixed price wherever you sit, so apart from your age nothing else will affect the price of your ticket. Adults and concessions rates are listed below:
- Adults: £20.00
- Concessions: £15.00
How To Get York City Tickets
Supporters can buy tickets by calling the ticket office directly, emailing them or heading there in person.
Where to Buy
Getting To York Community Stadium
Train – York Station is easy enough to get to on the train, but the stadium is about 3 miles away from the ground, so it would take you over an hour to walk from there.
Bus – Luckily, there are plenty of buses that serve the stadium, including the number 5 (Park and Ride), 9 and 12.
Car – From the South take the A1, the A64 and A19, from the North the A1 or A19, from the East the A64 to the A19.
By Air – Leeds – Bradford International Airport is about thirty miles West from York. Flying in is a bit extreme though isn’t it, really?
Taxi – A taxi from York Station to the ground will take 15-20 minutes and cost about £10-£12.
Parking Near York Community Stadium
Because the stadium is part of a complex, there is absolutely loads of parking available, but the process is a little long winded. Supporters can only park in a specified area within the Monks Cross P&R, and there are 400 spaces reserved on match days. These have to be paid for in advance (£5) and stewards will scan your barcode receipts to ensure no non-paters slip in. Stewards will also be guarding the other car parks to make sure supporters don’t park where they shouldn’t. Scary stewards.
Useful Resources
- Parking - Just Park
York Community Stadium Hotels
Much like the traditional pubs, many old buildings in York have been turned into hotels and B&Bs. And why would you not choose one of them over a big chain?
The White Horse - £70+
Clementine's Town House Hotel - £89+
Hotel Noir - £100+
Pubs and Bars Near York Community Stadium
York is full of historic boozers with tons of character. You could go into pretty much any one of them and it would be a real treat. For footy fans though, try one of these:
The Walnut Tree
Burton Stone Inn
The Three Legged Mare
Facilities
The facilities at York’s ground are excellent for a Football League club. There are loads of brand new toilets for one thing, the stands are all seaters and covered from the elements, and views are unobstructed. What’s more, thanks to the attached leisure complex you can play crazy golf, go bowling, get a good meal and do a bit of shopping before/after the match too.
Prices
- Programme: £3
- Pie: £3.1
- Cup of tea: £1.8
Hospitality
York City offer hospitality packages that are aimed at everyone, not just businesses and the rich. Individuals can book a table (minimum booking six people or the table will be shared) in the lounge and enjoy a three course meal, free parking, entertainment, padded seating, and even a live first half reaction from the home team’s dressing room!
The club are obviously trying to make their hospitality as appealing as possible, and it’s not too expensive either for what you get. Of course, corporate sponsors can get boxes to themselves and sponsor the programme or the match ball and things like that too.
Private Hire
There are three options for private hire at the LNER, with the main lounge being the best option for large numbers of people as it can accommodate 300 guests for presentations and the like and 200 for dining. The Jorvik and Directors lounges both have pitch views and space for up to 150 people, while the hospitality boxes are great for smaller private meetings. All can be set up with AV equipment.
Stadium Tours & Museum
At the time of writing there are no tours of the LNER Stadium available but they do sometimes hold free open training sessions where you could probably also have a look around. Plus, since half of the complex is a shopping centre you can look around that bit as much as you want.
About York City
York City Football Club has officially been in existence since 1922, with the club having spent nine years as an amateur team from 1908 until it folded in 1917. They ploughed their trade in the Football League’s third-tier until they were promoted to the second-tier in 1959.
The club is nicknamed The Minstermen because of the famous Minster that stands in the centre of the city of York. In terms of honours York have won the third and fourth divisions once, the Conference play-offs once and the FA Trophy once.
York Community Stadium History
Since it only opened in 2021, the LNER Community Stadium hasn’t exactly had much time to build up any history. Construction did take quite a while to get the green light though.
It was 2007 when York FC first identified a site for their proposed new ground, which at the time was to be a 6,000 seater, but progress was stalled several times before new plans were drawn up that included a ground share with York City Knight Rugby Club.
It was 2010 when new sites were put forward, with Monks Cross being the one that was ultimately chosen, and 2014 the planned year of completion. But more barriers to the project presented themselves in the way of concerns about drawing trade away from the town centre, and the discovery of some protected great crested newts right where the stadium was supposed to be being built.
Construction looked set to begin in 2015 but levels of bureaucracy that would be too boring to talk about here got in the way on several occasions, pushing the start date back several times until late 2017, when, finally, after a decade of fuss, work on the new stadium began.
Future Developments
The LNER Community Stadium is barely out of its wrapping paper, so the chances of them doing any work on it in the near future are minimal to say the least.