Members of Brighton and Hove City Council are due to vote on a motion calling for a purpose-built stadium for the Albion women’s team.
The motion is due to be debated at a meeting of the full council on Thursday (19 October).
Brighton currently use the Broadfield Stadium, in Crawley, as their regular ground for Women’s Super League home matches.
Some take place at the Amex Stadium, including the 3-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur today (Sunday 15 October).
Council leader Bella Sankey said: “The phenomenal rise of women’s football at a local and national level deserves recognition. It also requires practical support to ensure the women’s game continues to grow.
“It’s been over 100 years since the Football Association introduced a ban on the women’s game being played at the professional grounds and pitches of clubs affiliated to the FA.
“Despite this ban being lifted in the 1970s, we are still a long way from women’s football reaching parity.
“Look how the Albion men’s team has roared to success once we got the Falmer stadium (the Amex Stadium) built. It’s about time we brought the Albion women’s team home to our city too.
“Our motion to full council demonstrates our full commitment to working with the club to deliver this for the Brighton women’s team and all the fans.”
Albion boss Melissa Phillips said: “We get a brilliant welcome and wonderful support at Crawley but we want to be back in Brighton.
“Football in Brighton is at an all-time high and so is the growth of the women’s game. We know we can bring that same sense of pride to the community that our men do.
“So it is really encouraging to have the support of Brighton and Hove City Council in helping us to find a suitable location within the city to provide a permanent home for the team.”
Brighton finished 11th in the WSL table last season and are the Spurs match today are in 10th place.
The men’s team, who started playing at the Amex Stadium in 2011 and were promoted to the Premier League in 2017, recorded their best ever top-flight finish last term, coming sixth which is also their current position.
Absolute priority for a council threatening bankruptsy which can’t even fix the potholes.
Well done.
Strawmanning an issue does you no favours. It makes appear bitter. You’d also better read the article more carefully.
Agreed Barry. Who wants weeds cleared , graffiti cleared, roads and potholes repaired? We don’t , we want a stadium just for girls. The gods drive mad those they wish to destroy
The Amex is a £100m stadium yet the women’s team only get to play there as a special treat. What does that say about equality in the workplace?
Whilst I’m all for equality and Women’s football, the Amex is there now – why cannot this be shared more frequently? Where on earth in Brighton and Hove could there be space enough to build a new stadium with suitable infrastructure, and if such space was found, would it not be better used for housing?
totally agree – pure grandstanding. One stadium for all… that’s inclusive!
To be fair to Bella, it’s amazing how much value can be created by a ball sport! Spitfire supports whomever throws the damn thing – even if it’s not his!
Errrrr…….isn’t there already a rather large, rather expense, football stadium on the outskirts of Brighton……?
Why can’t they use that ?????
They can dear boy,
But only on Tuesdays!
Wonderful if the council can find, and fund the purchase of, land, and even more wonderful if it can also fund building on the land. But a football stadium??? What a sick joke. Where are this councils priorities? Weed infested foot paths/poholes/l severe housing shortage/closed librarie/graffiti/cesspool of drug addiction/reduction in essential services? I suspect that someone has seen an opertunity here of persuing their own personal. agenda, and is in a position to do so. Local government at its worse.