Falmer preferred site for new Brighton Women stadium

Back in October 2023, the Albion announced ambitious plans to build Brighton Women the first stadium in England specifically for a professional women’s team.

Easier said than done, of course. Boxed in between the South Downs and the sea, the City of Brighton & Hove is not exactly blessed with space for development. And that is before you get to the NIMBY culture which Sussex residents seem to excel at.

Building the Amex Stadium took 12 years, through planning battles and the fierce resistance of Falmer locals. That came after fighting off equally strong opposition to the club using Withdean Stadium as a temporarily home.

Which is why the location of the new Brighton Women Stadium has garnered such intrigue. Could Withdean be redeveloped? Might Brighton offer to transform Whitehawk’s Enclosed Ground in exchange for Albion Women using it? Or how about a facility being built at the Lancing training ground?

Buried in a long piece on ESPN about Brighton mastering the transfer market, an almost throwaway comment has revealed the club’s preferred site for a new stadium is Falmer.

Chief operations officer Paul Mullen was speaking about infrastructure investments being made, such as the facilities at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre. Attention then turned to plans for the new Brighton Women Stadium.

Mullen said a new ground at Falmer close to the Amex: “Makes most sense because of the centralised resources we can tap into: ticketing, the grounds team, the shop, hospitality. As we’ve started to look at a bespoke facility, we factor that in.”

The infrastructure is also in place to get supporters too and from Falmer. Options like Whitehawk or Lancing have little-to-no public transport links.

Falmer Station may be a nightmare after 30,000 have attended a Premier League match. But it could easily cope with a third of that crowd for WSL fixtures.

This much we know from how easy the train journey is on the rare occasions Brighton Women play at the Amex for WSL fixtures.

As far as we are aware, Mullen’s comments are the first time a potential site has been mentioned in public by a figure from the club.

It shows how serious the Albion are about the venture. That talk of a purpose built women’s stadium is not just hot air or a publicity act.

The long and depressing trek up the A23 to Crawley for Brighton Women home games might actually become a thing of the past.

Where in Falmer could it be built then? Brighton University is not short of space between the Amex and the Bridge Car Park with playing fields which could accommodate a 10,000 capacity stadium. There is also room at the back of the university which could be utilised.

In July last year, Brighton University planned to cut 103 jobs in an attempt to save £17.9 million. Tony Bloom offering to buy a chunk of land from them for a substantial amount of money might be very welcome.

And a stadium for Brighton Women built adjacent to the Amex would give the Albion a similar setup to Manchester City and their Etihad Campus.

Just 400 metres separates the Etihad Stadium and the Joie Stadium, home to City’s Women and academy sides. The Etihad Campus also contains the club’s training ground and the Co-op Live Arena.

Hopefully, the construction and opening of a new stadium for Brighton Women runs smoother than that particular development has so far.