Development of the Stand

Since September 2020 the club has been on a a journey of transformation.

Following months of hard work, the first visible steps appeared in January 2021 with the attainment of both our SFA licence and the change of the club to be incorporated as a Community Interest Company.

During the SFA licensing improvements the club secured a new 25 year lease at New Countess Park.

In order to best engage our community of supporters the Board felt the next stages of the club development required us to further improve our supporter experience and build a stand and improve the catering facilities at the club.

While we recognised that we already enjoyed first class facilities at Hallhill, which also made massive improvements in 2021 with a sizeable extension to the bar area, we wanted to maximise our facilities and offer a truly first class match day experience for all football supporters.

After assessing various options the club opted for a stand at the Hallhill end of the ground.  The Hallhill side was selected as the existing covered standing there had fallen into a very poor state of repair, after 20 years with limited maintenance. We also recognised the habits of our many existing supporters, the majority of whom, already preferred to stand at the Hallhill end. Building at the Hallhill end also supported our accessibility agenda as it provided close proximity to the other spectator facilities in our ground.

Stadium Solutions were chosen to build the stand.  They are both experts in their field and their price point was difficult for any local suppliers to match on a one-time basis.  However, recognising our “shop local” focus we selected local firm A.G. Thomson & Sons to build the substantial foundations that would be required.

The results have been impressive with Dunbar United now enjoying the best facilities in the region, with facilities at New Countess Park now comparable to any club in the East of Scotland League.

Everyone at Dunbar United recognises that the club receives huge support from our community.  It was therefore vital to us, that when improving the ground, that we made sure that the ground was accessible for everyone in our community who enjoys football.

As part of attaining our SFA licence earlier in 2021 we made a number of improvements to facilities.  However, we recognised that covered facilities for supporters who arrive at our games in wheelchairs was limited.  We therefore ensured our new stand included wheelchair access.

With a fairly “loose plan”, we needed financial support to make it happen.  The first to get onboard was home shirt sponsor Eve Coaches.  Gary Scougall of Eve’s was quick to agree to a suggestion, from our Chairman, of a 10 year sponsorship of the new stand and hence work really could begin in earnest in making the “Eve Community Stand” a reality.

Next up we had some fantastic support from the Alexander Amos’ Charitable Trust.  They had supported the club in late 2020, when we were working to attain our SFA licence, and following a visit from the Trustees to the ground in late 2021 they were so impressed they were also quick to get on board and back our proposed development.

We also secured funding from the East Lothian Council’s Community Intervention Fund, without which the project would never have got off the ground.  The Community Intervention Fund were keen to see the ground be made more accessible for the local community, and they also recognised the potential of the ground beyond just Dunbar United’s senior team.

Finally we made a call, via our hugely popular social media platforms, to our growing army of supporters. Supporters old and new were quick to get involved and have each sponsored £100 to back the project.  The supporters who backed our project are listed on this webpage.

While led by the Board of Dunbar United, for the benefit of our supporters, all in all it has been a huge community effort.