DEVA STADIUM

Chester, England

WSPE-772

Deva Stadium, also known as the Exacta Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is an association football stadium spanning the Wales–England border in the United Kingdom, that is the home of Chester F.C., the effective successor club to the liquidated Chester City F.C. The name Deva comes from the original Roman name for the fort Deva Victrix, which became the city of Chester, in North West England. The Deva Stadium replaced Sealand Road.

When Chester City's were taken over by new owners in March 1990, plans were announced to sell their Sealand Road stadium for redevelopment as a supermarket and build a new stadium at Bumpers Lane, and while the new stadium was being built they played at the far side of Cheshire at Macclesfield Town's Moss Rose stadium. Sealand Road closed at the end of the 1989-90 season, and Chester would play at Macclesfield for the next two seasons.

Construction of the new stadium began in January 1992 and it opened seven months later in time for the new 1992-93 season.

It was the first English football stadium to fulfil the safety recommendations from the Taylor Report, which was commissioned after the Bradford Fire of 1985 and after the Hillsborough disaster of 1989.

The stadium was officially opened on 24 August 1992 by Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare.

 
Deva StadiumThe stadium hosted its first game on 25 August 1992, when Chester lost 2-1 in the League Cup to Stockport County. 11 days later, Chester beat Burnley 3-0 in the first Football League match on the ground. The stadium was officially opened on 13 October 1992, as Chester beat a Manchester United XI 2-0. Its tenth birthday in August 2002 was celebrated with a special friendly against a Liverpool XI, with Chester winning 1-0.

Between 2004 and 2007 it was officially known as the Saunders Honda Stadium for sponsorship purposes but then was known as the Cestrian Trading Stadium on 2 May 2008.

On 2 May 2008 it was announced that as of the 2008–09 season, the Deva would be known as The Cestrian Trading stadium.

In February 2010, The New Saints of the Welsh Premier League formally applied for a groundshare with Chester City, who had lost their league status the previous year and were by now deep in debt and on the verge of closure, at the Deva Stadium. However, TNS ultimately decided to remain at Park Hall in Oswestry.

Chester City were dissolved with huge debts on 10 March 2010, two days after being expelled from the Blue Square Premier League (to which they had been relegated from the Football League the previous season), and as a result the stadium was left without a tenant. In May 2010 the owners of the ground, Chester and Cheshire West council awarded the lease to the newly formed phoenix club Chester F.C.

The first Chester F.C. match at the stadium was a 3-0 victory over Aberystwyth Town F.C. on 24 July 2010.

Unused 4" x 6" continental size chrome.

World Stadiums Postcard Edition