The Information Office, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9RH.

5 February l998

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex will welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to its new home at the University Sports Pavilion next week. Professor Gordon Conway will officially hand over the keys to the club's new headquarters to Steve Gritt, Manager of Brighton and Hove Albion on Tuesday l0 February at 2.00 pm.

The occasion marks another milestone in the long association between the football club and the University. The Albion has been using the University pitches for a training ground for well over a decade, and now it has left Goldstone Road it has set up a temporary home at the University. The club's offices will be based at the Sports Pavilion as will its treatment room and the Club will continue to use the University pitches four times a week for training. It will also continue to hold its youth team matches at the University on Saturdays.

The arrival of the Albion coincides with major a project to improve the University's sports facilities and extend their use to the local community. The University has been given half a million pounds from the Lottery Sports Fund for a project which is intended to provide key benefits for people in the East Sussex region. The project involves the provision of a new floodlit artificial turf pitch; creation of a new fitness training area and dance exercise studio in the Pavilion building, up-graded changing facilities and improved access for people with disabilities.

According to Simon Tunley, the Sports Pavilion Operations Manager, "This new link with the Albion is the start of the new Falmer Sports Complex site becoming a focal point for the local community." The University's Sports Service has promoted community use of its facilities since the early l970s and works closely with the Sports Development Team in Brighton to provide coaching and recreation classes for members of the local region.