Maine Road off

What its all about
By Sarah Braide
March 26 2003

Sale will not be playing rugby at Maine Road next season. It has been decided that the move is 'not viable' and therefore the Council will demolish the stadium and build on it.

Sale chief executive Niels de Vos said:

"We have been very interested but unfortunately it is not possible to proceed to a successful conclusion which gives confidence that Sharks can operate viably at Maine Road."

There is a new rule coming into the Premiership next season that clubs must play in 10,000 seater stadiums. Unless Sale can get some kind of exemption from this rule then they will have to either move out of Heywood Road, or expand its capacity. But there will also be a rule that wherever the club plays, it must be the principle occupant of the stadium - so a share with a football club may pose its own problems.

Even though Sale supporters grudgingly came to accept the necessity of a Maine Road move, I think most will be quietly glad that they do not have to watch the team play there next year. Stockport County's Edgeley Park seems a possible venue although there a couple of concerns with that - the smallish size of the pitch, together with the tenure rule above.

Sale have so far declined to comment on either the reasons for the collapse of the deal, or the options being considered for the future. But suppose we did stay at Heywood Road without increasing its capacity. Surely the Premiership would not want to lose one of its top clubs? And the RFU might have something to say about that too, given the impact that Sale is having on the England teams, particularly at Under 21 level. The Academy might not be owned by Brian Kennedy but the success of the club as a whole is inextricably linked to the Sharks results. I might be too optimistic here, but I just cannot see Sale getting chucked out of the Premiership for only having 6,000 capacity.