Out and About (2)

By Will Warner
February 2 2004

Last time I set the scene for some of the major problems that currently bedevil the ZP Premiership, let’s tackle football grounds and the near future.

On the continent (that means France in rugby matters) few clubs have their own ground. They share. In fact many play in council owned multi-sport facilities. Even the mighty Stade Francais do. Their club houses will take the form of a Sports bar. Not the glitzy kind we find in the West End adorned with supposed relics from “classic” encounters, but a rugby stronghold that is for any other term a club house. Often situated back in the town, but sometimes, such as Dax, opposite the ground. The point is here, not the bars, but the grounds. Few share with football teams, most use large facilities that are more like the Barnet Copthall site (before it got really shabby) or even Crystal
Palace (before that got shabby as well) Is there a pattern developing here? If the community have a sporting focal point then politically is worth the maintaining.

So why do rugby clubs share facilities with football clubs? Well, there aren’t any half decent athletic grounds, or any type of sports grounds for that matter. So it’s football or nothing. It’s a shame the Pickett’s Lock development ground to a halt. It would have been an ideal opportunity for “London” Wasps to return to the capital. There have been so many missed opportunities, not just the new Wembley development (wrong size, wrong place etc) but on a more parochial level let’s take Kingsmeadow as an example. Kingsmeadow? I hear you ask. It’s a small football ground in Norbiton built on the site of a recreation ground. It was home to the mighty Kingstonian Football Club, a club with a rich and proud tradition. Building the ground and setting up the new facilities, which were pretty good in non-league football terms then, along with a few poor decisions and seasons took the club to the brink. So they sold to AFC Wimbledon to clear their debts. Why tell this story? Well behind Kingsmeadow is …… an athletics ground. Built at the same time as the football stadium. Each wanted their own thing. So rather having one good facility that the local community could be proud of, they ended up with two mediocre ones. How often has this story been repeated up and down the country?

If you are going to develop a site it needs to generate income not just on your match days but at other times as well. As few as thirteen home fixtures for some ZP sides. That’s not that much of an opportunity. Here you can see why the East Stand facilities and the training pitch are so important to Quins. Commercial activities can take place in these spaces and not affect the rugby in any way what so ever. As an aside at this point, I would add ….. please, somebody tell me, that Quins aren’t seriously considering selling the practise pitch. There must be other ways of funding the new development.

So why hasn’t anybody approached other sporting bodies for a tie in? Is it because of the precarious nature of the funds and funding of rugby? The recent history of the management of the game bodes ill for the future. The financial arrangements that allow some clubs to gain preferential funding is wrong. It’s as simple as that. Plain wrong. If clubs need the money to survive, which they do at the moment, then in fairness, there are two choices, equal funding for all or dare I say it ….. means test! Clubs like Rotherham and Leeds do need a helping hand, particularly with their community and development programmes, so Premiership Rugby or the RFU or whoever need to do the decent thing. I realise that there are many other considerations and turkeys are hardly going to vote for Christmas, however things do need to change to prevent the promoted side becoming the next relegated side every season.

It’ll be interesting to see what effect the RWC has on all of this. The short term impact is boom time, with several sides reporting the next few home games sold out. A good example of this was Quins’ recent home game with Centransa El Salvador. Realistically a dead game, but the Webb Ellis, Christmas approaching? and all this new found enthusiasm meant every ticket was sold. The equivalent game last year saw a barely half full house. But will the interest be there in a month’s time? Or a year? What will happen to, say Newcastle, next three home games sold out, but if they lose them? Will the fans be fickle or are they there for the long run. Probably a bit of both.

So clubs need larger grounds and better facilities. But where is the long term planning for the greater good of the game. Where will the professional game be in ten years, how far behind football will it be in minority terms and how many clubs will still be playing a football grounds? Your comments please.