Last updated 19:49, Thursday, 28 August 2008

I HAVE been tempted to join the debate over the proposed new sports stadium in Workington for a while now, but it was the letter last week from Jeff Canfield which prompted a response.

I know Jeff and respect his views on a controversial subject, but I just want to try and shoot some holes in his arguments and offer some fresh insights.

Can we start by knocking on the head this belief that the people involved at Workington Reds are ‘Luddites’, or as I’ve seen written before, ‘dinosaurs’ because of their stance over Borough Park.

It’s just not true. Reds would quite happily play in a new stadium. It’s the fact that they are being told to share with Workington Town rugby league club that makes them dig in their heels.

As the Workington board have shown from the outset, a template for a refurbished Borough Park on the lines of the excellent Marston’s Stadium at Hinckley would be ideal for years to come in their current, or an improved non-league environment.

It is a modern stadium, built three years ago, and a similar one in Workington would enable Reds to maintain their identity, continue to try and improve as a non-league club and develop their own income streams.

Of course, Reds haven’t the same history as the likes of Manchester City, Sunderland and Arsenal, big clubs who have moved in recent years to super new stadiums. The difference, Jeff, is that I don’t see City sharing with Salford; Sunderland with Gateshead Thunder or Arsenal with London Skolars.

One thing has hardly been mentioned in all the correspondence – that Reds and Town actually used to share Borough Park up to 1957.

Then Town moved out – and for all the right reasons. To have a home of their own, to end arguments over the pitch, to create new revenue from bars and function rooms, in short to establish their own identity.

The spats over the pitch between Gus Risman and Bill Shankly were infamous – just ask Billy Watson, the groundsman at the time and still living in the town. If two sporting icons like Gus and Shanks can’t agree, what chance of lesser mortals?

Reds, to their credit, were complimented recently at a meeting of all the Blue Square clubs, for their prudence. They are among just five clubs said to be in the black, and in this current climate when most sporting organisations are feeling the pinch that has to be respected and admired.

If they were to move into a new super stadium, sharing with Town, that prudence would be sorely tested and there might be a big question mark over the club’s future.

But what of Town? Why are they so keen on moving again? I’m sure there will be people who genuinely feel a shared stadium will be good for the community, but there is a widely-held, yet so far unconfirmed belief that the rugby league club stands to gain substantially from leaving Derwent Park, which is why they are so enthusiastic about the new stadium.

If there is a pay-off for giving up the long lease, has a figure been agreed or is it still to be negotiated? I think that needs to be clarified for the people of Allerdale to digest accordingly.

There are also talks of a master plan for Town next year with a large financial package coming their way from the Rugby Football League under a new scheme.

I hope that’s correct and it allows the club to move forward again, to kick-start Town into a competitive unit who can challenge again for rugby league’s higher ground.

If either or both of those financial deals for Town are on the table it might explain why they don’t seem over-concerned that moving to a new stadium would see them lose their money from Workington Comets speedway.

The Comets would be the biggest losers in all this – no room for them in the super stadium and left without a home. Yet Comets pull in as many people as Reds and Town put together.

It’s also a fact that, without the Comets’ weekly input of around £2,000 (rent, bar receipts etc), Town would have been in deep financial trouble long before now.

The speedway has kept the rugby league club going through very difficult financial times.

Jeff, and others, have alluded to speedway promoters being “here today, gone tomorrow” types without any firm roots in the town. I suppose that stems from the fact that speedway is run by promoters, rather than directors and shareholders, with entrepreneurs/businessmen putting their money into the sport and looking for a return.

But I would suggest that Tony Mole and R and D Aggregates, now followed by Keith Denham, head of Thomas Armstrong, have given Workington speedway the kind of solid financial foundations that both Reds and Town can only dream about.

The selective mail shot and telephone canvassing might give the people pushing for this super stadium the answers they want – but they are unlikely to be the right ones.

I know of one 75-year-old who had a call for her thoughts on the stadium project and she expressed no interest at all. You wouldn’t believe she got a second call later in the day asking the same question! Or maybe you would.

We are constantly being told by almost every financial pundit that this country is on the verge of the biggest recession any of us has ever known. In that sort of economic climate would it be the right thing to spend up to £24 million on a super stadium that two of the three clubs don’t want and over which councillors have lost their seats?

One of the other arguments which is constantly put to me is that not enough people in Allerdale would benefit from a super stadium – given Reds and Town’s poor crowds and the departure of the Comets.

So what if there was an alternative, perhaps cheaper, which would benefit more people, create more interest in the area and compensate the group who feel so badly about the loss of the Cloffocks.

Maybe, as nothing has been agreed, the council could look at spending the Tesco money as follows (the figures are approximate) – £2 million on re-furbishing and reviving the Moorclose Sports Centre, an important and vital community facility; £2 million on refurbishing Borough Park for the Reds on the lines of the Marston’s Stadium, Hinckley so that the club can try and prosper up the football pyramid system; £3 million (more because two sporting clubs are involved) on refurbishing Derwent Park so that Town can become a force in National League rugby (hopefully with the help of a cash injection from the RFL) and that the Comets can build on what they have achieved so far and, possibly, bring Elite League speedway to the town; £11 million on an indoor arena on the site of the current Tesco with a showpiece ice rink, so popular at various Cumbrian venues for limited Christmas periods but sure to attract people in from all over if open on a regular basis.

Look for a franchise to install a professional ice hockey team, bringing a new, vibrant sport to the town – again good for business, profile and marketing. The ice rink could be covered over and the arena could be used for big-name entertainment acts on a regular basis.

Not wanting to clash with Moorclose, other sports facilities could be added accordingly.

And I tell you what, Jeff, let’s add a function room so that the Luddites Anonymous can hold their annual meeting there and together we can tear-up their charter!

JOHN WALSH

Milton Drive

Ashfield

Workington