Forum Topic

Petition to Keep Wasps in Acton

The professional side of Wasps Rugby is currently in advanced negotiations to move their home base to Coventry. Although the RFU is trying to insist that they remain based in the south east it would only be a matter of time before they moved their training base north from its current site on Twyford Avenue.Wasps training base in Acton is also home to the amateur side of the club including Ladies, senior men, youth and minis. This introduces a new generation of support to the club and several players currently in the Academy started their rugby here. The professional side shares the facilities with the amateurs and pays rent to do so. Without this money rugby may not be sustainable at the site which would be very valuable for redevelopment. Even if you don't like rugby and don't value the benefit the club brings to hundreds of local children and adults you may not want to see a large area of local green space disappear.Please sign the petition to keep Wasps in London - http://www.thepetitionsite.com/394/130/032/keep-wasps-rfc-inaround-london/

Alan Fairclough ● 4361d12 Comments

Reading the Telegraph today it looks like Wasps in London are doomed although there is a lock in on the Academy until 2016.It would be great to see some or all of the site being transferred over to Twyford School for expansion and playing fields.

Andy Jones ● 4360d

There was supposed to be a statement from Wasps at 10am this morning but I haven't seen anything.Doesn't Chris Wright still own the abandoned tennis courts at the top end of the site? I thought these were going to be developed into housing. The club could sell some more of the remaining site to developers that they still own to ensure their survival. I was told that a new access road was being created to the north east end of the site which would allow it to be built on but that was some years ago.

Francis Rowe ● 4359d

Those in charge of Wasps do not have the best interests of Acton a heart. Most would argue that they don't have the best interests of Wasps at heart. They have promised to build a new training base in Coventry, so will view Twyford Avenue now a merely a piece of land to maximise money out of.Rather than encouraging them to develop on any of the land, any petition should be to the council denying them them right to sell it for housing and trying to ensure that it is used for sporting purposes for the people of this area in the future.

Ron Lewis ● 4359d

Ron - I think you have misunderstood the situation here. The club based at Twyford Avenue is the original Wasps club. The professional arm has decided to relocate to Coventry and that presumably means that the Acton based club lose the revenue contribution that the professional club brought. They may well have no other meaningful source of revenue other than playing subscriptions which will probably barely cover general running expenses.The good news is that the professional club DO NOT own the Twyford Avenue site. That belongs to the amateur side. They obviously will want to keep as much of it for rugby as they possibly can but it is a huge plot of land and remaining revenues probably won't cover basic maintenance costs. The trouble with organising a petition against development is that you may end any realistic chance of the club surviving. That would mean that the site would be abandoned until the necessary time elapses to allow all of it to be turned into housing.I am not an insider at Wasps but I can tell you for a fact that all involved at the club will have one aim only and that is to save rugby at Twyford Avenue whilst saving as much of the site for sport. Don't forget that this is an amateur club almost entirely staffed by volunteers who won't get a penny of any money raised from development of the site.

Francis Rowe ● 4359d

Sorry didn't realise that, thought it was just the pro club's training base. Well, good luck. Need to play up the difference between the two, though

Ron Lewis ● 4359d

Thanks Ron. I've only visited the club as the parent of an opposing player so am not sure on the details of what is happening. What I will say for sure is that it is a classy club with classy people and that the professional side will one day rue the day they broke their association with it.

Francis Rowe ● 4359d

The answer to this issue does seem to me to be a tie-up with Twyford School. The pitches are divided from the school by a rickety fence and there is a gate to get through to them. There used to be an arrangement with the school that talented rugby players would go there whilst they trained with the Wasps Academy so associations do exist.There are huge pots of lottery funding being doled out to ridiculous things like dressage whereas here a comparatively small account could both secure the future of a historic rugby club and massively expand the sports facilities of a local school.

Andy Jones ● 4358d

Francis' earlier post about the amateur club owning the site and leasing out the facilities to the pro side is correct. They also lease it out to a few other clubs and I'm sure more of these arrangements will be considered to make sure the Wasps amateur set-up continues to be viable. It would be a real shame if it ceased to exist or was forced to move - hundreds of kids from U6 to U18 age groups attend each Sunday. The Wasps women also have a really strong side. I'm a local resident and think we need to convince other local residents of its benefits. There are various restrictions on floodlight and weekend usage etc at the moment which may need to be eased to allow the club to get more usage. As others have pointed out, this is prime development land and if the club isn't there, it will be turned over to housing in a flash (it is designated community open land by the Council, but I have little faith that this offers much protection). One thing worth pointing out is that it's a 24 acre site, but only 20 acres are owned by the club as I understand it. The 4 acre site that is fenced off and includes the old tennis courts was sold by Chris Wright to a developer which has land-banked it for about 10 years and from time to time, tests the water for development. The issue here is gaining road access to this plot.

David Averre ● 4358d

As a mum of one of the Wasps U15 players, this comes as sad news. I will forward on the petition to everyone in my social circle.

Tanya Santos ● 4358d

It isn't just Twyford School that uses the grounds.  Other local primary schools do too.

Vivienne Duggan ● 4357d

Finance is always a fraught issue for amateur sports clubs and I do really hope Wasps FC are viable but the loss of revenue from the professional side must represent a huge blow.Perhaps they should get a smart lawyer to look at brand ownership. Unless it was actually signed away at some point the Wasps logo and name probably still does belong to the amateur side and the Coventry team may need to either stop using it or pay royalties to the club in Acton. That would be a very neat and fitting way to channel money back to the grass roots.

Francis Rowe ● 4357d

The sad thing about this is that recently for the first time a player has gone all the way from the minis in Acton to play for the professional side. This probably would have been the first of many if they would have stayed in the area. Now for several years at least they will have to buy in talent developed by other clubs as it will take a long time to develop an Academy as good as the one they had at Acton.

Andy Jones ● 4357d