Thetownend.com

It's being looked at according to the back page of today's Adver.

I think I'd welcome that.

Rugby? I wouldn't mind, especially with the pitch investment, it should be able to cope and I'd probably go to a few games now and again.

Could also be a great way to get more support. They could also get the marketing team doing a deal on a joint season ticket thing. I just hope the pitch can take the abuse that the pie eaters will give it.

If it brings more money in, great.

I've personally got no interest in rugby, but if they can ensure the pitch doesn't end up like a quagmire, it can only be good.

I'm excited by this, i'd quite like to watch some live Rugby

Linkage -

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/display.var.2332716.0.town_could_consider_future_groundshare_with_bath_rugby_club.php

SWINDON Town believe a permanent groundshare with Bath Rugby Club could one day be a route worth exploring - while admitting talks are ongoing about becoming their temporary landlords in 2009.

West Country rugby giants Bath revealed for the first time yesterday they are seriously considering a future away from the Recreation Ground, with Town admitting a potential union would be worth investigation.

The County Ground outfit insist no long-term plan about relocation or redevelopment has even been discussed to date, as their initial rescue work continues, but do believe there could be scope in a future partnership.

Chief Executive Nick Watkins, pictured right, admitted there were several other options to consider when the County Ground issue comes to the fore though, including a possible marriage with speedway side Swindon Robins.

While the long-term future of the County Ground remains very much up in the air, Watkins did reveal becoming Bath's temporary landlords in 2009 was still a realistic option.

Bath revealed quitting their historical ground was now a more serious option than ever as talks over a proposed 15,000 seat stadium stalled with chief executive Bob Calleja admitting they could consider sharing with another club.

advertisementTown's Watkins said: "I have to be honest talks with Bath Rugby Club have been restricted to groundsharing for the 2009-2010 season and those do continue to be developed.

"No discussions have happened beyond that in terms of a longer term ground share. But when we get into discussing relocation or redevelopment of the County Ground, all angles will be discussed.

"That could mean looking at a ground share with a rugby club or even the speedway team. We would be doing the town a dis-service if we did not consider these things.

"Nothing can be ruled out because as I have said nothing has really been discussed."

A groundshare with Bath for the season after next has become a more realistic possibility though, with Watkins revealing work is ongoing to making sure they would be ready for the potential scenario.

He said: "Rugby clubs are uniquely different to a football club in that they sell 18 to 20 corporate hospitality boxes every game and normally bring 10-14,000 people.

"It could be an opportunity for financial gain for us.

"We are making the relevant enquiries to make sure we would be ready if it became a viable option."

A potential permanent share with a major Premier rugby club was mooted by the council and Town back in 2005 as part of plans for a £50m revamp of the County Ground.

Just read the article and noticed that Watkins is even talking about possibly sharing with the speedway.

Rugby's ok, but speedway? The track would have to be between the pitch and the stands. All grounds I've been to with running tracks and such around the pitch are piss poor in terms of atmosphere, it always feels you're cutoff from the action.

Or is it just me?

It's all "no option is closed yet" at the moment. I can't see speedway working either, besides which haven't they just got the go ahead for redevelopment of the Abbey Stadium?

So...

- Bath rugby in Swindon on a perm basis. Yes, provided the pitch can hack it and the redevelopment is in Swindon, not Chippenham :)

It may just mean that they develop a complex, where there is a Speedway track and a football stadium? I doubt it though. Speedway round a football pitch would be rubbish.

I've been to a few stadiums with a running track around, particulary abroad,
and even though further away from the pitch the atmosphere and view has been just as good.

Ever been to Brighton?  :?   :D

I think a groundshare with Bath is a potentially good idea, although it would depend very much on the location of any future development. Also, it would be a bit weird if Bath permanently moved that far away from the city they are named after, and I wouldn't exactly expect them to change their name after 140-odd years

Wasn't a groundshare with bath put about in the 90's too? I vaguely remember my dad getting excited about seeing some rugby at the CG.

It would also mean that that I can get into many of Bath's tiny pubs on a Saturday without being forced to squeeze past the enourmous guts and luxuriant beards of their supporters.

 :mrgreen:

If people were that bothered about watching rugby they could actually travel to Bath, it's not very far or expensive to do so.

It just seems a bit plastic and not too dissimilar to an Franchise-esque franchise (should it be a permanent move). I'm sure the proper fans of the rugby club would love Swindon for stealing it from them. For that reason I am opposed and am surprised at some people for saying they are not fussed, whereas if it had been the opposite move (the football moved out of town to say...Bath) there would be uproar.

So we'd have plastic rugby fans visiting the CG and putting money into the clubs coffers?

What's the problem?

Nothing if that's how you feel.

I just don't like the franchise model in sport, it goes against any form of tradition we have in this country and is simply a money making exercise to those involved.

I think that Rugby, in general, look on it differently.

Isn't there a former London based club playing at Reading? I don't remember any uproar when that happened.

I understand where you're coming from and if it was a football club I'd feel differently, but rugby? Meh..

London Wasps - Wycombe
London Irish - Reading

my only concern would be the pitch.if thats dealt with properly then i think its a great idea

Thing is with Brighton the away bit is at least as far again back, no elevation, and there isn't any roofing in the ground as such to amplify anything, if done correctly it wouldn't be an issue, although like someone else said if it was joint with Speedway it would probably be seperate areas back to back sharing things like conferencing.

Half my office have gone to Bath Rugby for a dinner today - If Id have known about this could have tried to get them to get some gossip

Interesting.  Not sure if I like the idea or not.  The major stumbling block, I would imagine, would be the Bath supporters themselves.  Understandably, most of them would not want to leave Bath - and neither would I in their position.  Sadly, I'd expect a lot of them to be quite snotty about it ('Swindon's a dump.  Not watching my rugby there' etc.) - but that's another story.

I don't like the franchise model in sport, but accept that is used more widely in rugby that in football...thankfully.  But if I can get past my opposition to that and consider what might happen if they did move to Swindon, I'd say they would almost certainly pick up a lot of new fans.  I shop in Reading on a fairly regular basis and the London Irish shirts there are not as common a sight as Reading football shirts, but there are still quite a few.  Whether our away support would be affected in the long run (Bath vs Gloucester in Swindon or STFC away at Stockport?) is anyone's guess.

millennium stadium has football & speedway events and that has no running track, they just lay boards over the pitch, so no compromise with viewing distances http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Stadium#Motorsports not sure what impact it has on the grass underneath though.

I don't think that too many Bath Rugby fans would mind a move for a season knowing that the end result was a new stadium in Bath.

At the moment there is talk of Bath loosing its club permanently.

Its only 30 mins on the train to Swindon and on a Saturday the return fare is under £9.00. If they get a lift to the station rather than pay the stupid costs that the Council have put on Parking down here its good value.

A fair number of us Town supporters down here use the train and the service is well timed to get in and out without too much fuss.

Anyway, once they have their new stadium and our board decide to revamp the CG we will need somewhere to go!!  Return the favour and all that!!

I think Sarrys play at Milton Keynes now as well. Rugby has turned franchise as a sport in general. Id welcome Bath at the CG to be honest.

Saracens play at Vicarage Road. A fixture or two have had to be moved to MK because of fixture clashes with the football. This happpened with some of the other clubs too, from memory one had to play in Coventry.

thats explains it. It confused me at the time as well! :soapy tit wank:

Dont know why we dont look at getting involved with the Speedway redevelopment out in blunsdon just have one big super stadium.

1) Not enough room
2) They've got planning permission on the basis of the plans submitted; they'd have to completely redo them and risk being rejected second time round, plus getting called into the Office of Local Government and delay their plans considerably
3) We should stay at the County Ground, not move out of town

 :nod:

Would be an interesting poll to see the views of all town fans.  I'm in favour of staying where we are and redeveloping the old girl (CG).

I think it would be quality for a season or two, but as much as I hate Bath RFC it would be wrong for them to move here permanently. We're quite lucky football is the national sport, because rugby union has struggled since it became professional. What's happened in Wales is a prime example.

The Rec is one of the most picturesque (sp) sports grounds in the country and would be a travesty if they moved out forever.

I'm all for housing them while they redevelop because as it stands I trust our board 100% so I know that if rugby came to the CG then everything will be done to make sure the football didn't suffer.

I'm sure Bath fans don't want to commute from the city full-time the same as we don't want to commute outside of Swindon if we moved.

How has Rugby struggled since going Pro?  grounds are pretty much sold out bar the clubs who use the big football stadiums, more money in the game, an England team that won the WC, and a competition with 5 or 6 teams able to mount a real challenge.  What has happened is it has taken a certain route to get this success, one which we would not want football to take, and that is clubs moving around a bit.  The type of supporter is different though, so it has not met the same resistence in Rugby.  Wales have struggled at club level to some extent, but their National team had become inconsistent many years ago.

I doubt Bath will move here, which means we need to be cautious about where any such shared ground would be.  On a temporary basis I'd quite like it if we had some Rugby to chose from as well.  Half the games don't clash with football fixtures anyway.

Rob, loads of teams have gone under since rugby went pro, I know others have flourished, I suppose it's just like football and the Premier League in that respect.

I'm not sure how this relates to a groundshare though  :P

but they could have continued outside the pro set-up if they wished.  Fact is, old school rugby in England was exactly that, a limited fan base and not even a proper league structure.  1 or 2 teams would dominate.  Not saying it's been great for everyone, not by a long chalk, but at the top end it's got better.  Unlike football, where I don't think the same is true, there I think the very very very top is better.  English Rugby has brought about a bigger gulf between the leagues now though, but it is generally done with the National outlook in mind.  Football is often done with the clubs in mind at the top.

Anyway, it's got little to do with the a ground share, other than sports being run differently, so not being locally based isn;t always as concerning for Rugby fans at that level.

I can't believe Bath fans wouldn't kick up as much of a stink as we would if it was the other way round (permanent move-wise).

Looks like this is near enough a done deal...


http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/display.var.2450370.0.fitton_bath_share_deal_closer.php

so long as it doesn't totally fuck up the pitch...

imagine the number of rugby balls that'll get lost from conversions

Aint it supercross that they do at the Millenium Stadium on a course similar to the Rally super stage? This doesn't require an oval so space isn't a problem...

Aceness.

or maybe not aceness. Can't decide.

Also got confused by the thread resurrection.

Thats the only concern really as it will bring a nice amount of extra finance into the club coffers. But will a lot of that be spent putting the pitch right after games and re-laying turf after games?

I had to read your post twice SY I could have sworn you wrote conversations and my little brain tried to figure out any conversations I had ever had about rugby!

Good news but only (like Sonic said) as long as the pitch isn't fucked up.

FFS Fitton and Nick W have gone over this time and time again, they will not approve the share if they cannot guarantee the pitch will stand up to the combined strain of footie and rugby.

That fans forum was embarrassing when these old blokes kept banging on about the pitch even though the board had just spent 10 minutes telling us all that the pitch was at the centre of any deal.

we do some work with Bath Rugby club - the man from there was in our office the other day and said it was looking pretty close to a deal but said we need to make some improvements to our ground!

WHHHHHHAATTT there ground is a tiny weeny little poo hole???? I got on my high horse immediatly - I dont think he likes me very much anyway

 

christ, i only made a glib remark! calm down

Oh dear sonic, your lack of podcast referencing is getting sooo very very boring!

can you explain how this can be guaranteed, i am fairly sure wigan were promised this sort of thing

According to AF and NW by using a some material (some sort of plastic fibre) which knits the pitches roots and turf together which stops the turf from ripping up.  Reading use it to great effect apparently.  Other than that no I can't explain it, I have no idea about lawn care.  Is Triseros not about?

It's also explained in great detail in the podcast that the trust have put together.  Sonic knows more about this.

Didn't QPR use a plastic pitch once?

Good for club finances and I personally would go to see some of the games too

Yeah they had a proper articifial pitch, this isn't what AF is suggesting here, it's just something they add to the grass pitch to make it knit together stronger.

you've been very bitchy lately...do you find yourself crying at soap operas and craving chocolate as well?

Bum him Sonic

To be 100% honest, I've been really stressed over the last few weeks, work, best man duties etc.  Apologies if that's come across in my posts, not usually a stress head but last month or so, I have.

pah, i was only taking the piss - you're usually good value for a light-hearted argument.

anyway, indulge your manperiod

It's true, I do like being a devil's advocate at times! 

In true Have I Got News for You fashion today's guest publication is Turf Professional Magazine, which carries an article on Reading's pitch and how it copes with the demands of Rugby and football:

PDF Linkage: http://www.mikebeardall.com/pdf/Reading%20FC%20story%20and%20pictures%20from%20Turf%20Professional%20magazine.pdf

If you're genuinely interested it is quite good reading and describes how the pitch is altered for each game.

It uses a Desso fibre system (like Janage describes) and also mentions how the Methane escapes out of the post holes due to the Stadium being built on a tip!

 I suppose its neighbourly to help out the egg chasers for a season, and if it brings in some dosh all well and good.

 axs is right though about the importance of the CG staying right where it is.  I believe it is now the oldest ground in L1....there may be a few older elsewhere in the league, like Ewood Park, Oakwell, Gig Lane, Bramall Lane and a handful of others.

Arent you allowed to drink beer at your seat whilst watching rugby? Could be the spectator sport for me!

You are at the American Football and that lasts three and half hours...I'm not driving this year :beers: :busted:

I think you maybe right there Reg, but it depends if you class when the club moved in as opposed to when the ground itself was built... Hartlepool & Tranmere's stadia both pre-date the CG.

Saying that Stamford Bridge predates Chelsea's existance by a good few years as it was a Athletics stadium originally.

 I'm going on when a recognisable form of the current club first played a match at their ground....Tranmere's wasn't until 1912, Hpool first played in 1908.

 STFC moved to the CG in 1895...but first year used the cricket pitch area.

Fear not Reg, we're on the same page... I was just trying to look smart is all.

  I'm just trying to brush up on some stuff for the quiz next week  ;)

Nick Watkins was certainly talking as if he was still trying to make it happen when I spoke to him last week. Seemed to think it would be a 2 year deal.

I'm not sure they have a definite plan for the pitch though, as he was making the point that they'd have to make sure the pitch would be ok first and this would need looking into. I think he added that in to keep the football folk happy  8)

Then I shall be randomly testing you throughout the week.

 As long as it's not drug testing...then all good.

It's a deal.

You are indeed, in fact it seems to be frowned on not to have a pint in hand.  It's good form to have a couple lined up under your seat as well, the downside being an over exertion during a celebration can lead to spillage.

I think it would be great to bring Bath here.
No real worries about the pitch, the reserves no longer play here, we dont train on it nor will Bath Rugby Club be allowed to.
It will mean a game each weekend and the odd midweek fixture, no different from last year really.

They will definitely need netting behind each goal though especially the Town End.

bbbooooooooooo

When we come to redevelop the County Ground, can we share the new Rec for a season? Would be quite handy for some of us...

Yeah i dont see a problem with that of course you can.

Self, self, self ... you didn't stop and think for a moment if that would be further from Moscow?

Magnitogorsk Town FC?  Hell of a journey for those west of Swindon.

I'm worried about the pitch.

Try leaning the other way.

Fuck it... Bring on a good ol' fashioned mud bath... Bristol Rovers made a tidy profit in the FA Cup because Fulham and Southampton couldn't cope on it!

I, of course, am only joking.

I wasn't exactly serious myself.

I guessed, I wanted in on some joke action.

I don't know ... Herthab to Magnitogorsk has a certain JNSQ to it.

shotgun.