Wasps to Sixways - Telegraph

[WonkyWasp]

Thank you Neils.  Much as I  thought.

[bigad82]

Stourbridge press release
https://www.stourbridgerugby.com/news/press-release-2759940.html

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Does anyone have any insider info on the Wuss supporters views? I feel guilty about all this.

Well - if you were to look at the WW Forum you would find they are not pleased. Great anger towards their new buyers (and still the old), the RFU for allowing it (not sure what they could do where an Administrator is involved) and, of course, the franchise cuckoos from London. Actually not so much at Wasps apart from the fact they think we are "the favoured heritage team".

I would say very little ire aimed at Wasps. The new owners, yes. Begbies, some. The RFU, some. There are even some WW fans who say they would come to the occasional Wasps game. Many, like I have said, see this as a stitch up almost from October. I tend to agree, it does look like it.

Many want there to be a way to stop it.

Saying Begbies can't sell it to Atlas, shouldn't sell it to Atlas. They can, and are. I suspect final contracts have not yet been signed. Waiting for the RFU to at least give the nod to Wasps playing there and to fully approve the Wasps deal.

Saying Atlas are a bunch of .....

Saying the RFU shouldn't agree the deal. What can the RFU do to stop Atlas buying the ground etc.? Not a lot, other than to say Wasps can't play there, or that some other aspect of the Wasps proposal is unsatisfactory.

The Stourbridge thing is a side deal. It does not impact Wasps. I don't think it involves changing the name of the club. I think it will likely stay as Stourbridge for now. It is only the first team anyway. All other teams would stay at Stourbridge. Stourbridge are in severe trouble. Can't get enough players to play, out of money, lost pretty much every game this season. If their members do not agree the deal, they are likely doomed. It is, however, a member owned club.

Just a lot of sadness, frustration and anger. And you can't help but feel it is all justified.

In a way, this whole mess is a microcosm of the state of the game in England, with the RFU alseep at the helm. Many clubs looking on, thinking, 'There but for the Grace of ...'

[Neils]

Comment from Andy Scott (Wasps) contained within -

https://inews.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/worcester-warriors-sixways-rugby-wasps-2139655?ITO=newsnow

[Neils]

The salient bit -


Christopher Holland, who put money up for a company, Halo22, to buy the Wasps brand from the old Wasps Holdings, owns the training centre in Henley-in-Arden that was used by the previous Wasps set-up and is 20 miles from Sixways.

Andy Scott, the chief executive of the new Wasps venture, told i there was a wish not to create false hope for the club?s followers.

?The simple position we are in, and the decision we have made, is we will only make a statement once we have something solid that we can say because what we don?t want to do is just add to this huge morass of conjecture,? said Scott.

?Nothing?s changed insofar as we?ve got a lot of moving pieces, we?re working hard to bring them all across, and there?s quite a lot of interdependencies. Once one drops, the rest will drop soon after. We?re doing everything we can, we haven?t stopped since we started doing that in December.?

[westwaleswasp]

Fuck it. I'm in. Yes I think it stinks, but only because WW have been bought by a turd, having been owned by one. Sorry, the whole thing stinks because the administrators are not supposed to care about Rugby. We can't do anything about that. Honestly though, there is no long term future at Sixways unless we own it. But will I go there? Yeah, it is a proper rugby ground, and if we can get out of the Championship it would be a fabulous prem ground.

[Neils]

Sports network (DW) have quickly removed WW name and temporary position in the Premiership.  Now named Sixways and given their own section at the bottom of the listing.

[Skippy]

With this all due to be sorted on Valentines Day, I?m sure there?s plenty more shafting to come. Clearly the RFU will play the part of a demented swinger in dishing out the shafting without so as the courtesy of flowers.

[bigad82]

Wasps were due to play Warriors this weekend.
You couldn't make this lot up.

[welsh wasp]

Worth visiting the Warriors site and you will see comments similar to those you have read on this thread. They, rightly, feel shafted by O'Toole/Atlas after all their optimism. O & A are, like Warriors' former owners, claiming that they feel they have been let down by the RFU in terms of the conditions they have been demanding of the new owners. No mention of what those conditions are but I would guess that they would have been expected to reimburse their rugby creditors. So they have decided to partner with Stourbridge whose first team would move to play at Sixways. That depends on how the Stourbridge members vote tomorrow night.

How do I feel about Wasps moving to Worcester? Well, I have supported them since 1990 and therefore followed them from Twyford Avenue to Loftus Road to High Wycombe to Coventry. A bit more of a stretch going to Worcester. I can understand how the Worcester fans feel - but, hopefully, they will not blame Wasps and there is no indication of that on their site.

What will the RFU do? If they have any sense, they will extend the deadline beyond the 14th so they and the two clubs can sort out whatever issues need to be settled. They can't keep saying that its up to the two parties. They are a key player.

[Andywasp50]

I can certainly understand the 'beggars can't be choosers' point of view which ever way the case is made regarding a move to Sixways. Huge respect to the Legends getting behind the set up to save the name of the club - time is running out and they need to find a way to save Wasps with limited options available, whilst jumping through hoops for the clowns that run the game.

However, the problem for me is that we were dramatically uprooted mid season and moved to Coventry on the basis we were about to go bust, mainly because we were tenants and didn't have our own ground. So we moved and went bust anyway, only to end up as tenants of another ground 120odd miles away from where the club spent the first 148 years of its existence.

I'm sure given the option the Legends would rather move Wasps back to the London area (as would I), but I don't share the opinion of anywhere will do. I think we've seen how much a club is intrinsically linked to its location and evolution as part of a community by the CCFC/Ricoh saga and the thoughts on here about 'cuckooing' at Sixways. I wasn't happy about moving to Coventry and have always been of the idea that if I like a sport, I want to watch it live, and so I'll weigh up the best local offering and go there. The club will have a profile in the town, there'll be info about it in my local media, there'll be tie ins with the local community and they'll be well known enough to chat about at work or the pub. A successful local club brings a lot of positive feeling to a place as well as being easy to get to for an afternoon or evening and share a pint with likeminded people.

In the last two or three years my interest in the game has waned because the whole professional set up is rotten. From Saracens cheating, their attitude, the feeble RFU punishments, the clutch of Saracens 'kick and chase' coaching clones - Borthwick, Sanderson, Wigglesworth etc, Baxter spouting off, ascerbic Eddie J losing his way and wrecking the careers of exciting English talent like Robson. The RFU and PRL are so in the pockets of the Cheats and Baxter that the Legends would be better off lobbying them than working with the so called 'Governing bodies'

What I'm getting to in a roundabout way is that I'll always be a Wasps fan and only a Wasps fan, but Sixways is too far for me to get to or fit in at a weekend, and I'm not sure I really want them back in a predictable Prem that's not fit for purpose anymore.

I'm happy to be a Championship fan from a distance and maybe go to the odd game, and I'll be very happy Wasps survive - that's what really matters. Hopefully all the Coventry and Midlands based fans are up for it and with the dedicated 'Southerners' will be there to take the club into a new era.

[BlackAndGoldSunglasses]

Right. What does OAWAAW mean?

I'm relatively new - Coventry based fan - but if you're in, you're in.

Worcester, Coventry, Solihull, Wycombe... wherever.

(yeah, it's a s**t situation and I feel f**king awful for the Worcester fans).

[RogerE]

Once A Wasp Always A Wasp

[Nrgee]

Right. What does OAWAAW mean?

I'm relatively new - Coventry based fan - but if you're in, you're in.

Worcester, Coventry, Solihull, Wycombe... wherever.

(yeah, it's a s**t situation and I feel f**king awful for the Worcester fans).

Once A Wasp Always A Wasp 

[mike909]

It?s beyond question that I?d support Wasps if we moved to Sixways. I don?t see the difference between there and Loftus Road, Adams Park or the Ricoh from a moral perspective. If anything it?s rescuing an empty building. My main worry is pushing so much through before the 14th. If we aren?t allowed to compete in the Championship next year we will be finished.

Just to confirm - I'd still support Wasps. Whilst only able to make occasional games - it's been a part of my rugby world since the 80's. If it has legs - then the train to Worcester is an hour or so and no changes.

OAWAAW....