Wasps History Lesson

[Neils]

The problem Wasps had is Repton Avenue was unsuitable without substantial development and access to the ground almost impossible for the numbers required.

We have consequently been shafted several times by football clubs. Amazingly we managed to win a major cup while training among the dog turds on the public park!

Unfortunately, Derek had a good concept but not the wealth or fortitude to make it sustainable and attracted a good deal of ire from football fans and London based supporters by moving to Coventry, having failed to find a stadium that fitted his vision closer to home.

Plus he unfortunately had about 18 months when all the ancillary pieces were shut down due to covid. Yes vast amounts were due but for the RFU to deny it had an impact is bizarre.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

The problem Wasps had is Repton Avenue was unsuitable without substantial development and access to the ground almost impossible for the numbers required.

We have consequently been shafted several times by football clubs. Amazingly we managed to win a major cup while training among the dog turds on the public park!

Unfortunately, Derek had a good concept but not the wealth or fortitude to make it sustainable and attracted a good deal of ire from football fans and London based supporters by moving to Coventry, having failed to find a stadium that fitted his vision closer to home.

Plus he unfortunately had about 18 months when all the ancillary pieces were shut down due to covid. Yes vast amounts were due but for the RFU to deny it had an impact is bizarre.

Absolutely. But it fits their narrative, and I suspect some of the other owners won't have forgiven him for insisting that salary cap issues be dealt with and not swept under the carpet.

[Neils]

The problem Wasps had is Repton Avenue was unsuitable without substantial development and access to the ground almost impossible for the numbers required.

We have consequently been shafted several times by football clubs. Amazingly we managed to win a major cup while training among the dog turds on the public park!

Unfortunately, Derek had a good concept but not the wealth or fortitude to make it sustainable and attracted a good deal of ire from football fans and London based supporters by moving to Coventry, having failed to find a stadium that fitted his vision closer to home.

Plus he unfortunately had about 18 months when all the ancillary pieces were shut down due to covid. Yes vast amounts were due but for the RFU to deny it had an impact is bizarre.

Absolutely. But it fits their narrative, and I suspect some of the other owners won't have forgiven him for insisting that salary cap issues be dealt with and not swept under the carpet.

Very true - both times

[westwaleswasp]

Worth noting that nearly every club that shared with soccer had issues.
 I can vividly remember Reading fans in their TO selling me away tickets to Irish and saying how much the ticket office wanted us to beat Irish. I can also remember attending a then record crowd, and realising the stadium still felt and looked half empty.
I do wonder what would have happened if Booker development had succeeded, but suspect it would have been the same old problem of antipathy between union and soccer fans.

[jamestaylor002]

Worth noting that nearly every club that shared with soccer had issues.
 I can vividly remember Reading fans in their TO selling me away tickets to Irish and saying how much the ticket office wanted us to beat Irish. I can also remember attending a then record crowd, and realising the stadium still felt and looked half empty.
I do wonder what would have happened if Booker development had succeeded, but suspect it would have been the same old problem of antipathy between union and soccer fans.

Only exception I can think of is Bristol City and Bristol Bears though that might be because they're both under the same ownership (unless things have changed) so there's more room to accommodate both teams. I could go on about the interaction between football and rugby teams groundsharing and it's relation to rugby as a whole but I will stay on the topic I set! 

What was the Booker development? Is this the proposed stadium that fell through mentioned by BiND?

[welsh wasp]

It is - Booker Airfield.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

A very good friend of my wife lives in Lane End, just the other side of the M40. She was against the development because she didn?t think HW noodled more office and retail space.

She regretted that because not long after a helicopter trying school moved in to the airfield and they used to practice hovering over her house. Karma 

We?d moved down here by then and she?d ring my wife for a good moan.

[MarleyWasp]

The problem with Nimbys is they always forget that the grass doesn't always stay green if you fend off one application. My neighbours were leading protests against a field being used for housing. They won.

Half of the field next to it is occupied by Sky Studios Elstree. They're now complaining about Sky applying to build another studio on the rest of the field. What they don't seem to realise is if they stop it, the landowner (who previously with the local council tried to get Wasps to build a stadium there) will just look to develop housing there instead.

[welsh wasp]

Back to history:
Best performance - defeating Munster in Dublin in the Heineken Cup semi. Closely followed by defeating Leicester in the Heineken Final - Dallaglio's last game. 
Worst Performance - losing to Pertemps Bees at Adams Park in the semi (?) of the Pilkington (?) Cup/

[MarleyWasp]

Worst Performance - losing to Pertemps Bees at Adams Park in the semi (?) of the Pilkington (?) Cup/

Not sure who had the biggest shocker, the team that played or me for deciding not to stick ?40 on Pertemps Bees on the basis that I wouldn't have been able to afford to go to the semi final in Newcastle if I wasted ?40...