London Welsh will say farewell to Old Deer Park home

London Welsh are preparing to end 128 years of rugby history in England's capital city by shifting the club lock, stock and barrel to Oxford.
Phase one last week saw the Exiles relocate their offices to Oxford, where locally-based staff have been recruited, and they intend pressing ahead with moving the first team from their traditional Old Deer Park base in Richmond to Oxfordshire.
A new training centre has yet to be identified, but commercial director David Jenkins revealed that the move is borne of a need to identify more closely with Oxford, which is now seen as the only viable long-term option for the ambitious Welsh.
The Exiles spent last season's one-off Premiership campaign at Oxford's Kassam Stadium, attracting average gates of around 4,500 – enough to persuade the club's management that extending their stay in the city would be worthwhile.
Gates for this season's home Championship matches – 999 for Plymouth and 1,200 against Cornish Pirates – have fallen well below expectations.
But that has only reinforced the club's determination to throw all their eggs into the Oxford basket.
“We're disappointed with those crowds, but we have got to be proactive and although it might not be palatable for some London Welsh supporters, it would be naive to leave the Kassam and move back to London,” Jenkins told The Rugby Paper.
“You can't build a support base overnight, but it doesn't help if you're trying to run your community programmes from London.
“We want to interact with the universities, local clubs and businesses and we'll be doing that from Oxford in future. We want to show the people of Oxfordshire how good Championship rugby is, then get back into the Premiership and move the team lock, stock and barrel.
“Then we can develop an academy and really begin to build something sustainable.”
The Exiles will remain committed to Oxford regardless of whether they win promotion or not.
“The bottom line is that we will do all we can to go up, but even if we were to stay in the Championship we'll stay in Oxford,” Jenkins confirmed.
NEALE HARVEY