Amateurs set for talks over their future at Hazelwood
SUNBURY, ENGLAND - APRIL 15: Alex James, team manager of London Irish Rugby leads delivery of prepared meals for NHS hospitals cooked at their Hazelwood Centre club kitchen on April 15, 2020 in Sunbury, England. During the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown, the rugby club London Irish along with waste management company Powerday join forces to look at providing 100,000 meals to hospitals, these meals are being delivered by Powerday and London Irish staff in company vehicles. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
London Irish Amateur RFC's chairman Kevin Flynn is this week meeting administrators appointed after the collapse of the London Irish professional side to find out their plans for Hazelwood.
The amateur side plays at Hazelwood, a training facility that was built by Irish from the proceeds of the sale of their old ground in Sunbury. LIARFC is completely separate from the professional club.
“Selling Hazelwood to help pay off creditors is an option, but I am optimistic that we will remain a tenant there,” said Flynn. “We have a 15-year lease and an operating agreement. We will be working closely with the Hazelwood management team, which operates as an independent trading company, to identify ways to replace lost revenue from the professionals.
“A lot of sport is played at Hazelwood for the community and it is baked into the planning. We believe we are in a good position, but we are not naive enough to think there will not be a curve ball to deal with.
“We are executing our contingency plans now so that we can demonstrate to the administrator that we are on top of things.”
The administrator, Re-Solve, has confirmed that Hazelwood forms part of the club's insolvency. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport is owed some £11m with the Revenue also at the top of the list after an unpaid tax bill.
“I think the DCMS have a hold against the property at Hazelwood, but would they kick the amateur club out of the place?” asked Flynn. “We have 830 players from the minis up, 180 coaches and 2,000 members.
“We are waiting to see the options that are open to us and if it came to them looking to auction the site off, why would the amateur club's members not look to buy it as a going concern for the next 100 years?
“The site itself is built on reclaimed land and was originally a dump. I am not sure what the development opportunity there is and there were planning restrictions at the time.
“It is used a lot, popular for funerals, wakes, weddings and christenings. Schools use it for proms and it has hosted Fiji and Wales in rugby, American football sides have trained there and it is a purpose-built, world class facility.”
It is London Irish's 125th anniversary next season and Flynn said his club, which plays at level six, was not going to let the events of last week dampen celebrations.
“I want both our men's and women's teams to go for promotion next season,” said Flynn. “We need to give the members of our club and supporters of London Irish in general something to get behind.
“We plan to restart rugby in July for pre-season training and we full intend to celebrate our anniversary. Perhaps some who used to follow the professional side will come and watch us. We are a good club and it feels now that we are the custodians of London Irish rugby going forward.
“We will crack on and people are coming out of the woodwork to lend their support. I will take every bit of it.”
