Bath Chronicle – 22 July 2005
‘We must get away from the idea that we want just rugby’
by Matthew Pardo
The Rec has long been the home of bath Rugby – in fact since 1895.
But it has only been in the last few years that its exact legal right to be there and its future plans have ruffled feathers in some quarters.
If the club had taken up the option to buy the part of the site it inhabits back in 1956 when it was offered the chance, none of the present kerfuffle would be troubling those now picking through the complex web of leases, contracts and covenants.
But they did not seize the chance.
In 1973 the club negotiated a 75-year lease for the site.
But in 1992 the deal was redrafted because the club was building the Hampton Stand, and it signed up for another 75 years.
In 1996 the club became professional, so it could fit more comfortably into the emerging big monet world of professional rugby.
It also became a PLC after the name of Bath Rugby Club was sold to Bath-based millionaire Andrew Brownsword.
He got a 75% share of the club and ploughed millions into it.
The remaining 25% share of the club is held by the six club trustees.
When the club was an amateur organisation, they ran the affairs.
Now the six trustees are still advisers at the club, but their only ownership is of the side’s training ground at Lambridge – which is currently being touted as the newest par-and-ride site for the city.
In 2000 more trouble flared at the club when it announced plans for a £20m 16,000-seater stadium on the Rec.
The plan infuriated those dedicated to preserving the Rec, so began the long drawn-out battle over the plans.
When the High Court ruled in 2002 that the Rec was under the control of the Bath Recreation Ground, Bath Trust, the plan fell by the wayside.
Now, regardless of the work done by the BathSport group, a consortium of interested parties with a dream scheme for the site, the club has its own expansion proposals.
It wants to replace the West Stand and the Clubhouse with a horseshoe development, which would also rope in the Hampton Stand, and raise capacity to about 15,000.
Club general manger Bob Calleja said: “The lease we hold for this site is robust, and has been looked at by legal experts and they have agreed. Now all we are striving for is to improve the facilities at the Rec and enhance the arena we use. But what we really want to say is that we have nothing to conceal. Anyone who wants to talk to us can do – we are more than happy to oblige them and very happy to engage ina factual debate. But as afar as developments go, this Bath Sport plan is interesting, but for us, plans have to be realistic and to fit into a time frame. That’s why we’re still pressing ahead with our own proposals. But we agree with much of this. We must get away from the idea that the developments we’re behind are all rugby, rugby, rugby on the Rec.
It would be great to see the Rec used by lots of other sports, and for concerts.”
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