Eagles’ new home is on a firm Foundation
TONIGHT sees the cumulation of a dream and a chance for Newcastle to add another iconic professional sporting venue to its pages of history as Esh Group Eagles Newcastle opens its own doors to its new Community Foundation Arena, WRITES JEFF KING.
The plaudits and praise have rightly reigned in on Eagles’ Managing-Director Paul Blake and his wife Sam, Chief Executive Officer of the Eagles’ Community Foundation which has nurtured this dream for more than a decade and will finally see it become a reality.
However, there is another man who has been on the journey every step of the way and has played his own massive part in realising this momentous occasion - Eagles’ head coach Fab Flournoy, who is excited about tonight.
He said: “It has been a tough week but an exciting one as the players and coaching staff have seen first hand over the last two weeks the finishing touches being put together.
“Tough because we have not been able to practise as we should have done.
“We put in solid practices in before the Leicester and Plymouth away games and that helped us get the reward but we have not had that luxury this week - although to be honest this is one time when the occasion is bigger than the game.
“We have not been able to practice this week on the new court - with all the work going it has been too dusty and bitty, making it too dangerous.
“I have had to stop the practices in case anyone was hurt but we will come through that and the end result will be worth it.”
He added: “It is all great, though, about the new arena and I am all for it.
“I am excited about it and I am ready to go but you also have to take it in your stride.
“As a coach I am all right and it is not a big deal in all honesty - but as a person it is a huge deal..
“Trying to decompartmentalise it and put it in to boxes and understand what it is and what we need to do and quite simply it is a gamechanger.
“It is going to change the livelihoods of people in the North East, it will provide jobs and resources for people. It will create a place for kids to play, impact grassroots at an unimaginable level.”
“It is going to shape and completely change the culture too.
“Football has its own home, rugby has its own home and cricket has its own home.
“Us not having our own home was always a sticking point but now we have our own home which we can play out of and just as importantly develop out of and bring everyone to us - showcasing another iconic sporting building in the city.”
Fluornoy continued: “You cannot help getting caught up in the nostalgia of it and the understanding this is a monumental occasion.
“It is bigger than the basketball game. The game is important but even to me the event is bigger than the game. It is a sell-out crowd, there is not a seat to be had anywhere and that’s phenomenal.
“We had huge crowds for our games at the Metro Radio Arena and Sport Central but never a game where we have had to literally turn people away because we have seats left anywhere. That has never ever happened to us ever in my time at Newcastle.”
It is unusual for a 100% committed basketball man like Flournoy to virtually put the game second to the occasion but he was adamant it is an irrelevance to what is about to occur. He said: “I don’t mean any disrespect to Plymouth or the game but it is that oneoff time when the occasion is bigger. “It is one of those moments which will be etched forever in the history of the club.
“You have to take it for what it is and accept whatever is going to happen is going to happen.
“I cannot say it is going to be nostalgic and we are just going to turn up and win. You cannot say that or predict what is going to happen. “Each day it has been a dramatic change and I keep saying “wow,” which is why the game is secondary.”
““A lot of people are coming to see the game but a lot of people are coming to see the arena and so they should and that is what it is all about. A win would just be the icing on the cake.”