BT’s president wants to share Arnett’s stadium
PRESIDENT OF Boys’Town FC Leon Mitchell intends to have dialogue with neighbouring Trench Town club Arnett Gardens about the possibility of sharing facilities.
Mitchell, who took charge of the 78 year-old Boys’ Town last September, is confident that if the clubs share the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex – home venue of Arnett – there would be benefits for both clubs.
“We don’t need a merger between Arnett Gardens and Boys’ Town, even though they are one mile away from each other. What we got to do is to look at the capacity of each club and see how you can share those amenities in a way that both clubs can strive,” Mitchell told The Gleaner recently.
“I am going to talk to them (Arnett) ... there are a lot of other things we can do between both clubs,” he said.
“Should I go off and build another stadium, a mile from Arnett? No. The clubs are too close. What we should do is build a proper training facility at Boys’ Town which each club would enjoy. And, then both clubs will play home games at Arnett’s venue. It is just to put a different thinking in football,” he said.
“It would not pose a problem to the clubs as you have all day to train, so the clubs will work out the details. When you say training, you talk about physical training, each club can manage that. If you are talking about practice matches, you would play them at nights. When you have two clubs in such proximity, to create two stadiums cannot be the best economic thing to do,” he reasoned.
“It would help both clubs, even more so now that the clubs will be i n different leagues next season. It is even more feasible now that there is no direct competition between the clubs. When we get back up, that is a different ball game, but we can work out the time difference,” said Mitchell, who spoke after Boys’ Town were relegated from the Red Stripe Premier last Sunday to the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) Super League.