Pitching in with fears over football club move
Braywick: Magpies CEO says rugby teams need not worry about new stadium
The dispute over Maidenhead United Football Club’s proposed relocation continues after Maidenhead Rugby Club spoke out against the plans for a new stadium in Braywick Park.
MUFC is seeking to build a new complex in the north west corner of the park, including a 5,200 capacity stadium, a new running track, a sports hall and artificial pitches.
An agreement with the council in April secured the land on a 999-year lease, subject to the achievement of planning consent for a new stadium.
Although no formal planning application has been submitted, the football club has been involved in technical discussions with the council who, in February this year, approved the Borough Local Plan designating Braywick Park as ‘an existing sports and recreation hub’ and a ‘strategic green infrastructure’ site.
Existing Braywick tenant Maidenhead Rugby Club has been vocal in its opposition to the proposals.
Speaking to the Advertiser, club chairman Steve Bough said the development ‘would not benefit the community’ as highlighted by MUFC, adding: “Everything that they’re proposing which is beneficial to the community is already there [at the leisure centre].
“Our main concern is building a huge complex in the middle of Braywick Park which has already lost a large proportion of its open-air space just for the benefits of a relatively wealthy football club – they make more money than other sports clubs in the area could even dream of.
“As far as if there’s a football match and a rugby match on the Saturday, there’s the congestion problems, the fan problems, there’s the police problems – we don’t have police at Braywick Park so we’re not used to that kind of coverage when we’re playing – and obviously there’s a massive impact to the local residents with fans parking and walking through housing estates.”
Steve also referenced the Royal Borough’s Playing Pitch Strategy; in Maidenhead, demand is expected to be met for rugby union in 2026, providing there are ‘no loss of pitches at Braywick Park’.
“It’s losing open air, designated, marked out green space pitches for young kids and the community to have physical exercise outside and enjoy themselves and the benefits that rugby has to bring to them,” Steve added.
However, Maidenhead United CEO Jon Adams insists that the development would not take pitches away from the rugby club, with the benefits of the sports complex extending beyond the realms of football.
“We’ve been very clear from the outset that we don’t want to compromise the rugby club’s existing use of Braywick,” Jon told the Advertiser.
“We’ve heard [claims] that we’re taking pitches away from the rugby club, and that’s clearly not the point and not what we’re trying to do. We’ve made a commitment from the initial stages of this project that we can provide for the rugby club and their needs.
“At the moment, they use the space in between the athletics track and just beyond that for their training, and enshrined within our agreement with the local authority, which is obviously already in place, there is a commitment for us to make both the AstroTurf pitches we’re looking to deliver available for the rugby club on Sunday mornings.”