Banahan urges Bath to bridge the divide
BATH legend Matt Banahan says the club must urgently return to its city roots to stop an “us and them” dynamic which he claims has developed between players and supporters since the move to their outof-town HQ.
The club shifted lock, stock and barrel to Farleigh House in the Somerset countryside south of the city just over a decade ago, and Banahan is backing a plan to return to the city – a proposal revealed in The Rugby Paper last month.
Alongside the mooted move back to Bath, Banahan also believes the arrival of his old partner in crime at the club – Joe ‘Mad Dog’ Maddock – as attack coach next season will be vital to a renaissance.
Wing-centre Banahan, who scored 100 tries in 263 appearances for Bath, before having three seasons
at Gloucester and retiring last year, believes reconnecting with the city and its roots is an essential step.
“When Bath was successful we trained at Lambridge and the university, players lived in the city, and we got to know the supporters and the locals,” said Banahan. “We had a relationship with the city. The idea of moving to Farleigh was to bring all the facilities together, but it took Bath Rugby out of Bath.
“We used to have coffees and lunch in town and you got to speak to the locals and you knew they had your back. That side of the game is lost.
“I enjoyed training inside Bath because it gave you a relationship with the city. Now it seems a bit like an ‘us and them’ – there is no relationship. But there is nothing that you can’t work to get back and rebuild.
“If I had an open chequebook I would bring things back to the city – perhaps the university, Lambridge, the top of Lansdown. Somewhere around the city and using the facilities around here. Starting with something as basic as that – getting back in contact with the city and having a positive environment for the players to be in.”
Banahan, who won 16 caps with England, said his spell at the Cherry and Whites had reminded him of the importance of players being visible and rooted in their club’s community.
“When I joined Gloucester they were always in the city and in the community, and that’s how Bath were back in the day when they
were competing – building in the community and building respect,” he said.
“At Gloucester it felt like Bath back in the day. We had a really close-knit squad, a semi-professional environment rather than ‘professional’, but when we trained we trained very hard.”
Banahan said the return of Maddock would be another key move in transforming the club’s fortunes, with Banahan citing Maddock’s influence on developing his own positional understanding.
It was announced in March that Maddock, who made 130 appearances for Bath between 2004 and 2010, will return to the West Country from Toshiba Brave Lupus in Japan, having previously coached at Canterbury.
“Mad Dog is one of the main reasons I was able to play in so many positions when I was at Bath,” said Banahan, who won the 2008 European Challenge Cup alongside the New Zealander. “He helped other people master positions. Mad Dog played on the wing but he could also play at 15 and if needed could step in at 10.
“Given his time at the Crusaders and in Japan he should bring a lot of ideas, and Bath could build the defence and the attack off that. I hope the players have the ability to listen and learn. Joe has attention to detail, amazing delivery and character, and the ability to build relationships.”
Banahan added: “At Bath over the past 10 years there have been way too many changes in players, coaches and support staff. There needs to be some stability in the environment to have any success.
“They have to cover this season in Tipp-Ex and never mention it again.”