World’s oldest club want to come home to Sheffield

THE chairman of Sheffield FC is urging the local council to approve plans for the building of a new 5,000-seater stadium for them and Sheffield Eagles – or risk losing the oldest football club in the world to North East Derbyshire.

Plans for the new £25m privatelyfinanced community stadium on the old Sheffield Transport Sports Club site at Meadowhead were submitted to Sheffield Council in March and the public have until this Friday to have their say in favour or against the proposal.

The stadium will encompass professional football and rugby league facilities as well as a cricket pavilion, multi-use artificial sports pitches, a football museum and an indoor community sports hall.

A decision is set to be made by Sheffield Council on June 21.

If approved, demolition of the existing buildings on the site will begin this summer with a view to the stadium being ready 18 months later in time for the start of the 2026 rugby league season for Sheffield Eagles.

The Eagles want the stadium to fulfil their ambition of one day playing in Super League and growing the sport of rugby league in the city.

Sheffield FC want to come home to maximise their growing brand for the enrichment of the city.

They have been playing at a ground they own in Dronfield, a village sandwiched in between Sheffield and Chesterfield, for two decades and club chairman Richard Tims says they will have to stay there and outside of the city if these plans are not approved.

“Do we go and build the home of football in Derbyshire? That is something we’d have to ask ourselves,” said Tims. “Land of that size and suitability aren’t 10 a penny, so we’d have to go back to the drawing board in the very least.

“We’d carry on playing at Dronfield until something else comes up.

“But this plan to relocate to the city is a no-brainer for us. Do I think it should pass? Absolutely. We’ve been lobbying for the world’s oldest football club to come home to Sheffield for years. We get called that team from North East Derbyshire.

“We’ve got inbound tourism coming to Sheffield to see us, we’re one of the biggest marketing tools the city has got having developed the biggest global game and we should be shouting about it. “We’ve got 6,000 members from 54 different countries. We have projects in Africa and North America. It’s about the love of the game and this is a fantastic opportunity.”

Parking and traffic concerns are the main objections people are raising on the council’s planning portal.

“I can understand local people’s opinions,” said Tims, pictured. “They don’t want change, they don’t want traffic to increase.

“But it wouldn’t increase traffic that much. We play in front of 400 on a Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon, so there’s not going to be massive traffic disruption.

“Everybody sees the number 5,000 and thinks it’s huge but if you imagine how many you can get around a stadium, you could stand nearly 5,000 around the pitch.

“Everyone I have spoken to says what a fantastic facility for the community, with cricket, rugby, football, community hire.”