England's
World Cup Stadia
Germany
has been awarded the 2006 World Cup
Keke
airs his views on the F.A.'s ill-starred
bid
So FIFA
have awarded the 2006 World Cup to
Germany.
The
FA’s attempt to bring the World Cup
to England just 10 years after staging
the European Championships failed, and
another defeat at the hands of Germany
can now be added to the 30 years of hurt
suffered on the field.
The
campaign was ill-starred from the start.
The gentlemen’s agreement, the cash
for votes scandal, the insistence on an
English rather than UK bid, the
resignations at the FA, hooliganism and
Tony Banks’ outburst, when added
together, betray an ill-thought out
strategy and a naïve execution.
|
Well, here are a
few observations. We have no national
stadium. It’s just a plan and a
model.
Even when it is built, we still
won’t have a stadium of 100,000
capacity.
Apart from Old Trafford, we have no
grounds over 50,000.
Anfield was put forward as a World Cup
venue, yet Liverpool don’t think it
is even good enough for League games,
hence their plan to move.
Arsenal’s new stadium is another
plan and model.
No club grounds actually meet FIFA’s
requirements for space between the pitch
and the spectators.
Most of the proposed grounds need
expanding to meet the minimum capacity
requirements.
Public
transport is a disgrace.
That’s
why Brent Council delayed approving
planning permission for Wembley. When
FIFA visited Wembley to watch England
recently, the start of the match was
delayed half an hour, because the tube
system broke down. How would the
world’s TV stations feel about that?
|
| At Keke’s Stadia Mania,
we were particularly interested in the
technical report of the FIFA committee,
which placed England third behind South
Africa and Germany. The reaction of the
FA, and even the more thoughtful
observers in the media, was one of
righteous indignation.
How could
South Africa possibly have better stadia
than England?
|
Where
are the quality hotels near the grounds?
With the honourable exception of Stamford
Bridge, nowhere. Has anyone at the FA
stayed in a hotel at Owlerton or Aston? |
Ask the fans at
Middlesbrough or Sunderland or Stoke how
they get to the ground. They walk. These
new out-of-town locations are poorly
served by public transport, and the roads
and car parks can’t handle
sufficient cars. That’s why
Sunderland’s plans to expand the
Stadium of Light have been delayed.
Where are
the quality hotels near the grounds? With
the honourable exception of Stamford
Bridge, nowhere. Has anyone at the FA
stayed in a hotel at Owlerton or Aston?
|
| How could Germany
have better television facilities than
us? Surely,
English hotels are better than those in
crime-ridden South Africa?
Isn't
England world famous for good
organisation?
After all,
haven’t we now got the best stadia
in the world?
|
By contrast, a UK
bid could have included Ibrox, Celtic
Park, Hampden Park and the Millenium
Stadium in Cardiff. More imaginatively,
Murrayfield and Twickenham could have
been added. Then we could claim 6 more
stadia with capacites over 50,000, up to
75,000. Already built. And like the two
Olympic stadia in Germany, and the
magnificent rugby stadia in South Africa,
they meet all of FIFA’s
requirements. It is too late for 2006. It
may be too early for 2010. But serious
thought should be given to a U.K. bid for
2014.
|
