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Last weekend, London Wasps played their last home game at Adams Park in High Wycombe – a 71-7 thrashing of Aviva Premiership whipping boys London Welsh.
They are finally cutting ties with their traditional West London home and moving 150 kilometres north to Coventry.
The reasoning behind this move is simple economics. According to chief executive Nick Eastwood, the club was haemorrhaging £3 million a year, in part due to renting Adams Park from Wycombe Wanderers FC.
Although understandably unpopular with Wasps fans and 2800 season ticket holders, something had to change to stop the rot. If the debt was allowed to continue, Wasps may have suffered the same fate as Richmond RFC, whose slide into obscurity since professionalism has only recently been arrested.
Wasps’ decision to acquire a £19.5 million, 50 per cent share in the 32,609 capacity Ricoh Arena entertainment complex enables the club to break free of the renting shackles and start to make money from off-field activities and match-day refreshment sales. Instantly, Wasps have acquired the second biggest turnover of any rugby club in Europe.
Relocating a team is a risky proposition though, and is rare in the UK.
The most famous example of a team relocating in England was Wimbledon FC. After ascending the Football League through the 1970s and ’80s, the Dons suffered years of financial pain and ground sharing until they moved to Milton Keynes in 2003. Renaming themselves the Milton Keynes Dons, they earned the derogatory nickname of Franchise FC for the way the move was handled.
Most supporters boycotted the new Dons and formed a new supporters-owned club. AFC Wimbledon’s meteoric rise into the Football League is something of a fairytale, and testifies to the power of feeling among the fans who had their club taken away from them.
Conversely, Wasps’ fellow rugby club London Irish have thrived since moving from Sunbury to the Madjeski Stadium in Reading in 2000. The fact that Reading is a lot closer to West London than Coventry helped the Exiles retain their existing fans, but new supporters have flooded in from their new catchment area, and will continue to do so at least until the current stadium agreement runs out in 2028.
So what, if anything, can Wasps learn from cases in Australia?
When the South Melbourne board made the decision to move to Sydney in 1982, it was not dissimilar. The supporters were up in arms, forming the ‘Keep South at South’ group, and despite taking control of the board, they couldn’t stop the move. After some ups and downs, it would be hard to find many people who would argue that the Swans haven’t been a huge success in Sydney.
Despite that move being a success, the AFL are learning to their cost that simply throwing a team into a new area to fill a perceived vacuum does not always preclude a successful venture. Paradoxically, the FFA were spot on with their Western Sydney team.
The Midlands is traditionally a very strong area for rugby union in the UK, so the Greater Western Sydney Giant’s problems are unlikely to be replicated in this case. However, union’s popularity in the area could also work against Wasps. The region is already home to two of the largest, best supported clubs in the country, Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints.
Then there is the city’s incumbent team, Coventry RFC. A national powerhouse in the 1960s and ’70s, the club is currently playing in the third tier of English club rugby after substantial financial difficulties. Coventry were last in the top flight in 1987-88, and currently average around 1500 spectators in National League 1.
Will Wasps arrival squeeze Coventry out the market and force them further down the league pyramid? Or could a partnership with the former European champions provide loan players and funds for youth development, sustaining the club in its current state?
It’s not just the local rugby clubs that Wasps will have to compete with for spectators. The Midlands is an intensely competitive sporting marketplace within the UK, the region houses some of England’s biggest cities and their large well supported football clubs. This includes Wasps’ new tenants, Coventry City – whom the Ricoh Arena was originally built for in 2005.
Wasps are not moving into a sporting vacuum, far from it. Muscling into this market will involve stepping on some toes, and Wasps will have to pick their fights carefully.
Moving a club is a contentious issue, even when it is done for the right reasons in keeping the club alive. I honestly don’t know how I’d feel if my club was taken away from me. Perhaps Wasps fans will take heart in knowing that they still have a club to support, albeit from a distance, and not just memories.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.