Athletics Football Olympics Rant

[joggerjayne]

The UK sports authorities don't seem to care about Athletics.

When Sport England gave the go ahead for a new National Sports Stadium on the site of the old Wembley, the ludicrous public expense was justified on the basis that it was going to be a multi sport, super-stadium ... WITH AN ATHLETICS TRACK.

Once the FA had got their grubby hands on the money, it turned out (quelle surprise!) that there wasn't enough room for the running track (who did the original measurements for that one??), so the National Sports Stadium became just a Football stadium with ... NO ATHLETICS TRACK.

The came the Olympic Stadium. The ludIcrous public expense was justified on the basis that it would provide an ATHLETICS LEGACY for future generations.

And now ... they are seriously considering a tender which would involve KNOCKING DOWN the stadium, and rebuilding it with ... guess what ... NO ATHLETICS TRACK.

Sport England etc really behave as if they don't give a stuff about athletics.

Which begs the question ... why did we bother even bidding for the stupid Olympics ???

And ...

... breathe.

>:0(

[rowanwitch]

not enough money in athletics the athletes take.....then ask for huge appearance fees then they keep on taking.... but there is very little gain in terms of sponsorship benefits....and what kid wants to be paid expenses for running round a track if can earn thousands in the reserves of even a medium sized footie club... A new football stadium will earn money
An athletics track won't

[jd_1984]

I agree......
That was a rant! With some valid points

[Davethedog]

What would you prefer a purpose built athletics stadium to be used for 365 days a year or a stadium that would only be used by athletics 20 days a year.

Not only that it was always intended to be dismantled not knocked down.

By the by the running track at wembley went because when push came to shove football paid for it.

Athletics in this country doesn't warrent huge expenditure on a regular basis. Why? because nobody pays to watch it. The average no league football club gets far bigger attendances than athletics.

[Davethedog]

Non League

[jno]

I think the public money was actually withdrawn from Wembley once the FA changed its mind on the athletics track, so the soccer industry ended up footing the bill itself on that occasion. (Open to correction here.)

[jackthehat]

I think a lot of the points football/athletics have validity.
However, I believe that our credibility will be seriously damaged if we are seen to renege on the promises we made to secure the games.

(We did it once before, in recent times, and had some athletics 'championship' taken away from us..............Didn't Sheffield put in the winning bid but preparations went ahead in London [naturally] and then the event was given to a country slightly less underhand ? Help me out, Jayne..........)

[joggerjayne]

But we can't "not bother" with Athletics just because it is a minority sport in terms of participation or support.

On that basis, the only sports on which we invested any public money would be Football and Angling.

[pa___ul3]

I think it's important to have a central hub for Athletics in England, but I think events should 'tour' more round the UK as most people only pay a passing interest. I think if it were more widely available to watch live then people may give it a go locally.
This would obviously require improvements to a lot of local athletics arenas around the UK but would be worth it.
Maybe some money gained by the FA could go into English sport in general and not just grass roots football.

[joggerjayne]

Not sure, jth ... but sounds like the sort of thing that would happen.

[jackthehat]

Got it.............
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picketts_Lock

Not quite as I suggested..........but the loss of credibility is the same.

[Davethedog]

I think that Sheffield won but then couldn't get the funding, Athletics tried to get Palace refurbished but again no money so we lost it, There was total apathy about it.
I think it was a world championships

I agree about legacy but I think you are talking about a white elephant in a wasteland or at least some use. If you look at recent Olympics most of the sites are now white elephants, even Sydney.

[Davethedog]

The FA are still paying for Wembley and will be for some considerable time.

It should be pointed out that Athletics don't have the money to tour as they don't have the stadiums.

The council tax payers of London will be paying for the Olympics for years to come so I think what benefits London should be the decision.

[joggerjayne]

If there was ANY sport that should have been located more centrally, so that more people could get to see it, it was our national football.

A golden opportunity to rebuild the national football stadium in a central location.

But, guess what ... it ended up back in London.

Wouldn't it have been awful for the FA bigwigs, when then had been to see matches, if they'd had to find a hotel in (say) Birmingham, instead of stuffing their faces somewhere on Park Lane!

As to "white elephants" ... some of us predicted six years ago that a huge sports facility in the East End would be a white elephant. We all saw that one coming a mile off.

[Davethedog]

Where JJ name some where central that has the same transport links? It was disscussed at lenth as I recall. The reason its in London is that little ring in the middle called club Wembley. It sold out in London it would never have sold out anywhere else.

London is the largest urban conubation in the country by a long, long way so it figures thats where it would be built.

Oh your thinking of the custome err I mean supporters. Its been a long time since they were considered apart from ticket sales.

[joggerjayne]

"London is the largest urban conubation in the country by a long, long way so it figures thats where it would be built."

Oh, yes ... I keep forgetting that the only people who go to watch sports are Londoners, LOL.

[Davethedog]

JJ its the only place where they would sell club seat for £10k

Wembley is on the North Circular, between two tube lines and an overground rails system and is literaly surronded by hotels.

Where would you have built it?

[joggerjayne]

Bournemouth ?

[joggerjayne]

No, seriously ... in the Midlands, I suppose.

[Davethedog]

Only place would be Birmingham, but would they have sold the club Wembley seats. I'm not arguing, its all about revenue it has nothing to with the ordinary customer. I don't particularly like Wembley anyway.