Twickenham give up menace might focus minds on how one can enhance followers’ days out, writes ROGER ALTON
- RFU chief Bill Sweeney has raised idea of moving England rugby out of London
- Birmingham and Milton Keynes have been touted as potential new destinations
- Twickenham regular Roger Alton has explained need for experience to improve
It has long been my belief that when English rugby decided to build a national stadium, the brief was to put it somewhere inaccessible to the common horde but surrounded by large open spaces capable of taking a coach and four, or its modern equivalent, a fleet of Range Rovers.
Because that’s what you’ve got. It takes the guile and endurance of a Polar explorer to get to and, especially, from Twickenham without losing your mind or collapsing from exhaustion.
On my last visit, for the game against South Africa in November, my friend found himself at the front of the endless queue for buses to Richmond, and beckoned me over – discreetly, of course – but if he hadn’t, I’d probably still be there.
As it was, it took hours for the buses to get to Twickers because they were stuck in traffic. Of course they were. And were there any signs of police to smooth the traffic jams? Of course there weren’t.
My earliest trip to Twickers was a schoolboy outing in the 1950s when one of our number, unimpressed by stands that looked as though they had arrived in flatpacks delivered by Meccano, asked the master in charge, ‘Please sir, do they take it down in the summer?’ Well, it looks like they might be about to. Permanently.
Bill Sweeney is spitting mouthguards in fury that the local council blocked him from having three gigs by Beyonce on the trot. For what it’s worth, Twickenham is made more for Bielle-Biarrey than Beyonce, however good she might be fielding a box kick.
The threat to quit Twickenham could help focus minds on how to improve fans’ experiences
The national stadium is difficult to get to and from and needs improvements, says fan and regular Roger Alton
RFU chief Bill`Sweeney has suggested Birmingham or Milton Keynes could soon be the new home of England rugby
Currently the threat is to move Twickers to Milton Keynes or Birmingham, but why not Clapham, or Dulwich, or South Kensington? What a joy. Easy to get to and a piece of cake to get home from.
It’s all a preposterous game of brinkmanship by the RFU. But it might just focus minds on making it easier for fans to get to Twickers – rather than being decamped at what seems to be the smallest train station in the country – and then lay on some decent transport to take us home again.
