Rugby’s most outspoken and influential journalist
EPCR should show some vision when deciding where to stage Champions and Challenge Cup matches, says Stephen Jones, who is bored of the same old, same old
STADIUMS. THEY say so much about an occasion and S not just the stadium itself, however towering or beautiful or functional. The surroundings, the facilities, the temper of the crowds, the vital transport links and the transmission of crowd noise and atmosphere are so critical and all dictated by the edifice itself. It is time that European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) realised that, as part of the major boost in all aspects that the European competitions both sorely need. The very best arenas can make a day special before the action even starts. I once spent a day with Populous, without doubt the world’s leading stadium designers. Among their panoply is the Principality in Cardiff, Suncorp in Brisbane, the 2012 Olympic Stadium in London and several others where the Games have been staged, various venues for Super Bowl, and more rugby stadiums all over the world, including the magnificent Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Arguably their most amazing project was a plan for a brand-new stadium in Paris for the French Rugby Federation. It was beyond futuristic. Shame on a cabal of French officials who canned the project and left us stuck with the boring old Stade de France. The company would not confirm those persistent rumours about the Aviva in Dublin, another of theirs. People in the trade said that as a French firm, they worked out where visiting fans would be seated in their new construction, and backed up that area with acoustic tiles so that noise from that part of the ground was boosted. And you wondered why French fans are so noisy in the place. They outlined their philosophy. “We’re experts at drawing lots of people together around the things they love.” This month we underline how important the venue is, and the massive possibilities for increasing the spread of rugby by refusing to keep returning to the same old boring grounds where rugby has been played for decades. The message is that the bolder EPCR are with their stadium choices, the more that rugby will spread and the more its image will be boosted. At present, EPCR are way too slow off the mark. Granted, we are going to Tottenham Stadium on 24-25 May this year for the European Challenge Cup and Champions Cup finals. It will be good to enjoy the action there as a neutral, because on all of my previous visits I have been panicking as my Spurs veer crazily between riches and rags, sometimes in the same movement.
