Liam Feaviour investigates the dearth of rugby union in the UK’s capital city…
‘It’s Coventry or bust,’ claimed Wasps as they informed fans of their imminent move – but that leaves Greater London with one fewer rugby union club and East London still with none. One expert believes that the support is there in East London for a club, but there are lingering perceptions that prevent a move there.
London is the biggest city in the UK and already houses three other Premiership rugby clubs so why could Wasps not find another home within the metropolitan area? The move came as a big shock to loyal fans of the rugby club, who are left with some tough decisions to make, with a trip to the Ricoh Arena adding up to an all-round trip of around 170 miles for fans from the area near their current base in Adams Park – more than it would be to get to half of the other clubs in the Premiership this season.
Jim Crick, of East London RFC and a coach at primary schools in Newham, argues that rugby is an utter mystery to children growing up in the city now.
“When I started the coaching job in the schools the first thing that shocked me was when I asked an average class – around 30 children – ‘Who knows what rugby is?’ I only saw about five hands go up. After further questioning I discovered that four of these children were actually thinking about American football.”
Crick believes that football has become the dominant sport in East London and that’s all the kids in the area care about when growing up.
“The problem is these children just like many inner city children around the country have only been exposed to one sport – football – and all other sports they try out at school will only be novel.
“They may enjoy throwing a rugby ball around the playground but where can an East London parent with a tight income take their sons and daughters to watch a Premiership rugby game to get some inspiration and role models in the sport?” he adds.
Crick says there is potential for a professional rugby club to set up in East London and that there is a big enough fan base for it to be sustainable over a long period.
“I believe there’s an entire untapped wealth of interest in the sport right here in the city and if tested will provoke a huge bed of talent amongst the myriad of communities within East London.
“The interest in rugby around the City workers and Canary Wharf is also huge; however because of distance and price the fans have to limit themselves to the odd trip to Twickenham for a treat.
“If we had a local club in the East End it would be a great option for all the non-playing fans to head to on a Saturday and take the kids, or for City and Wharf workers to take clients to, or even for a social for the guys who are still playing or have a bye week in their fixtures.”
Can Jim see a professional team basing itself in the East End any time soon?
“It’s a typical chicken and egg scenario. There’s no interest because there’s no local club, there’s no local club as there’s supposedly no local interest.
“I think if we have any hope of a professional team in the east London area we will have to build it ourselves by supporting the ones already in existence as opposed to looking for outside influences.”
Much of the rugby within London is played in the west or north of the city, with Saracens, Harlequins, Wasps and even the English rugby headquarters all being located in those areas. The East has been neglected when it comes to professional rugby, with East London RFC and Hackney RFC being the biggest two clubs.
The Olympic Stadium will provide some international rugby when the Rugby World Cup comes around in 12 months’ time, but that seems to be as close as the people of East London will get to seeing professional rugby in their area.
There is such a broad and prominent scattering of football clubs in the area – such as West Ham and Leyton Orient and of course Hackney Marshes taking up many residents’ Sunday mornings with their big Sunday League football leagues – that money and facilities are obviously there for big sports clubs to sustain themselves in the long-term.
The move by Wasps leaves a lot of questions to be answered, especially for fans of the club and rugby union fans in the East of London. The club had a chance to keep a devoted fan base and attract another big one with such an untapped market in the area and chose otherwise and now the next few years will be an interesting time for the club to see if they can sustain themselves in Coventry.
I reached out to the RFU for some comments on the subject of rugby in East London and Wasps but received no response.
If you’re interested in joining or watching East London RFC men’s team play, their home games are at Memorial Park in West Ham on Saturday afternoons with kick-offs between 2-3pm and they train every Tuesday and Thursday from 7pm-9pm.
Jim also coaches the women and youth teams at East London RFC and if you’re interested in joining either, the women train on Wednesday’s at 7pm and play on Sunday’s, whilst the youth play from 10am-12pm on Sunday’s.