Athletics facilities in town are an embarrassment says Olympic hopeful
A RUNNER from Northampton who is preparing for the 2012 Olympics has labelled the town’s athletics facilities “an embarrassment”.
Damien Moss is a medal-winning international 800-metre runner who has been training at the athletics complex at Sixfields since he was 15 years old.
But during a meeting of Northampton Borough Council this week, he warned facilities at the community stadium had deteriorated so much he now had to do the majority of his training in Kettering or Rugby.
He said: “Back in the 1990s, the track was in a good state, but since the football club took over the management of the site, it’s declined. That’s forced athletes like me to move away and it’s embarrassing to have to tell people we don’t have proper facilities.”
The council committee Mr Moss addressed was set up to investigate the relationship between the Rugby and Northampton Athletics Club and the Cobblers, who are responsible for the athletics facilities at Sixfields.
During the meeting, athletics coach, Dave Pope, also criticised the state of the town’s facilities.
He said: “I’ve arranged more than 100 athletics competitions in my career. In that time I’ve only held two in Northampton because the facilities aren’t up to the standard we need.”
The council investigation is expected to take several months. Among those on the committee is Councillor Tony Clarke (Ind, Castle) who previously worked for the Cobblers.
He warned new ways may have to be found to fund facilities in the future, adding: “I want there to be fantastic athletics facilities in Northampton. There are towns smaller than ours that have got better facilities, but who should pay for the upkeep of those facilities, because somebody’s got to?”
As part of their investigation, the council committee will visit Bedford to see how its facilities are run.
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There are 17 comments to this article
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ade
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 11:11 PMwhy is it that this town continues to back a football team that is very poor.we have a rugby team that is in europe and a junior athletics team that has been in the premiership for the last 3 years.the government wants to get kids fit,well why not encourage them into athletics,have a look down there on a tues or thurs night and see how many youngsters are enjoying themselves running.but just think of how many the town has lost due to the lack of support what a shame
BQ
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 01:08 AMI have heard the gospel according to Steve Riches. I have decided to become an atheist. Good luck with your battle athletics club.
Athletically Wishing
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 08:59 PMSteve, what makes you think the rent is artificially low? I am pretty sure it was set at the going rate and reflects what athletics clubs up and down the country pay. It rises with inflation and it was agreed to by Cobblers when they took on the lease in 2003 - for £1.00, remember.
Coach Andi
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 03:59 PMSteve as you appear to be so knowledgeable about everybody's finances then perhaps you might also like to divulge what the football club hoped to achieve by taking over the lease. They certainly didn't take it over because they knew it would be a cash drain on them. This is all about the football club wanting to extend the ground so they can have even more empty seats unfilled than they do now (highlights from last weeks home game was shocking) and redeveloping the track. Personally i would love this as the agreement also states that a replacement championship standard track must be built before the current one is developed. Whilst the football club have the lease things are only going to get worse not better. The football club are the landlords so it is up to them to arrange any meetings between the 2 clubs, which by the way have taken place with very little benefit seen. There is not to my knowledge plenty of money available for the upkeep of the track. The problem is that as nothing has been spent for so long the costs of the required works has spiralled. I work in a maintenance environment myself and have seen this false economy only too often. The equipment always did exist (and probably still does) to protect the track. It used to be used by the football club but they have long given up treating it with any respect and the whereabouts of the cover that used to be rolled over it is unknown. Surely as landlords you would not expect them to ruin what they have to rent out in order to gain an income. This does not make any sense whatever way you look at it. They appear to treat any athletics equipment as if it were their own. The clubhouse which does have signs up stating that no balls are permitted within the clubhouse appear to go unheeded. The missing damaged ceiling tiles and lights and holes in the walls show once again their total disregard for the athletics club. The clubhouse sink which is used by our volunteer tea ladies is often in a filthy state once again due to the football club (hopefully this was noted by the recent councillor’s visit). I even had cause to complain personally to the coach during one sunday morning training session in which balls were constantly being kicked across the part of the track that sprinters were training on. This was a serious health and safety issue and was treated with very little concern. The list of complaints is endless. Yes mutual respect would be good but is a little difficult when it is only one way ! The football club and their fans want a ground they can be proud of as do we a track. The difference is that the football can use the ground for its intended use as things stand whereas we cannot. If the track had been kept to the required standard then more revenue could have been made from it. Watford AC regularly hold open meetings at its track and they are extremely profitable. Corby AC have now caught on to this too. We cannot do this of course due to the current poor state of the facility. By the way we are already partially "evicted". We have been prevented from various throwing events due to the infield being turned into a training pitch, no pole vault, our gym equipment that was kept in the clubhouse has disappeared and we are not even allowed to use this equipment room. The car park is now quite often in total darkness which is also a health and safety issue. The car park barrier is also locked at times which would deny access to any of the emergency services that could potentially be required to gain quick access to the track which I feel is an extremely dangerous stance to have been taken by the football club. I think you can't fail to realise that the athletics club (which may i remind you is made up entirely of volunteers, not overpaid professional sportsmen) is the wronged party here not the football club.
Coach Andi
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 03:56 PMComment removed by moderator
SteveRiches
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 07:59 AMWell, Athletically Wishing, if I were to be paying the landlord a rate that was artificially low I probably would contribute to the cost of upkeep in the hope of keeping my subsidised tenancy. This never was a market-driven arrangement because if it were you'd have been evicted by now. You are not like a poverty-stricken student being bled dry by a super-rich landlord, you are a partner in a difficult situation which has been brought about by NBC's duplicity. Your seeming landlord is skint as a result of being duped - the real landlord is NBC, not the football club, they only hold the lease. I value athletics, you may even have a point about footballers tramping across the athletics track wearing muddy boots and so on BUT that sort of housekeeping is something I'd expect to be worked out in a spirit of co-operation between the two clubs. That depends on co-operation, not money. How often do the two clubs meet in a spirit of co-operation? I'd be interested to read minutes of meetings between the two. A couple of seasons ago I walked round to the athletics club area and looked at their balance sheets and other information openly posted on their notice board, and believe me the athletics is NOT some poor downtrodden skint organisation. It is a group of people expecting to be subbed out financially by a struggling League Two football club which still has to break even on its own finances, whereas Phoenix athletics, by contrast, is financially healthy with no swingeing outgoings. I fail to see why the football club should be expected to subsidise you for ever and a day when the money-raising deal they were promised as part of that attangement never materialised. Nobody is expecting the athletics to "bail out" the football, that never has happened and would not be expected, but paying its way instead of expecting to be subsidised would be a step in the right direction. Steve Riches.
Athletically Wishing
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 10:34 PMWhether the club has money in its account is not the point. How would any tenant feel if their landlord said, "You've got plenty of money in the bank - you can afford to pay for a new roof central heating etc.."? The athletics club is buzzing and popular, with hundreds of young athletes but its business is to promote healthy, confident, successful young (and old) athletes, not to bail out NTFC The council weren't brilliant at looking after the track, but Cobblers are far worse. It seems to be a job to get them to spend any money on the track - and that money "put to one side" is from the weekly rent we pay. There is a sign outside saying "Sixfields Community Stadium" but our schools have to go to Corby even for the Town Championships. Schools can't even use it for their sports days. The people of Northampton paid for that stadium (with generous grants from groups like the Robert Horne foundation) but Cobblers are treating it like their own private property and letting it go to rack and ruin. You really should see the state they have let it get into. They seem to be trying to run it down as much as possible to get leverage to redevelop the site. In the meantime the people of Northampton lose out. That facility was good enough to have attracted a national team for the 2012 Olympics if Cobblers had maintained it as they had signed up to do when they took it on. There will be no 2012 spin-off for Northampton. Let's hope this council investigation sorts things out, knocks a few heads together and moves things forward for the football club, the athletic club and the good old citizens of Northampton.
SteveRiches
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 04:01 PMCoach Andi - there is a lot of money still in the athletics club bank account, and also plenty put to one side for the athletic club's use elesewhere by the Cobblers. Why don't you spend it to fix the alleged problems? Or, is there a political mud-slinging campaign behind all this? Steve Riches.
Coach Andi
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 11:35 AMOnce again the cobblers fans seem to think that they are the ones that are hard done by. It makes no difference whether the council did or did not honour the deal when they ran the complex. The football club took over the complex with full knowledge of their obligations to the whole facility which includes the upkeep of the athletics track, floodlights etc. This they have clearly failed to do. Not only have they failed to do this, they have failed miserably. I shouldn't really be surprised. I can assure you that even Kettering, and Corby have far superior facilities to Northampton's sorry athletics facility. The football club has systematically and willfully reduced it to a third rate facility by lack of investmentmaintenance and disregard for the athletics club. This has included among other things misuse of the track by the football club by failing to cover the track to access the infield. Muddy football boots are not good for an athletics track. The infield that was for throwing events has been taken away and used as a training pitch. A perimeter fence was added so close to the pole vault bed as to make it unusable on health and safety grounds. Recently the long jump pit covers disappeared and were apparently spotted covering part of the football pitch during the recent snow. I could go on, but then i don't suppose any of this will sink in with the loyal football supporters. By the way i am an avid football fan. Unfortunately not a cobblers one anymore. And the Alf Tupper comment. Well maybe the football players could go back to that era too and play for normal wages and catch the bus to training etc.
Upton
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 08:11 AMThere you go then ! Thanks Steve for confirming the suspicion of dark forces at work.
SteveRiches
Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 07:26 PMThe football club was given verbal assurances about the backing of NBC for re-deveolpment of the stadium and surrounding area, then NBC treated them like dirt and did nothing. The Cobblers had taken a huge maintenance upkeep sum off the hands of NBC and got precisely nothing in return in terms of financial reward, quite the opposite. Nonetheless the Cobblers have continued to put money into the athletics facilities, also the athletics club has a great deal of money in its own bank account. This story has been cooked up to cause mischief. Steve Riches.
Upton
Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 05:49 PMCommon sense- Has the council fulfilled their promises over the terms of the lease ? The answer is a resounding no, and I fully understand Mr Cardozas reluctance to part with any money in order to up keep the Athletics track.I attended a meeting at the stadium as far back as 2003 to discuss many proposals to enhance many facilities.Not one of the proposals has come to fruition. So meny deceptions have taken place in recnet years, that there's a complete lack of trust in any intersted party regarding all areas of Sixfields redevelopment, and there appears to be a great reluctance to have any kind of worthwhile dialogue. Unfortunately, and as usual, the real losers are the good old citizens of Northampton.
Common sense
Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 05:19 PMUpton---Cobblers got a stadium and part of the Lease or the deal was to pay for the upkeep of the track--that they should do. No point going on about having no interest in athletics--they should have negotiated that deal at the time. They should honour their commitment. As for the Council not giving help to Sports clubs then I'd agree there. Cold Ashby GC was refused permission for log homes or something by Daventry Council so its not just Cobblers and Saints
Love Child
Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 04:48 PMOpera and athletics why should we pay for minority interests, I love athletics but the £ can be spent better else where, the homeless and beer tokens for me, Alf Tupper didnt need customised training tracks he strapped on a couple of dumbells on and ran 50 miles a day (he was in the Wizzard or Rover comic or one of those old comic strips)
Upton
Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 03:37 PMIn all honesty the Cobblers relieved the tax paying public of a huge burden by taking on the running costs of the Sixfields stadium.However, their sole interest is Football, so why should they upkeep the facilities of another sport that generates no income for them. The fact is that the council in Northampton, unlike other councils, has never invested in any sport in this town, and has relied on private investment to supply what sporting interests the town does have, and even hinders possible investment to provide better facilites.
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