Wasps’ move to Coventry is a natural progression as rugby finds its way in the professional era

The announcement that Wasps will be relocating to Coventry’s Ricoh Arena in December has not been met with universal acclaim – far from it. Supporters of the traditionally London-based side have taken to social media in droves (pun completely intended) to protest against the move. The overwhelming sense among a large number of fans is clear: they feel the club has forgotten its roots, and disregarded, disrespected, and therefore ultimately lost many of its once loyal fans. As a life-long Wasps fan myself, I can empathise with these sentiments: fans were not consulted, the deal was conducted in secret, and of course travelling to Coventry for games will be a far less convenient, or completely non-viable, option for many supporters. However, fans must look at the context in which this decision was taken. The options were to move, or to go out of business. A club that has been to the brink of bankruptcy, and survived so much uncertainty, may just have guaranteed its future: this should be a cause for celebration.

The reality of the situation is this. Rugby is a fledging professional sport: it is easy to forget that the Premiership’s first professional season was 1996/97 – less than 20 years ago. Whilst professionalisation has not been without its downsides, Rugby Union is, and will remain, a professional sport – much to the good of the game. The Premiership is, and will remain, a professional league. And within this professional structure, a rugby club must be not just a rugby club, but a business, in order to survive.

There were early casualties of professionalisation: Hartlepool, London Scottish, Richmond to name but three. Wasps successfully navigated the transition (in spite of an early wobble as Rob Andrew departed for Newcastle, taking a core of players with him), and indeed emerged as champions of the inaugural professional season. But it has not been a smooth ride: Wasps have been nomads in the professional era, with homes in Sudbury, Shepherd’s Bush, and latterly, High Wycombe. The move to High Wycombe was never intended to be a permanent one, and the shortcomings of the ground, and its location, are numerous, with the potential to generate revenue extremely limited – for every £1 spent at Adams Park, the club received 15p. This lack of revenue stream, and an oft-thwarted search for a permanent home, brought Wasps to the verge of bankruptcy just two years ago with owner Steve Hayes putting the club up for sale as plans to build a stadium at Booker Airfield fell through.

Claims have been made that the club was, at one point, ‘just an hour away’ from bankruptcy. They were turning over a loss of £3 million pounds per year. You do not have to be an economist to understand that this is not sustainable. And it is within this context that the decision to move to the Ricoh Arena has been made. Wasps now anticipate having the highest turnover of all of the English clubs (the established hotel, casino and conferencing facilities at the arena turned over £14.4 million last year). This is not, as some fans have suggested, about the greed or vested interests of the club’s owners. It is not about putting profits before rugby. It is because, in the professional era, a club must make money in order to survive. That Wasps has survived up until now is no mean feat. It took an individual, Derek Richardson, to absorb ten million pounds worth of debt. And yet now he is being castigated for ensuring that the club will never be in this position again.

As a London-based fan, I hoped there might be a third way – not Adams Park, not the Ricoh Arena, but somewhere that would combine the best of both worlds: a stadium to call home that would generate the necessary revenue but also close enough to the club’s traditional support base to keep the loyal fans content. But once the Booker Airfield plans fell through, this option was no longer available. Suitable stadia are in short supply. Suitable sites to build are in even shorter supply. Opportunities such as this one do not come along often: the positives the Ricoh Arena brings are numerous. Fans must adjust to the idea (let’s not forget that the move to High Wycombe was hardly universally popular at the time, either), and that’s understandably a slow process for many. I for one remain proud to call myself a Wasps supporter, and will continue to do so regardless of where they are based. Without a doubt, the club has an enormous task on its hands generating a new, local fan-base in Coventry – the Midlands is already flush with rugby clubs. It may take time, but I believe the majority of Wasps fans to be ultimately loyal, and I believe that the Ricoh Arena will provide the basis to build a match-day experience that will attract fans old and new.

The move to Coventry will guarantee the survival of the club. Over the next few years, I expect that Wasps will thrive, and grow into one of the strongest professional outfits in Europe, both on and off the field. Wasps have understood the direction in which a club must go: professional sports teams must function as businesses, they must generate revenue. The majority of the Premiership’s high flyers own their own stadiums, and are seeking to expand the business opportunities this can bring – because, like it or not, that is exactly how the land must lie as the dust settles on the professional era.

The club’s supporters have long been proud of its informal motto: ‘Once a Wasp, Always a Wasp’. The harsh realities of incipient professionalism have put that to the test, but let’s make sure it rings true as Wasps take a bold step along the road to longevity and success.

Alexandra Kyrke-Smith (@wisecrAKS)

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